PRESCRIPTION BILL TAKES METH FIGHT TOO FAR

The typical doctor's office is busy enough without common-cold
sufferers coming in for a prescription for cough medicine, but that's
exactly what will happen if a bill that passed the state Senate last
week becomes law.

Senate Bill 484, by Sen. Rod Wright, a Southern California Democrat,
would stretch the reasonable limits on the sale of
pseudoephedrine-based cold medicines to absurd lengths. In the name
of stemming methamphetamine, which users and dealers cook up from
medicines containing pseudoephedrine, SB 484 would require a doctor's
prescription for the over-the-counter remedies, which many find the
best way to clear up their runny noses.

If this were the best way to fight the plague of methamphetamine and
the toxic labs where users distill it, we'd applaud the measure. But it's not.

Existing restrictions on the sale of pseudoephedrine, part of a 2006
federal law sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, have already worked
extraordinarily well. That law, as anyone who's tried to buy Sudafed
lately knows, requires buyers to go to a pharmacy counter, show a
photo ID, and sign for the medicine, which is only sold in small quantities.

This simple limit causes some inconvenience when honest stuffy-headed
citizens need it least, but the results are worth it. The National
Drug Intelligence Center's 2009 methamphetamine report for the
Pacific region says that from 2004 to 2008, the number of meth labs
discovered on the West Coast fell 93 percent. Locally, Shasta County
Sheriff Tom Bosenko says the law has successfully shut down small
meth labs and the toxic residue they leave behind.

It hasn't, sadly, stopped methamphetamine abuse or sales, but the
NDIC says that trade is largely fed by drugs manufactured in Mexico
and smuggled across the border. Only a very small share of meth
precursor chemicals could still be coming from ordinary retailers.

And if drug cartels are still sending mules from pharmacy to pharmacy
picking up one package of cold medicine at a time, there are records
to check for patterns. California could even follow the lead of
Oklahoma, which has a central database monitoring pseudoephedrine
sales, preventing - or at least further complicating - illicit repeat buys.

But requiring a prescription for ordinary cold medicine will only
bring new crowds to clinics, drive up medical costs and pose a severe
burden to honest citizens whose only crime is not having health
insurance. Yes, there are alternative cold medicines. For the most
part, though, they don't work as well.

The north state has seen more than its share of lives ruined by meth,
and residents are surely willing to put up with reasonable hassles if
they'd keep the drug off the streets. But requiring prescriptions for
pseudoephedrine puts a burden on the law-abiding far out of
proportion to any expected gain.

Our view: The existing limits on pseudoephedrine sales already work
amazingly well.