COMPROMISE ON DECONGESTANTS

When it comes to buying decongestants in Tennessee, will the innocent
citizens have to suffer a loss of privacy because of the misdeeds of
criminals? Gov. Phil Bredesen's Task Force on Methamphetamine Abuse
has been studying ways to get pseudoephedrine out of the hands of meth
producers.

Pseudoephedrine is the main ingredient in many popular
over-the-counter cold and allergy relief medicines.

It's also the main ingredient in the making of methamphetamine, a
highly addictive stimulant known as ``poor man's crack'' that attacks
the central nervous system.

One of the possibilities that the state Legislature might consider
next year is that a registry be set up so that whenever you buy the
cold pills, you would have to sign for them, and your name would be
put on file.

If you purchase more pills than would be needed for personal use, that
could trigger a law enforcement inquiry. Tennessee also may consider
making pseudoephedrine equivalent to a controlled substance that can
be dispensed only by pharmacists.

This idea is not popular among pharmacists because they are afraid it
will put them on the front line of law enforcement and leave them
vulnerable to armed robbery.

Task force member Doug Wilson, a Rite Aid pharmacist from Rockwood in
Roane County, sensibly suggested pulling from shelves only the
products used by the illegal meth makers, rather than removing them
all.

Surely, the Legislature can strike a compromise between the need to
curtail meth production and the rights of honest citizens to buy their
cold pills without jumping through too many regulatory hoops.