The Mississippi Senate passed a bill on to Gov. Haley Barbour last week proposing Mississippi become the second state in the U.S. to require a doctor’s prescription to obtain cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine. The only other state to pass the bill is Oregon.
The bill intends to decrease the amount of methamphetamine production in the state. If passed by Barbour, the law would go into effect July 1.
Whit Waide, political science instructor, said the bill states it will restrict the over-the-counter purchase and sale of pseudoephedrine.
“It is basically requiring a doctor’s prescription to buy pseudoephedrine and derivatives of that, such as Sudafed, Advil Cold & Sinus and drugs like that,” Waide said. “It adds dozens of drugs that are like pseudoephedrine to require a prescription as well.”
According to the White House Drug Policy Web site, methamphetamine is the second most serious drug threat in Mississippi due to its increasing availability, low cost, rapid growth of abuse and its threat to human life and the environment.
The Web site also said 23.2 percent of drug cases in 2007 involved methamphetamine and 0.4 kilograms of methamphetamine were seized in 2007.
Carla Delgadillo, CVS pharmacist, said the bill is going to be punishing the non-methamphetamine using Mississippi residents.
“It is really just the people who experience occasional cold symptoms that only need the products once or twice a year that the bill is hurting,” Delgadillo said.
She said from her experience working at a pharmacy, methamphetamine production is major problem in Mississippi.
“We will have people come in at least once a week to buy Sudafed, but we have to sell it to them if they have a valid ID even if they just bought some a couple days ago,” she said.
Delgadillo said requiring a prescription for the medicines containing pseudoephedrine will make it easier on the pharmacies.
“Currently, to buy Sudafed, customers have to show a [valid], government issued ID and then we have to do all the paperwork,” she said. “With a prescription, we won’t have to question whether are not we should sell the medicine to them.”
Mayor Parker Wiseman said that if Mississippi’s results are as successful as Oregon’s have been, the bill will be a good thing for Mississippi.
“I think it is a good bill, especially looking at the Oregon model and at the drastic reduction to meth they experienced there, I think it will be a good thing for Starkville,” Wiseman said. “I really hope it will be successful here.”