Both houses of the Mississippi Legislature have passed a bill that will require a person to have a prescription in order to purchase any medicine containing pseudoephedrine, a chemical found in most over-the-counter cold medications. Gov. Haley Barbour has said he intends to sign this bill into law.
The reasoning behind this bill is that pseudoephedrine is often used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. Especially with methamphetamine so easy to make these days, law enforcement has been overwhelmed by policing this drug.
Oregon is the only state that currently has a law like this on the books, and statistics suggest the law has decreased the availability of meth in the state.
The major drawback to the bill, however, is the great inconvenience it will place on the people of the state.
Most people simply do not want to take the time or spend the money to go to a doctor to get a prescription for simple cold medicine. This bill will create a huge waste of time and money, as doctor visit rates are sky-high.
Think about the 25 percent of adults in the state who do not have health insurance. Today, if they’re feeling sick, they can go to a pharmacy, pick up some cold medicine and get better. But if this bill becomes law, they may just have to do without if they can’t afford the cost of going to a doctor.
And what about the doctors themselves? If a doctor prescribes a medicine containing pseudoephedrine to a person who uses it to manufacture meth, to what degree of responsibility do we hold the doctor? Do we need to burden doctors with determining whether a person is legitimately sick or just trying to cheat the system so he or she can manufacture meth?
Granted, meth is certainly a problem in the state. Statistics show around 25 percent of the drug-related arrests in 2006 were due to meth.
However, it remains a minor problem overall. In the mid-2000’s, the National Survey of Drug Use and Health estimated 0.83 percent of Mississippians had ever used the drug.
When such a low percentage of Mississippians are using the drug, we have to wonder if it’s worth it to cause such a big inconvenience to so many people. Is it right to punish so many people for the crimes of so few?
It’s also worth speculating that if this bill becomes law, meth manufacturers may move to the edges of the state, where they can cross state lines to have easier access to meth just across the border. This may cause areas like Starkville and Columbus to have an even greater problem.
What about a less drastic solution? Other states have unified tracking programs that keep up with how much cold medicine people buy. If they buy a suspiciously large amount, police investigate.
Mississippi should simply adopt the above solution. It would help fight the meth problem without causing a massive inconvenience to sick people who just want to take medicine and get better quickly rather than forcing them to use time to go through a doctor (if they can afford it).
It seems that the legislature has jumped the gun to find a solution that sounds nice. Unfortunately, this means inconveniencing everyone, especially those without health insurance, over a minor problem.
The Reflector editorial board is made up of opinion editor Harry Nelson, news editor April Windham, assistant news editor Julia Pendley, sports editor Bob Carskadon, entertainment editor Hannah Rogers, photo editor Ariel Nachtigal, copy editors Amy Addington and David Breland, online editor Adam Kazery, graphic designer Carl Carbonell, managing editor Aubra Whitten and editor in chief Kyle Wrather.