Indiana bill encourages sale of meth-resistant PSE products

INDIANAPOLIS - Community Pharmacies of Indiana on Tuesday announced the organization's unanimous decision to support Senate Bill 80 (SB80), also known as the Pharmacist Legitimization Bill, which is proposed by State Sens. Randy Head, R-Logansport, and Jim Merritt, R-Indianapolis, as a method to control the sale of pseudoephedrine products and decrease meth manufacturing in Indiana without requiring a prescription and unfairly penalizing law-abiding customers.

 

Under the bill, cold medicines containing single-ingredient PSE, such as Sudafed, will remain available for behind-the-counter sales without a prescription. The bill would enable pharmacists to briefly consult with customers seeking products containing single-ingredient PSE, inquiring about symptoms and potentially recommending effective, non-prescription PSE products that contain meth-resistant safeguards, such as Nexafed and Zephrex-D.

 

The bill would also grant pharmacists the legal protection to decline potentially illegitimate sales of PSE products that lack meth-resistant features where appropriate.

 

"The Pharmacist Legitimization Bill represents common-sense legislation that balances efforts to help curtail the proliferation of meth labs throughout our state while also preserving the customer's ease-of-access to effective cold medicines for legitimate use without the burden of obtaining a prescription every time they have a head-cold," stated Ben Rachwal, CPI board president. "Any independent pharmacy owner will agree that pharmacists are often the frontline of defense against suspicious medication purchases, Senate Bill 80 enables us to effectively exercise that responsibility without needlessly burdening our customers."

 

Representing more than 165 independently-owned pharmacies throughout Indiana, the unanimous decision by CPI's board of directors was rooted in the non-profit organization's desire to assume an active role in curtailing the destructive effects of meth production throughout the state and to share in the responsibility of safeguarding the communities in which they operate without placing undue burden on customers. This proposed law is modeled after the successful Arkansas Law passed in 2011.