Report: Union, Mo., passes new PSE legislation

ST. LOUIS The St. Louis Dispatch on Tuesday morning reported that a second Missouri city, the city of Union, on Monday passed an ordinance requiring that pseudoephedrine products only be sold with a prescription.

The ordinance is effective immediately.

The prescription-only requirement for pseudoephedrine products is similar to legislation passed earlier this year in Washington, Mo. After coming under heavy criticism for passing such legislation, the Washington council considered repealing the ruling. However, on Aug. 3, the council voted not to repeal.

The Dispatch listed the Missouri Medical Association, Missouri Retailers Association and Missouri Pharmacy Association as opposed to the measure. They favor a statewide database that would track consumers' pill purchases.

Beyond an inconvenience to consumers in these two municipalities, the ordinances raise a greater concern — whether or not local governments have the authority to decide what is prescription-only and what isn’t. The consequence would be the creation of a Byzantine pharmaceutical legislation matrix that would be both expensive and difficult for pharmacy retailers and their suppliers to navigate.

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association had begun negotiations with Kansas and Missouri state governments around bankrolling a linked electronic database. Once implemented, the database will tie Kansas and Missouri into similar databases in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kentucky.

The systems are expected to go live late 2009 or early 2010.

On the state level, both Oklahoma and California are considering the reverse-switch of pseudoephedrine, in other words making the common decongestant available only with a doctor’s prescription, in an effort to stem methamphetamine production.

Rep. Lucky Lamons, D-Tulsa, Okla., announced plans to introduce the reverse-switch legislation in 2010.

Oregon is currently the only state that requires a prescription for pseudoephedrine products.