FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - The Senate Judiciary Committee has heard
more testimony on whether pseudoephedrine cold and allergy
medicines should require a prescription.
A prescription bill is intended to reduce methamphetamine labs
in Kentucky, committee chairman Republican Sen. Tom Jensen of
London, said Thursday.
But Steve Jarvis, a former California narcotics officer, said it
would hurt people who would have to pay more to see a doctor and
pay more for their medicines.
Carlos Gutierrez of the Consumer Health Care Products
Administration said the proposal doesn't deal with addiction.
Gutierrez advocated an alternative that would reduce from 9 to
7.5 grams the amount of pseudoephedrine a person could buy without a prescription and create a registry that would bar those with meth convictions from buying pseudoephedrine.
