INDIANAPOLIS —
Indiana law enforcement officials are opposing a bill that would electronically track the sale of a key cold-medicine ingredient used to make methamphetamine, arguing it will do little to stop the clandestine production of the illegal drug.
But the bill, scheduled for a House committee hearing Tuesday, has the support of legislators who were reluctant to back a much tougher anti-meth bill that they say would have inconvenienced consumers and raised health care costs.
Among those expected to testify against the electronic-tracking bill is Sgt. Chris Gallagher of the Terre Haute Police Department, whose community has been among the hardest hit by the meth epidemic in Indiana.
Borrowing a quote from a colleague, he described electronic tracking of ingredients that go into making meth, “as worthless as showing card tricks to a chicken.”
He cited statistics from other states, including Kentucky, that have implemented electronic tracking systems yet have seen increases in meth-related arrests and the clandestine drug labs used to make the highly addictive drug. “It just doesn’t work and it may make things worse,” Gallagher said.
Two months ago, Gallagher testified in front of the House Committee on Public Health in favor an alternative bill — one that would have required a doctor’s prescription to obtain pseudoephedrine, a common cold-medicine ingredient that’s also a key ingredient in meth.
That bill, which was also supported by state police and the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, failed to make it out of committee. A similar version also died in the Senate.
Among the opponents were big-chain retailers who contend cold-medicine consumers would be inconvenienced if they have to get a doctor’s prescription to obtain the drug.
Now the House Committee on Public Policy is taking up the electronic-tracking bill, which has already found strong support in the Senate.
The bill would require computerized tracking of cold medications used in making methamphetamine. Stores selling the medications would have to report by computer any attempts to buy those medications and not complete the sale if the tracking system indicates that the customer has already purchased their state-imposed legal limit.
Sen. Carlin Yoder, R-Middlebury, who co-authored the bill, said the tracking system is intended to go after meth-makers rather than cold-suffering consumers. “Let’s try this first before we decide to make it harder for legitimate users of these medicines,” Yoder said.
But opponents of the electronic tracking system said it’s flawed in two ways. The first: current law allows police to charge someone who has exceeded their pseudoephedrine limit. They say the electronic tracking system would prevent the sale from occurring and therefore no arrest could be made.
And opponents also argue that meth-makers will simply recruit other people to purchase the pseudoephedrine for them. “That just brings more people into the crime,” Gallagher said.
Previous attempts to limit and track the sale of the medicines that go into making meth have failed in Indiana.
State police reported nearly 1,400 meth labs were seized in Indiana last year. That’s a 70 percent increase since 2006 after meth-lab seizures had declined following a passage of a state law requiring those buying pseudoephedrine products to sign pharmacy logs and produce identification.
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Fight ensues over electronic-tracking bill aimed at meth-makers
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