E Pluribus February 10, 2005

Allergy, cold and cough medicine are about to become less available. If the Governor, state law enforcement and enough members of the Legislature have their way, over 90% of these medicines will only be sold in pharmacies – and then, only after someone shows their ID and signs a document (which is available for police inspection).

Pseudoephedrine is a common decongestant. It’s popular and effective. In many instances, such as for pregnant women, it’s the drug of choice with few complications. It’s contained in most of these medicines and unfortunately, it can be used in making meth.

So - one of the hot topics in the legislature is whether pseudoephedrine should be made a Schedule 5 Controlled Substance… not because of it being a dangerous drug, but because certain people can misuse it.

Schedule 5 carries serious consequences. First, it can make criminals out of pharmacists. Schedule 5 includes criminal penalties if the pharmacist doesn’t check the ID or appropriately keep a registry of buyers. Of course, law enforcement will want access to that list to determine who possible meth makers are. As a result, schedule 5 makes suspects out of law abiding citizens – like families with allergies. Of course federal privacy laws may complicate law enforcement efforts to use that registry, but those pushing for this legislation want to resolve those concerns later.

To many small town grocery stores and convenience stores, they will no longer be able to sell these common medicines. Customers will have to drive to pharmacies…most likely in larger communities. Our small town stores will be put at a further disadvantage.

And it will be interesting to see how many pharmacists want to accept the hassles of even dispensing these drugs. These products could easily take up 5-6 feet of shelve space. It’s doubtful any pharmacies will have space for a full line of these medicines. Of course, that’s only important if they want to accept the legal requirements of selling Schedule 5 medicines. They could choose not to sell any of these products.

But one of the most tragic consequences is already in motion. The drug manufacturers have predicted this Schedule 5 change. Oklahoma started it, and several states including Iowa are looking into it. As a result, at least one major manufacturer is pulling all but one of its drugs that contain pseudoephedrine. Instead, they will market a decongestant that has been available for years…but is considered less effective than pseudoephedrine. I expect more manufacturers will follow.

There is no doubt that meth is a scourge on Iowa. But this bill only addresses the small Iowa manufacturer of meth. It is reported that 80-95% of Iowa’s meth is imported from out of state. Iowa manufacturers only account for 5-20% of the meth usage in Iowa.

There were approximately 1500 meth labs discovered in Iowa last year. It’s unknown how many individuals were involved – one person could have created more than one lab site. This number –which is too many, of course - will have a profound effect on Iowa’s access to one of the most popular and effective medicines for common ailments.

It would appear that our health care system is being held hostage by meth makers.

I would like to hear your opinions. You can contact me at George S. Eichhorn, State Capitol, Des Moines, IA 50319, (515) 281-7323, or george.eichhorn@legis.state.ia.us.

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