Kentucky State Representative Brent Yonts (D-Greenville) has introduced legislation that he calls a “common sense” solution to fight the state’s meth problem. The measure would require anyone convicted of a meth-related crime to have his or her name placed in a Meth Offender Registry. Anyone on that list would be blocked from purchasing medicine containing pseudoephedrine without a doctor’s prescription.
Yonts says his bill “does not punish law-abiding citizens. It’s a common sense, middle ground solution for fighting meth in Kentucky by targeting criminals, not people who suffer from colds and allergies.”
Kentucky lawmakers are divided over whether to require everyone to get a prescription for cold and allergy medicines that contain pseudoephedrine. Such a bill was defeated in this year’s legislative session and he says the votes are not there for a similar bill that’s expected to be introduced for the 2012 legislature.
There are more than 5,500 people with meth-related convictions in Kentucky and Yonts’ bill would block them from buying medicines with pseudoephedrine unless they have a doctor’s prescription. His measure would also lower the amount of pseudoephedrine a person could buy to 7.5 grams per month from the current 9 grams per month, with a maximum of 60 grams per year.
