New state law: New hurdle for purchasing cold medicine

INDIANAPOLIS – A trip to the pharmacy to pick up cold medicine won’t be the same come next month.

Starting July 1, customers must have a relationship on record with a pharmacist to access ephedrine or pseudoephedrine without prescription. According to the Indiana Board of Pharmacy, this means the customer must have had a prescription filled at that pharmacy, or the customer must have previously purchased ephedrine or pseudoepherine at that pharmacy.

Pseudoephedrine and ephedrine are ingredients in many common cold medications such as Sudafed, but can also be used to make meth. Pharmacists will have the right to deny the sale if they suspect the customer using it to make meth.

For those with no relationship on record, a pharmacist is allowed to use their judgment to determine whether to make the sale based on the pharmacist’s screening of the customer, which can include a review of the individual’s medical history, prescription history and physical symptoms.

Pharmacists will also be protected from lawsuits if they deny the sale of pseudoephedrine or ephedrine without prescription.

“It’s hard to spot someone abusing the system, especially if they appear sick,” pharmacist technician and Purdue pharmacy student Jared Kurg said. “I think the fact that pharmacists will be protected from legal action by both someone who is or isn’t breaking the law will make them more comfortable denying a Sudafed purchase.”

Sen. Randy Head, R-Logansport, is determined to put an end to the number of meth labs produced in Indiana and hopes Senate Bill 80 will do just that.

“Indiana led the nation in meth labs arrests each of the last three years,” Head said. “Meth cooks will hire people to go into different pharmacies and buy as much pseudoephedrine as the law would allow, and we simply need to put a stop to that to stop these meth labs throughout our state.”

The Indiana law was inspired by a similar ordinance in Fulton County, where Head said sales dropped by 40 percent last year.

Other states that have passed similar laws have seen improvements. From 2010, before the law was passed, to 2014, after the law was passed, reported meth labs in Arkansas dropped 95 percent, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Despite such statistical successes, however, Consumer Healthcare Products Association Senior Director Carlos Gutiérrez is wary of the law’s impact on law-abiding customers.

“I don’t know my pharmacist,” Gutiérrez said. “I don’t know their name and they don’t know me. I would find it difficult to say I have a relationship with them even though I have purchased pseudoephedrine there in the past. We have always said that we have to remember the patient first and the healthcare needs of the citizens of Indiana. We are hoping that the board of pharmacy will put the needs of patients first and not really limit it to where you have to have their name or had a prescription filled in the past to have that relationship.”

If a customer is denied the medication, they can either get a prescription or they can purchase meth-resistant forms of the medicine, such as Nexafed or Zyphre D, which are available at a similar price.

Revisions to the law will depend on its impact on the state’s number of meth labs. While Head is confident the law will result in a decrease, he has not ruled out the possibility of further increasing pseudoephedrine restrictions in the future.

“We want to give people the most freedom possible while stopping meth labs,” Head said. “If this bill doesn’t work, a mandatory prescription is the next possible step, so I hope this bill takes care of it so people get the medicine they need and lawbreakers stop what it is they’re trying to do.”

 

Article writer Alaa Abdeldaiem is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.