By Stu Johnson
Richmond, KY – The bills, which required a prescription for cold remedies that used pseudo-ephedrine, were filed in the house and senate. The proposal, which targets a key ingredient in the manufacture of meth, lacks needed support. Shepherdsville representative Linda Belcher says the prescription requirement confused some citizens.
"Many of the representatives that I talked to got information from their constituents that they thought any time they went to get medication they gonna' have to go to the doctor and pay a co pay which is not true," said Belcher.
Linda Belcher says compromise legislation that allows continued over-the-counter sales of gel capsules and liquids was not enough to satisfy critics still holds some promise.
"House members felt like they could sell that to their constituents because again you could still go to the store and buy gel caps or liquid and would definitely not have to go to the doctor then, I think the people that were most concerned were the people without insurance," added Belcher.
London Senator Tom Jensen worked the bill in the senate. He says it was never intended to deal with meth use issues.
"The bill was never designed to stop meth use, it's about labs and as long as we focus in on that I think people will look at there's not a whole lot of solutions to it other than what's been suggested," said Jensen.
Senate sponsor Tom Jensen says similar bills work well in Mississippi and Oregon. He says the number of meth labs in Mississippi has dropped 70 percent in the last year.