House passes meth bill banning some cold medicines

04/21/2005

Associated Press
April 22, 2005

The Minnesota House overwhelmingly approved legislation Thursday that would ban some popular cold tablets by mid-2006 and ratchet up sentences for making methamphetamine, a powerful illegal drug that’s swept through the state.

The 127-4 vote reflected the reach of the powerful narcotic, which has caused crimes or meth lab accidents in every corner of the state. The bill would restrict the sale of cold medicines that contain pseudoephedrine, a crucial meth ingredient, to pharmacies this year — a measure that would be trumped next year by the tablet ban added as an amendment during a floor debate.

“We have a dangerous drug that is being abused,’’ said Rep. Mike Charron, R-Woodbury, who proposed the ban. “We should ban in it Minnesota. I believe we should ban it in other states as well.’’

Lawmakers turned back attempts to allow convenience stores and groceries to sell two-tablet packages of pseudoephedrine drugs from behind staffed counters, as well as an attempt to keep prison terms for meth offenses at current levels.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Jeff Johnson of Plymouth, called the meth package “the strongest, most comprehensive bill that has ever been passed by any legislative body in the United States.’’

The Senate unanimously voted for a bill in early March restricting the sale of pseudoephedrine cold and allergy tablets to pharmacies, capping purchases and requiring customers to present photo identification and sign a log.