Five members of the Iowa House plan a deeper examination of how to stop folks from buying the makings for the illegal drug meth. The group plans to meet regularly, starting Monday, to find ways to curb the sale of pseudoephedrine, an ingredient in meth that’s found in over-the-counter cold medications. Representative Clel Baudler , a republican from Greenfield, says it’s time for the legislature to act. “I’ve heard from the public they want the strongest bill possible. They are tired of hearing about methamphetamine. They’re tired of dancing around the issue and pseudoephedrine, ephedrine is the one major ingredient you have to have to cook methamphetamine,” Baudler says. “Nothing is off the table…everybody that has a dog in this fight is welcome to bring it.” Representative Kevin McCarthy, a democrat from Des Moines, says they want to address the constitutional concerns about placing limits on the purchase of cold meds. McCarthy says they want to ensure a large family that buys over-the-counter cold medicine doesn’t have their door broken down in a drug raid just because they bought a bunch of cold medicine. A few Iowa counties have passed ordinances requiring retailers to put cold meds with pseudoephedrine behind the counter to prevent bulk sales. McCarthy says if the state were to adopt such a law, it wouldn’t cure Iowa of meth. “If we were to wave a magic wand and make all pseudoephedrine disappear out of the state of Iowa, we would still have a significant problem,” McCarthy says. Federal officials say about 80 percent of the meth sold in Iowa is made south of the U.S./Mexican border.
