A key republican lawmaker says resistance from retailers may no longer be enough to stop increased restrictions on the sale of common cold and flu drugs used in making the illegal drug methamphetamine. Governor Vilsack Tuesday called for the drugs containing pseudoephedrine to be sold only by pharmacists. Representative Clel Baudler of Greenfield failed two years ago to get more restrictions, and then the law restricting the amount of drugs that could be sold at one time was passed last year. He says he thinks the momentum is going the direction that some legislators attempted to do already. Those previous efforts to increase the restrictions failed, but Baudler, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, says there appears to be more support now. He says he feels the publicity has caused moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas to be aware of this, and he says they want some action. Baudler says they aren’t the only ones with concerns. He says rental owners are very concerned about clean up costs and clean up certification that should be done before appartments are reopened. Baudler says his fellow republicans may be willing to restrict the sale of pseudoephedrine sales now that the drug companies are coming out with a new cold medicine that contains the drug in a form that cannot be used to make meth. Baudler says that version of the drug could still be sold in convenience stores.
