Legislature approves bill restricting sale of cold medications

Iowa legislators have endorsed the final version of a bill that backers believe will dramatically reduce the number of meth labs in Iowa. The Governor will approve this deal, so here are the new rules Iowa consumers will soon be operating under when they try to buy cold or allergy medications that contain pseudoephedrine. You will be able to buy one bottle of liquid products like NyQuill and one package of gel caps in a retail store, but you’ll have to ask a clerk, show an I-D and sign a log book. You’ll have to go ask a pharmacist for pills or tablets like Sudafed. Senator Keith Kreiman, a democrat from Bloomfield, praised the compromise. He says the bill establishes very, very tough, very, very effective limitations on pseudoephedrine. “It is going to be, without a doubt, the toughest pseudoephedrine bill in the country,” Kreiman says. Kreiman says there’ll be a reduction in the number of meth labs in Iowa, and fewer children will be put at risk because their parents will find it tougher to obtain the ingredients to cook meth. Representative Kevin McCarthy, a democrat from Des Moines, calls it the “smartest” state response to the problem of math labs. “We now have the strongest law in the country that we know, based upon the evidence from Oklahoma, will have dramatic, dramatic reductions in the number of meth labs in the state,” McCarthy says. Marvin Van Haaften, the state’s drug czar, agrees. “What you have here is a bill that in at least four distinct areas is more restrictive than anything I know going on in the United States,” Van Haaften says. Senator Bob Brunkhorst, a republican from Waverly, says he’s proud of the bill. “Every year that I’ve been here we’ve passed some type of bill regarding methamphetamine. This is only a step in the process, but it will do one thing. It will cut down on the number of meth labs,” Brunkhorst says. “This is a very addictive drug…you look at the pictures of people who’ve been on this and it’s just devastating. I think all of us need to step up to the plate,” Brunkhorst says. Governor Tom Vilsack met with reporters last (Wednesday) night to praise legislators to taking action on the meth bill. “This is, I believe, one of the most significant crime measures that we’ve passed in quite some time,” Vilsack says.