We think Missouri legislators are doing their constituents a big disservice if they don’t put a bill targeting pseudoephedrine sales up for a vote.
The measure targeting statewide sales of pseudoephedrine by making it available by prescription only has stalled following a public hearing in committee.
Pseudoephedrine, used in some cold and allergy medicines, is the key ingredient in making methamphetamine. Missouri, particularly Southwest Missouri, is among the leaders in the nation in the number of meth labs reported.
Joplin recently adopted the ordinance at the local level, but other municipal governments are waiting to see what the state is going to do.
Jasper County Sheriff Archie Dunn supports the measure, but county commissioners have no authority to adopt a countywide ordinance.
Joplin police Chief Lane Roberts, in making the push for the law in Joplin, said he was under no illusions that the action would wipe out meth use in Missouri. However, he said it should have an effect on the number of meth labs in Joplin. Those labs pose health risks to innocent children living in the home, to neighbors in the community and to law officers who have to clean up the mess.
Meth is such a big problem in our state that we think legislators should be willing to look at solutions.
Maybe taking pseudoephedrine back to a prescription-only status, as it was before 1976, isn’t the end-all answer, but it’s a starting point.
This is one bill that our Missouri lawmakers should act on.
Opinion
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