Schedule PSE Now And
End The Meth Scourge
Gary Gerard,
dumbhoosier.com
If you care about the local methamphetamine problem our county has been
battling, this is an important week ahead.
Two bills originating in the Indiana House of Representatives are aimed
at curbing the problem. In my humble opinion, only one of them does.
Both bills will be debated in the Indiana House Committee on Public
Health Wednesday afternoon.
One bill makes cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine HCI available
by prescription only.
The other bill sets up an electronic system to track sales of PSE.
Obviously, only one of those bills will make it out of committee and
have a chance to become law. (If PSE is prescription only, there would
be nothing to track.)
As loyal readers know, I believe the only way to end the meth epidemic
in our county is for PSE to be prescription only.
It’s simple. No PSE. No meth labs.
The Indiana State Police tell us that 50 percent of all the PSE cold
meds sold in Indiana wind up in meth labs. Half.
So the pharmaceutical companies who make PSE cold meds will lose 50
percent of those sales right off the bat if these meds are made
prescription only.
Guess who’s against making PSE a prescription drug? Guess who’s offered
to pay for the tracking system?
You know.
Profit. That’s one bogus argument for tracking.
Another bogus argument for tracking is inconvenience. Somebody wants
cold medicine and doesn’t want to see the doctor. Two points:
1. Buy a non-PSE cold medicine.
2. I’m pretty sure most doctors won’t demand an office visit for a
stuffy nose. They’ll phone in a script for you if they know who you are.
Another bogus argument for tracking is that making PSE a prescription
drug is an onerous government intrusion into our lives.
Really? Seriously?
Let’s think about this.
Let’s say PSE cold meds are made prescription only.
I get a prescription for a PSE cold med. It’s between me, my doctor and
my pharmacist. The information exchanged is protected by the the
federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
Now, let’s say a PSE tracking system is put in place.
I walk into a pharmacy to buy a box of PSE cold meds. I have to show my
ID, most likely my driver’s license. My name, address, date of birth,
drivers’ license number, date of purchase and type of purchase goes
into the tracking system.
Type that information into a LexisNexis database an up pops your
property ownership, where you live now, (and where you have lived most
of your life), where your kids go to school, how many and what type of
vehicles are registered to you, any type of professional licenses you
may have, who all your relatives are and the first five digits of your
social security number.
Now, I’m not saying that’s necessarily a problem. That info is floating
around out there anyway and it’s mainly going to be accessed only by
the cops. (Unless, of course, the WikiLeaks guy wants to expose your
PSE purchases. He’ll just hack in.)
Nonetheless, the PSE tracking database would be just one more portal
into your personal information.
Which begs the question for all you Libertarian, Tea Party,
anti-big-government types: Which system truly provides the most
government intrusion into your life? PSE as a prescription, or PSE
tracking?
You know.
And as compelling as those arguments against tracking may be, there is
this 800-pound gorilla in the room.
Tracking just plain doesn’t work. All tracking systems tried in other
states have failed.
The Indiana Methamphetamine Investigation System – in place here since
last August – doesn’t work. We’ve got more meth labs now than
ever.
Here’s why.
A person who buys PSE for meth labs is called a Smurfer. I don’t know
why, that’s just what they call these people.
Smurfers easily subvert a tracking system by grabbing somebody else’s
ID.
With IMIS, the Smurfer had to be careful. If he bought over the limit,
he could get caught later when the cops looked over the data.
The Meth Check system being touted now is even less effective because
it adds a “stop alert.”
It goes like this: Under IMIS, the Smurfer goes in and buys on his ID.
If he’s over the limit, he could get caught because he bought too much
PSE in too short a time. He has broken the law.
But under Meth Check, the smurfer goes in and tries to buy on his ID.
The pharmacists says, “Sorry Mr. Smurfer, that would put you over the
limit.” So the Smurfer leaves the store, gets another ID, goes to
another store and buys PSE.
He can’t get busted because he never buys over the limit.
Kentucky tried Meth Check. Kentucky is now known in meth circles as
“Smurfer haven.” You literally don’t have to worry about getting caught
trying to buy too much PSE.
The result of all this is a large and growing group of individuals
willing to be Smurfers. People who have never used or cooked meth are
willing to buy PSE. They pay $6 for a box of it and sell it to
the meth cook for $75 or so.
Meth cookers have stacks of IDs they dole out to friends or family
members.
The Missouri Associated Press ran a story about tracking a month or so
ago. Here are the first two paragraphs.
ST. LOUIS – Electronic systems that track sales of the cold medicine
used to make methamphetamine have failed to curb the drug trade and
instead created a vast, highly lucrative market for profiteers to buy
over-the-counter pills and sell them to meth producers at a huge markup.
An Associated Press review of federal data shows that the lure of such
easy money has drawn thousands of new people into the methamphetamine
underworld over the last few years.
Knowing all this – and they do know all this – why in the world would
any self-respecting lawmaker even consider Meth Check for Indiana?
You know.
So here’s the deal. Scheduling works. Tracking doesn’t.
Oregon returned PSE to prescription status. That state has completely
eliminated Smurfing and virtually eliminated meth labs.
If scheduling passes, PSE would be prescription only beginning July 1.
If tracking passes, it would start Jan 1, 2012. Even though it will
have no impact on the number of meth labs, we’ll have to “give it a
try” for a couple years.
That’s three more years of stories like these:
A 24-year-old mother of two took her toddler/infant kids to a
neighbor’s house and went back home to cook a little meth. Her glass
one-pot lab blew up. Shards of glass cut her throat. She bled to death
on her bedroom floor. Hey, on the upside, at least her kids didn't have
to watch their mommy die.
A five-month-old died recently. The toxicology reports aren’t in yet,
but the cops believe it was because of continuous secondhand exposure
to her parents cooking and smoking meth.
Remember.
No PSE. No meth labs. Simple.
Make PSE available by prescription only and the number of meth labs
will dwindle to near zero.
Come on people. Let lawmakers know it’s time to quit screwing around
and get this done.
Dr. Tim Brown is chairman of the committee on public health that is
deciding which bill to send to the full house.
765-362-7024
317-232-9762.
You know.
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