NASHVILLE - A legislative compromise to combat Tennessee's methamphetamine boom calls for implementing a tracking system on sales of pseudoephedrine along with new penalties for meth makers and "smurfers."
The proposal, negotiated by Safety Commissioner Bill Gibbons and others, also earmarks proceeds from the new fines for cleanup of illegal meth labs that have been abandoned or destroyed by law enforcement officers. The federal government recently ended a program that funded cleanup efforts.
Committees of both the House and Senate approved the plan, which was handled as a lengthy amendment completely rewriting SB1265 and its House counterpart, HB1051.
The compromise was hailed as resolving a conflict between the pharmaceutical lobby, which wanted only a tracking system, and prosecutors and law enforcement officers who wanted pseudoephedrine-based decongestants, which are used to make meth, sold by prescription only.
Some legislators, including Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Turner, complained that the compromise doesn't go far enough. But they nonetheless voted for it as a step in the right direction.
"We had the opportunity to bring the hammer down and put a stop to it (production of illegal meth)," said Turner. "It looks to me like we tried to placate too many people."
Rep. David Hawk, R-Greeneville, who presented the compromise to the House Health Subcommittee, had previously pushed a prescription-only bill.
"It is something maybe not everyone is happy with but everybody can live with," said Hawk.
Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mount Juliet, who previously advocated the pharmacists-backed bill to implement only a tracking system, voiced similar sentiments to the Senate Judiciary Committee. She described it as "the best bill we can get in this legislative session."
Key provisions for the compromise legislation include:
-- Effective Jan. 1, all pharmacies must use the National Precursor Log Exchange, known as NPLEx, which keeps track of all sales of pseudoephedrine-based drugs sold over the counter. Pharmacies must send the NPLEx data to a law enforcement database every 24 hours.
-- The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, meanwhile, will maintain a registry of meth offenders and send updates of that database to NPLEx at least every seven days. Pharmacists are to check the NPLEx database to be certain they are not selling to someone on the registry and to ascertain the purchaser has not exceeded the limit for purchases.
-- Effective July 1, a pharmacist cannot sell to the same person products containing more than 3.6 grams of pseudoephedrine per day or 9 grams in a 30-day period, unless the purchaser has a valid physician's prescription. Violation of the limits would be a Class A misdemeanor for either the pharmacists or purchaser.
Also, a pharmacist or pharmacy intern must "counsel" each purchaser of a product containing pseudoephedrine and decline the sale if it's "deemed not to be for a legitimate medical purpose."
-- Effective July 1, initiating the process of making meth in the presence of a child will be considered committing the crime of "aggravated child endangerment." If the child is 8 years of age or less, the crime would be a Class A felony; if older, a Class B felony.
-- Effective July 1, "smurfing" - or buying pseudoephedrine for use in making meth - becomes a special Class A misdemeanor with a minimum mandatory fine of $1,000 on first offense, $2,000 on second and subsequent offenses. All monies collected from these fines would go toward cleaning up meth labs, a process that Gibbons said costs an average of $4,500 per lab.
-- Effective July 1, possession of 15 grams of pseudoephedrine will be considered "prima facie" evidence of intent to manufacture meth. The current standard is 20 grams.
-- If NPLEx becomes unavailable, or the state is charged for the service at any point in the future, pharmacies will instead be required to file reports to the TMIS law enforcement database.
-- The state comptroller is instructed to conduct a "thorough study of meth and the availability of pseudoephedrine as a factor in manufacture of meth," reporting results to the Legislature by Jan. 1, 2013.
The comptroller's study, Hawk said, will be the basis for future decisions on whether other steps are necessary to curb meth production, including a requirement that pseudoephedrine be sold by prescription only.
Hawk said he believes the goal should be reducing meth lab seizures in Tennessee, which totaled more than 2,000 in 2010 and led the nation, to less than 100 per year.
The proposal, negotiated by Safety Commissioner Bill Gibbons and others, also earmarks proceeds from the new fines for cleanup of illegal meth labs that have been abandoned or destroyed by law enforcement officers. The federal government recently ended a program that funded cleanup efforts.
Committees of both the House and Senate approved the plan, which was handled as a lengthy amendment completely rewriting SB1265 and its House counterpart, HB1051.
The compromise was hailed as resolving a conflict between the pharmaceutical lobby, which wanted only a tracking system, and prosecutors and law enforcement officers who wanted pseudoephedrine-based decongestants, which are used to make meth, sold by prescription only.
Some legislators, including Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Turner, complained that the compromise doesn't go far enough. But they nonetheless voted for it as a step in the right direction.
"We had the opportunity to bring the hammer down and put a stop to it (production of illegal meth)," said Turner. "It looks to me like we tried to placate too many people."
Rep. David Hawk, R-Greeneville, who presented the compromise to the House Health Subcommittee, had previously pushed a prescription-only bill.
"It is something maybe not everyone is happy with but everybody can live with," said Hawk.
Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mount Juliet, who previously advocated the pharmacists-backed bill to implement only a tracking system, voiced similar sentiments to the Senate Judiciary Committee. She described it as "the best bill we can get in this legislative session."
Key provisions for the compromise legislation include:
-- Effective Jan. 1, all pharmacies must use the National Precursor Log Exchange, known as NPLEx, which keeps track of all sales of pseudoephedrine-based drugs sold over the counter. Pharmacies must send the NPLEx data to a law enforcement database every 24 hours.
-- The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, meanwhile, will maintain a registry of meth offenders and send updates of that database to NPLEx at least every seven days. Pharmacists are to check the NPLEx database to be certain they are not selling to someone on the registry and to ascertain the purchaser has not exceeded the limit for purchases.
-- Effective July 1, a pharmacist cannot sell to the same person products containing more than 3.6 grams of pseudoephedrine per day or 9 grams in a 30-day period, unless the purchaser has a valid physician's prescription. Violation of the limits would be a Class A misdemeanor for either the pharmacists or purchaser.
Also, a pharmacist or pharmacy intern must "counsel" each purchaser of a product containing pseudoephedrine and decline the sale if it's "deemed not to be for a legitimate medical purpose."
-- Effective July 1, initiating the process of making meth in the presence of a child will be considered committing the crime of "aggravated child endangerment." If the child is 8 years of age or less, the crime would be a Class A felony; if older, a Class B felony.
-- Effective July 1, "smurfing" - or buying pseudoephedrine for use in making meth - becomes a special Class A misdemeanor with a minimum mandatory fine of $1,000 on first offense, $2,000 on second and subsequent offenses. All monies collected from these fines would go toward cleaning up meth labs, a process that Gibbons said costs an average of $4,500 per lab.
-- Effective July 1, possession of 15 grams of pseudoephedrine will be considered "prima facie" evidence of intent to manufacture meth. The current standard is 20 grams.
-- If NPLEx becomes unavailable, or the state is charged for the service at any point in the future, pharmacies will instead be required to file reports to the TMIS law enforcement database.
-- The state comptroller is instructed to conduct a "thorough study of meth and the availability of pseudoephedrine as a factor in manufacture of meth," reporting results to the Legislature by Jan. 1, 2013.
The comptroller's study, Hawk said, will be the basis for future decisions on whether other steps are necessary to curb meth production, including a requirement that pseudoephedrine be sold by prescription only.
Hawk said he believes the goal should be reducing meth lab seizures in Tennessee, which totaled more than 2,000 in 2010 and led the nation, to less than 100 per year.