Pseudoephedrine bill passes state committee

Local News

February 17, 2012

By RONNIE ELLIS, CNHI News Service CNHI The Commonwealth Journal Fri Feb 17, 2012, 08:00 AM EST

Frankfort, Ky. —

It took some blunt testimony and visual evidence and the vote was close, but the Senate Judiciary Committee passed out a bill Thursday to require prescriptions for the purchase of products containing pseudoephedrine.

The bill is an attempt to make it more difficult for those who operate home-made methamphetamine labs to secure the vital ingredient found in many cold and allergy remedies, but opponents say it will do little to stop the scourge of meth and will inconvenience thousands of law-abiding citizens who need the drug for cold and allergy symptoms.

The vote was 6-5 and committee chairman Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, said it would be a close vote on the Senate floor where the bill now goes. He did not expect the bill to be voted on this week.

Jensen was the original sponsor of the bill but he withdrew after he said he was criticized because he once did some legal work for the anti-drug organization UNITE which supports the prescription require-ment. Sen. Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, took over the bill and he brought a powerful outside voice with him Thursday.

Melanda Adams, 31, of Clay County told the committee she suffered addiction from the time she was in middle school and had to undergo arrest, jailing and long-term rehabilitation before she got her life – and he demons – under control.

“Having an addiction is like having air to breathe – you have to have it,” said Adams who said she came from a good family but was rebellious. “Addiction took over my life.” As she spoke, an overhead screen displayed a mug shot from one of her arrests. The young woman was thin with vacant, distant eyes.

“If meth just made people ugly, it would be okay,” said Adams, who said she has been clean for seven years, owns a business and is a mother of a young child.

“Just look at my eyes in this picture and you can tell: I’m lost; I’m not sane.”

After using alcohol, marijuana and prescription painkillers, Adams became a meth user and then began to manufacture and sell it herself. She said she routinely tossed bottles in which she’d manu-factured meth, bottles containing toxic resid-ues, into streams and along the sides of roads.

Jensen asked Adams if she ever thought of the danger to others when she discarded the materials.

“No, we didn’t care,” Adams answered. She also said a lab once exploded on her.

The aim of the legislation, according to Stivers and Jensen, is to eliminate the ingredient that is so easy for users to buy and use in the labs that have injured children, law enforce-ment agents and innocent bystanders. Jensen said the costs of the labs for the state runs between $12 and $20 million a year.

He held up two poster-size photographs of a young woman who was holding a “shake and bake” meth lab between her legs as she drove. The lab exploded, severely injuring and burning her. Jensen said the woman had no insurance and had thus far incurred over $750,000 in medical bills.

When the time came to vote, several senators explained their votes – Sen. Jerry Rhoads, D-Madisonville, said the threat of meth labs was real but he thought an alternative that would track pseudoephedrine purchases, bar purchase by those convicted of drug offenses, and limit the amount of the drug that could be purchased over a year was preferable because it would not penalize legitimate users of the drug. Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, read two letters from physicians who said the bill would produce burdensome costs and inconveniences on legitimate users.

Voting for the bill were Jensen; Stivers; Sen. Ray Jones, D-Pikeville; Sen. Robin Webb, D-Grayson; Sen. Carroll Gibson, R-Leitchfield; and Sen. Brandon Smith, R-Hazard. Voting no were Rhoads; Schickel; Sen. Perry Clark, D-Louisville; Sen. Dan Seum, R-Louisville; and Sen. Katie Stine, R-Southgate.

Steve Bryant, a spokesman for the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, issued a statement saying makers of the drugs share the goal “with law enforcement to stop the illegal diversion of common cold and allergy medicines.” But the association opposes “efforts to impose a prescription mandate as it does not stop meth abuse and will unnecessarily punish the Kentucky families who rely upon these popular, safe and legal non-prescription cold and allergies medicines for relief.”

The group has been running radio ads opposing the bill. This week a group called “Real Facts About Meth” began running ads in favor of the bill. Laurel County

Commonwealth Attorney Jackie Steele said he is heading a 527 group raising money to finance the campaign.

Jensen who sponsored a similar bill last year has promised an “up or down vote” on the measure on the Senate floor this year. He acknowledged the vote would be close.

“Right now, I’d guess our odds at 50-50,” Jensen said. “But I think we can move it forward if people will just listen.”

Rep. Linda Belcher, D-Shepherdsville, is sponsoring a similar measure in the House.

Ronnie Ellis writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort.

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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