Business, Government Legal News from throughout WVPrescription pseudoephedrine bill named after late delegate

A bill that would make medications with pseudoephedrine require prescriptions is making the rounds of the Legislature once again.

The bill, called "The Larry Border Act," after the late Republican delegate from Wood County, was introduced Jan. 19.

Delegate Anna Border is serving in her late husband's position in the Legislature. He advocated last year for the same bill.

"I am greatly honored that this legislation will be called ‘The Larry Border Act,' and working to make his dream happen was one of the main reasons I agreed to be appointed to my husband's seat," Anna Border said in a news release.

Pseudoephedrine, a chemical in some cold medicines, is a common ingredient used to manufacture methamphetamines. The Legislature required medicines with pseudoephedrine be kept behind the pharmacy counter in 2005, with an added requirement that purchases be registered in a logbook.

The number of meth labs has continued to rise in West Virginia, with a 50 percent increase last year.

A news release from Sen. Dan Foster, D-Kanawha, points out that Kentucky is the first state to use real time, electronic tracking, but meth lab busts continue to increase. Oregon and Mississippi both require prescriptions for products with pseudoephedrine, and the numbers of meth lab seizures have decreased in both states.

"Importantly, there has been no real increase in health care costs related to this change, as many feared," the news release states. "What little inconvenience occurs appears to be far outweighed by the many benefits to society."
 
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin proposed a real-time, electronic monitoring system for medicines containing pseudoephedrine in his State of the State Address.

"The Larry Border Act," Senate Bill 346, was sent to the committee on Health and Human Resources.