Gov. Bill HaslamTennessee Gov. Bill Haslam today proposed what he calls a compromise solution to the tug-of-war over whether cold medicines containing a key ingredient in methamphetamine should be sold by prescription only.
Haslam’s solution, announced in a Nashville news conference, is to allow purchases of small amounts of such medicines under current rules but require prescriptions for larger amounts.
Haslam said the goal of his legislation, the Tennessee Anti-Meth Production (TAMP) Act, “is to limit access to pseudoephedrine or ephedrine products to those who are using it illegally while not overburdening law-abiding Tennesseans who need temporary cold and sinus relief.”
Pseudoephedrine is the effective ingredient in cold and allegy medicines such as Sudafed and Claritin-D. It’s also the key ingredient in the illegal stimulant methamphetamine.
According to a news release, the most frequently purchased box size contains 2.4g of pseudoephedrine or ephedrine, and in 2012, the average Tennessee consumer bought 4.8g for the entire year.