MARSHALL COUNTY, AL (WAFF) -
A bill in the state legislature could make it harder for those seeking the ingredients to make methamphetamine.
It would make pseudoephedrine and similar ephedrines controlled substances.
While there's a potential upside, there's also a downside. If the cold medicine is made a controlled substance, that means you'll have to spend more money going to a doctor to get a prescription just to get it instead of just driving to the pharmacy.
Years ago you could just go to your local pharmacy and buy pseudoephedrine. Then they put it behind the counter. Then they began monitoring sales to individuals using a statewide database.
Now, the legislature is looking at making you go to the doctor to get the drug to treat symptoms of the common cold.
So, if it's made a controlled substance, why not just pick another cold medicine?
Guntersville pharmacist Buddy Bunch of Bunch Pharmacy says there is a quality element that pseudoephedrine has.
"Sudafed is the best decongestant. I think that's been proven. Phenylephrine would be the second best, but pseudoephedrine, by far, is the best decongestant on the market," said Bunch.
Bunch is in Alabama's Pharmacy Association and says there is a divide among members if it should be made a controlled substance. Bunch believes it should.
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