CHARLESTON, W.Va. — One of the most talked about bills of this regular session of the legislature heads into the last four days with major changes following action late Tuesday night by the House Judiciary Committee.
The panel significantly changed the pseudoephedrine bill leaving out the Senate-passed requirement of requiring a doctor’s prescription for certain cold medicines and instead reducing the amount of those medicines that can be purchased a year from 48 grams to 24 grams.
The committee also changed the bill to require only those convicted of drug crimes to get prescriptions if they want medicines that contain pseudoephedrine.
One of the state’s most significant drug problems has been with meth labs where cold medicines are purchased and chemically changed to produce meth. There were 533 of the labs busted in the state last year.
The drug industry has lobbied hard against the Senate bill that would have required anyone wanting to purchase cold medicines like Sudafed or Claritin D to visit a doctor and get him or her to sign off on it.
The changed bill moves to the House floor for consideration. The 60-day regular session ends Saturday at midnight.