Quick Hit: Regulating Pharmaceuticals

February 4, 2014

The effort is now under way in the Indiana Legislature to further restrict the sale of products containing ephedrine/pseudoephedrine (PSE). That is a key meth ingredient found in the most effective over-the-counter decongestants that afford relief to Hoosiers who suffer from asthma, sinus and other nasal disorders.

Meth is a growing problem in Indiana and a major source of concern to local governments. Mayors and their police chiefs are frustrated by the manpower and dollars they devote to coping with the problem. They want the Legislature to impose a requirement that PSE products may be purchased only with a doctor’s prescription.

PSE products are designed to treat a medical condition that afflicts tens of thousands of Hoosiers and are the most effective product for such treatment. While the meth problem is real, so too is the pain and suffering of those who depend on these medical products.

Advocates argue that a prescription requirement would be no more than an “inconvenience” for users of PSE products. That may be true for those who have a family doctor and can obtain a prescription over the phone. That is not true for the low- or no-income segment of the minority population, and it is not true for a large number of working people who do not have family doctors. For these people, a prescription requirement would be a significant burden and expense: find a doctor, get off work to see the doctor, pay the doctor and get your pay docked for missing a half day of work.

Punishing the law-abiding citizen to inconvenience the criminal is beyond the pale. Imposing a prescription requirement for a safe, effective, non-addictive medical product is unnecessary and unwise. The Legislature should just say no.

Tom Charles Huston
Carmel

The author is retired from the private practice of law. He served as an officer in the United States Army assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency and as associate counsel to the president of the United States.

djv

Our Site

Full use of this site, including access to the search function and the archive of past articles and journals, is now available to everyone.

Connect with Us

 

Our mission is to marshal the best thought on governmental, economic and educational issues at the state and municipal levels. We seek to accomplish this in ways that:

• Exalt the truths of the Declaration of Independence, especially as they apply to the interrelated freedoms of religion, property and speech.
• Emphasize the primacy of the individual in addressing public concerns.
• Recognize that equality of opportunity is sacrificed in pursuit of equality of results.

The Indiana Policy Review Foundation is a non-profit education foundation focused on state and municipal issues. It is free of outside control by any individual, organization or group. It exists solely to conduct and distribute research on Indiana issues. Nothing written here is to be construed as reflecting the views of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before the legislature or to further any political campaign.

The foundation's white papers are intended to make scholarly research on Indiana issues more widely available to policy analysts and researchers. White Papers represent research in progress and are published to invite comment and discussion as preparation for their submission to academic journals and other professional publications. The authors are solely responsible for the content of their research and analysis.