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Lawmakers Edge Closer To Pseudoephedrine Availability Changes

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Legislators may take a first step Monday toward deciding how much to limit access to Sudafed and similar medications.

At the start of the session, House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) endorsed a prescription requirement to keep pseudoephedrine out of the hands of meth cooks.

But Auburn Rep. Ben Smaltz (R-Auburn) changed his own bill to skip that requirement if a prescription is already on file at that pharmacy.

In the Senate, Randy Head (R-Logansport) has supported a prescription requirement in the past, but this year he's authored a bill to have pharmacists question customers about why they're buying the medicine.

Smaltz and Head both say their bills address consumer concerns about added expense and inconvenience, while still cutting off the supply of pseudoephedrine to meth labs.

Bosma says he doesn’t object to the Senate bill, but he likes the House version better.

“What I’ve called the ‘pharmacist cross-examination’ may also present a satisfactory solution, but I think Rep. Smaltz’s compromise hits the sweet spot for me and hopefully it will for others as well,” Bosma says.

Both the House and Senate will consider bills to deny Sudafed to convicted drug offenders.

A fourth approach, allowing Hoosiers a single 24-count Sudafed box a month without a prescription, didn't make it out of a House committee.

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