Nevada May Classify PSE as Prescription-Only

CARSON CITY, Nev. -- Nevada's Assembly Health and Human Services Committee conducted a hearing this week on a bill that would reclassify medicines containing pseudoephedrine, making them prescription-only. The proposed law, Assembly Bill 150, is backed by all but seven of the state's 63 lawmakers and would push PSE to a schedule III controlled substance. The bill comes after the federal Combat Methamphetamine Act places sales limits on PSE products and mandated their sale from behind the pharmacy or a locked case, as well as the mandatory signing of a logbook by all customers. Legislators would like to eliminate illegal methamphetamine labs that make use of PSE products. Drug industry groups argue it would make little difference to law enforcement while inconveniencing sick patients. In August 2005, Oregon began selling PSE as a prescription-only product and Nevada lawmakers say the move has made a huge impact on illicit methamphetamine labs in that state. The Consumer Healthcare Products Association and the Nevada Retail Association oppose the bill.