New Tennessee Anti-Meth Law in Effect at Pharmacies

Описание: A new Tennessee law makes cold and allergy medicine tougher to buy and use to make methamphetamine, beginning Tuesday.

Tennessee lawmakers put even more restrictions on pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient in meth, by cutting the allowed amount of grams one person can buy down to less than 6 grams a month.

Last year, Tennessee authorities seized nearly 1,700 meth labs and removed more than 260 children from meth-related situations, according to Governor Bill Haslam. The new law puts a cap on purchased pseudoephedrine to 28.8 grams per year.

"If someone is buying over and over again, they'll have to have a doctor's prescription in order to purchase over that 28 gram (limit)," said Sgt. Daniel Jones, of Chattanooga police.

The 28-gram restriction is about five months' worth of the maximum dose of Sudafed. A federal computer system currently keeps track of people who buy pseudoephedrine, where they buy and how often.

"It's a really good approach because most patients that really need some, really aren't going to need that much," said Hemi Patel, a pharmacist at Hamilton Discount Pharmacy. "Nobody can sell the pseudoephedrine without logging on and registering that person who's buying the pseudoephedrine into the computer."

The new limit of less than 6 grams cut the allowed amount by a third from the 2005 law, which permitted 9 grams of pseudoephedrine. Meth investigators said the new law won't fix the meth problem, but they said it's one more step to make smarter traps for in-state meth cookers.

It also helps deter people who attempt to beat the tracking system in place, authorities said.

"We also call it smurfing, where someone will send someone else out to go and purchase pseudoephedrine for them, so that will also let us know who those people are as well," said Jones.

Anyone who needs pseudoephedrine when they're sick can still get it, but they will need a prescription if they need more than 28 grams a year under the new anti-meth law.

Hamilton and McMinn counties rank in the top 10 for meth lab seizures in 2012, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

By Briona Arradondo