By Peter Smith | Old Dominion Watchdog

ALEXANDRIA — Virginia lawmakers on a Crime Commission Panel came out against a plan aimed at curbing meth-use that could have Virginians with too much allergy medication in their medicine cabinets facing stiffer penalties than those who possess “date rape” drugs.

A proposed law, sponsored by state Sen. Roscoe Reynolds, D-Martinsville, would re-classify household allergy medicines, such as Claritin-D and Sudafed, as Schedule III controlled substances — on par with addictive painkillers, such as Vicodin, and one step above Rohypnol, a powerful sleeping pill sometimes used by rapists to knock out their victims.

Roscoe’s law aims to crack down on those who use pseudoephedrine in allergy medications to cook up methamphetamine, or meth. The proposed classification would move the nasal decongestants behind the counter, available only to those with a prescription from a doctor.

Lawmakers on the panel greeted Reynolds’ proposal with skepticism.

“I certainly have some concerns, reservations about making a drug, that is this common and has none of the other characteristics of prescription drugs, prescription,” said Delegate Rob Bell, R-Albemarle, who chairs the commission.

The Crime Commission Panel instead is looking at ways to monitor sales of the allergy medication electronically to help law enforcement battle local meth cooks.

The Commission expressed interest in the National Precursor Log Exchange, or NPLEx, an electronic tracking system used in states with long histories of meth abuse, such as Tennessee and Indiana. The system tracks the sale of Sudafed and other allergy medicines using bar codes and a nationwide purchaser database.

The only inconvenience to the customer would be handing over identification to a store clerk, who would then enter his information into the log. The service is provided free to state governments that pass laws cracking down on methamphetamine use and distribution.

Virginia’s meth labs are largely concentrated in the southwest, following the Appalachian spine on Interstate 81. Law enforcement dismantled 39 meth labs in 2010 and reported 108 meth-related incidents in 2010, according to the Virginia State Police.

These numbers pale in comparison to Virginians buying pseudoephedrine for allergy needs.

Virginians bought 1.5 million packages of allergy products like Sudafed and Claritin-D between June 2010 and June 2011, said Elizabeth Funderburk, spokeswoman for the Consumer Healthcare Products Association.

Meth users consume the drug for chemical highs nearly four times as powerful as cocaine, which can last almost 24 hours, said Dr. Michele Chesser, senior health policy analyst for the state.

The drug causes violent behavior in users as well as erratic mood swings, high core-body temperatures, severe dental problems and disfiguring skin lesions.

Chesser said 10 percent of meth is manufactured locally; the other 90 percent of Virginia’s meth is supplied by Mexican drug cartels.

Virginia law bans the sale of more than 9 grams of pseudoephedrine to an individual in a month. One 15-count box of a 24-hour allergy medicine contains 3.6 grams of the drug.

An individual with three boxes of the pills could be charged with unlawful possession of a Schedule III controlled substance, a misdemeanor charge which carries penalties up to 12 months in prison, a $2,500 fine or both.

“It doesn’t strike me that that’s a lot of medication for an individual’s use,” said Virginia Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Hazel.

Lawmakers from southwestern Virginia are looking for any way to control the drug, which has become a blight on the community.

Delegate Joe Johnson, D-Washington, said he has not read Roscoe’s bill, but he is willing to consider creative ways to stop the drug.

“I am willing to support legislation that will support law enforcement and localities in cleaning up the meth labs and putting a stop to it,” he said.

State Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Roanoke, said the state has to improve its efforts because of the human cost on users and their families.

“The problem with meth is that it is the poor man’s heroin,” he said. “We have to put this narcotic at the top of the list of things to knock out.”

Other lawmakers are afraid that Reynolds’ proposal would hurt poor communities.

“Pseudoephedrine is a most effective drug I know as a decongestant, and it’s such a crying shame that it is abused the way it is,” said Gloucester Republican Delegate Harvey Morgan, who also works as pharmacist. “(The law) would affect poorer residents. It would affect everybody who needs access to that medication, because it would make it more difficult and more costly for them to obtain.”

The proposal, as it is currently written, could find its way to the state’s law books through other avenues. The Joint Commission on Health Care is in the midst of a public comment period and will revisit the proposal on Oct. 17 in Richmond.