A short-sighted policy

Tulsa World: Four Oklahoma communities, McAlester, Wagoner, Holdenville and Chouteau, recently passed ordinances requiring allergy sufferers to obtain a prescription if they want to purchase tablets containing pseudoephedrine. This trend, aimed at curbing the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine, is short-sighted public policy.

History has shown that meth makers, when cut off from their source of precursor chemicals, are nothing if not adaptive. So far, the Legislature has not acted to make such a policy state law and for good reason. Inconveniencing thousands of people who depend on tablet-form pseudoephedrine to combat allergy symptoms might be a short-term solution but it’s unlikely to have a long-term impact on the illegal manufacture of meth.

Policymakers are frustrated with Oklahoma’s escalating meth problem, and they should be. It is perhaps the most dangerous substance ever to hit the illegal drug market. Combatting the illegal meth problem is costly and exposes innocent bystanders to dangers associated with the manufacture of meth .

The question of whether to make the tablet-form pseudoephedrine products a prescription drug is dividing physicians, with some well-considered arguments on both sides.

Requiring a prescription for tablets won’t remedy the problem of pseudoephedrine products being brought across state lines. The meth problem is a state problem and should be addressed accordingly.