Iowa House Report

March 16, 2005 the House and the Senate passed the toughest and smartest meth bill in the country. Designed to diminish the prevalence of meth labs, SF 169 places restrictions on the purchase and sale of all products containing pseudoephedrine, a popular and widely available decongestant and precursor to meth.

The bill requires that most pseudoephedrine products be classified as a Schedule V controlled substance. Small dosage products (up to 360 milligrams) that are in liquid or liquid-filled capsule form may still be sold in other retail outlets such as grocery and convenience stores. However, a retail pharmacy that sells pseudoephedrine outside of the pharmacy is prohibited from:

* Selling a product that contains more than 360 milligrams of pseudoephedrine.

* Knowingly selling more than one package of pseudoephedrine product to a person in a 24-hour period.

* Selling a package of pseudoephedrine product that can be further broken down or divided in to two or more separate packages, or offer promotions giving away pseudoephedrine products for free.

A retailer or an employee of a retailer must:

* Display the pseudoephedrine product in a locked cabinet or behind the sales counter where it is not accessible to the public.

* Require the purchaser to present government issued photo identification prior to purchasing the pseudoephedrine product.

* Require the purchaser to print their name and address in a logbook and sign the logbook.

* Determine whether the signature in the logbook corresponds with the name on the identification.

* Keep the logbook for twelve months from the date of the last entry. The logbook may be kept in electronic format.

* Post the following in a clear and conspicuous manner:

"Iowa law prohibits the over-the-counter purchase of more than one package of a product containing pseudoephedrine in a twenty-four-hour period or more than seven thousand five hundred milligrams of pseudoephedrine within a thirty-day period. If you purchase a product containing pseudoephedrine, you are required to sign a logbook which shall be accessible to law enforcement officers."

A purchaser is prohibited from:

* Purchasing more than one package of pseudoephedrine product from a retailer within a 24-hour period.

* Purchasing more than 7,500 milligrams of pseudoephedrine within a 30-day period without a valid prescription.

A purchaser is required to:

* Print the person's name and address in a logbook and sign the logbook.

In an effort to implement this law uniformly throughout the State, all local ordinances attempting to regulate the sale of pseudoephedrine products will be unenforceable. We are confident that this bill strikes the proper balance between curbing the production of meth while allowing law-abiding citizens to purchase their cold remedy of choice. We are aware that there will be some inconvenience caused by this bill, but we believe the bill is crafted so that the criminal experiences the most frustration.

Next Week in the House

The House will debate Committee Bills that survived the funnel.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns that you have. I can be reached at chuck.gipp@legis.state.ia.us or by phone at 515-281-3054.