Pseudoephedrine

A new study suggests restrictions put into place by the U.S. government on a chemical needed to produce cocaine have led to a reduced use of the drug in the past decade. Mexican police action against a company importing pseudoephedrine, which is used to make meth, also contributed to the decline.

With the opioid epidemic on the front page of many media reports, the public may think that the use of methamphetamine (meth) has dissipated. However, while taking a backseat to the prescription drug and heroin crisis, the abuse of meth continues to plague our nation.

For pharmacies, stocking meth-resistant cold medications is a simple way to provide customers with the medicine they have always relied on without requiring them to visit the doctor every time they have a cold. And this switch keeps meth producers looking elsewhere.

Electronically tracking purchases of pseudoephedrine, a cold medicine used in making methamphetamine, will not stop production or use of meth, according to a drug policy expert.

The Drug Enforcement Administration said this week that a new cold medicine must be kept behind pharmacy counters because it can be used to make methamphetamine. The medicine, Zephrex-D, contains a new form of pseudoephedrine that the drug’s maker says is difficult to use to make meth.

A new study in Kentucky links sales of cold medicine products containing pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in methamphetamine, with meth lab busts. The study found each 13 grams of the decongestant sold per 100 residents was associated with one additional meth lab.

South Asian countries, including Iran and Pakistan, are quickly establishing themselves as a major force in the global methamphetamine market, the Associated Press reports.

A drug company says it has developed a formulation of the cold medicine pseudoephedrine that cannot be made into methamphetamine.

To reduce the number of methamphetamine labs in the state, Oklahoma prosecutors are asking lawmakers to make the tablet form of pseudoephedrine a prescription.

Iowa’s system to track and prevent sales of pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient of methamphetamine, has prevented more than 21,000 illegal purchases, a new report states.

The Director of Mississippi’s Bureau of Narcotics says the state’s law requiring prescriptions for the cold medicine pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient in methamphetamine, has reduced the number of meth labs in the state.

Kentucky is considering whether to require prescriptions for cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient in methamphetamine.

Oklahoma is considering a law similar to one in Oregon that requires a prescription for the tablet form of pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient in methamphetamine. Since Oregon instituted the law in 2005, meth labs have almost disappeared from the state.

Law enforcement officials in Tennessee say that a recent law aimed at shutting down methamphetamine labs isn’t strict enough because it doesn’t make meth’s key ingredient, pseudoephedrine, available only through a doctor’s prescription.

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has signed the “I Hate Meth Act,” which classifies preparing methamphetamine in front of a child as aggravated child endangerment.

A law restricting access to the cold medicine ingredient pseudoephedrine has helped in the fight against methamphetamine, according to Iowa officials. But meth producers are still finding ways around the law.

A Colorado Senate committee defeated a bill that would have made drugs containing pseudoephedrine available only by prescription. The bill aimed to further restrict the ability of methamphetamine labs to make the illegal drug.

A bill pending in the Colorado Senate would make drugs containing pseudoephedrine available only by prescription. The bill aims to further restrict the ability of methamphetamine labs to make the illegal drug.