Virginia lawmakers are so concerned about the proliferation of methamphetamine in the Commonwealth that they are considering changing the state policy that governs many over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines. With 90 percent of U.S. meth labs located in the eastern half of the country, some officials believe the status quo has become unacceptable.
Meth is often made with pseudoephedrine from cold pills. But even after limits were set on the amount of cold medicines per purchase, meth manufacturing has increased … exacting a heavy toll in health, public safety, child welfare, and toxic chemical clean-up costs. The Joint Commission on Health Care’s Michele Chesser says meth is more potent than cocaine:
“It also, unfortunately, depletes the brain’s dopamine stores and destroys the dopamine receptors. And these can take up to one year to re-grow. So during that period, if the individual is not using meth, they are incapable of experiencing pleasure. So this makes it very, very difficult to treat. They can fall into a very deep depression and, as a result, oftentimes will go back using meth,” says Chesser.
The number of meth labs declined in the two states that require prescriptions for cold medicines. Some lawmakers argue that a similar law would have the same effect in Virginia, but others say that would be inconvenient and expensive. Another option is a monitoring database that would require customer identification and track all cold medicine purchases.
–Anne Marie Morgan
Virginia Public Radio 