Indiana House Committee to Hear Anti-Meth Proposals

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An Indiana House committee is set to hear proposals that would make it tougher to get an ingredient used in making methamphetamine.

One of bills that will go before the House Public Health Committee on Monday would authorize pharmacists to require customers they suspect of making meth to obtain a prescription in order to buy medicine containing pseudoephedrine (sue-doe-EFF'-uh-drin). That's a common ingredient in meth production.

The bill originally called for all pseudoephedrine purchases to require a prescription, but was changed when committee chairwoman Cindy Kirchhofer said it wouldn't get a hearing.

The prescription requirement has been proposed for several years without success, but Kirchhofer says the new version is a compromise.

The committee will also discuss bills to tighten limits on pseudoephedrine sales and increase drug-related crime reporting.