Health News
- "stop Meth, Not Meds," Ad Sponsored By Drug Industry Advises
With some legislators saying a law is needed to make the decongestant pseudoephedrine available only by prescription, the Kentucky Healthcare Products Association has launched an advertising campaign to fight the effort. The radio commercials urge "public...
- Conway, Stumbo Say Yonts' Pseudoephedrine Bill Doesn't Do Enough To Stop Smurfing
State Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville, has proposed a bill that would make people who have been convicted of meth-related crime to get a prescription to buy pseudoephedrine, but Attorney General Jack Conway and House Speaker Greg Stumbo both told cn|2's...
- Make Pseudoephedrine Available Only By Prescription And See What Effect It Has On Methamphetamine Making, Editorial Argues
The 2012 General Assembly should make the cold medicine pseudoephedrine available only by prescription to see if that curbs methamphetamine production, an editorial in the Lexington Herald-Leader argues. The editorial notes the plan of Democratic...
- Giuliani Backs P'pool, Citing Attorney General Candidate's Opposition To Health-care Reform Law
Republican Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City and presidential candidate in 2007-08, has endorsed GOP nominee Todd P'Pool in the race for attorney general, citing the candidate's "eagerness to join the legal fight against President Barack...
- Law Enforcement And Allies Getting Ducks In Row In 2nd Bid To Pass Bill To Require A Prescription To Buy Pseudoephedrine
By Tara Kaprowy Kentucky Health News With police finding 20 percent more meth labs in Kentucky than a year ago, they and others are again encouraging state legislators to make pseudoephedrine less available by requiring a prescription for it....
Health News
Conway supports, P'Pool opposes meds-for-meth law; Conway defends decsion not to join lawsuits about federal health reform
In a debate where most of the sparks flew over often-specious questions about conflicts of interest, one of the biggest substantive disagreements between the candidates for attorney general Monday night was about whether to require a prescription for the cold medicine used to make methamphetamine. They also debated President Obama's health-care reform law.
Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway. left, said he supports such a law, which failed in this year's General Assembly, while Hopkins County Attorney Todd P'Pool, right, said he opposes it. The candidates were interviewed by Bill Goodman on KET's "Kentucky Tonight" as part of a series of debates between statewide candidates in the Nov. 8 election.
Click here for a story on the debate by Deborah Yetter of The Courier-Journal. Video of the debate is posted online here.
Republican P'Pool, the first to respond to Goodman's question, said he opposes making pseudoephedrine a scheduled drug because "I think it creates a burden for law-abiding citizens. . . . Let's don?t put a burden on soccer moms." He said he would support "a lifetime ban," which he did not explain, "for anyone convicted of a meth crime."
Conway said his position in favor of scheduling "is not the most politically popular position," but said he responded to a plea from "my friend Hal Rogers," the Republican congressman from Somerset who is a leading advocate. "I know it's not popular with some soccer moms," Conway said, and "I know it's inconvenient" to require a prescription, "but when you see a kid in a burn unit that?s gone through a meth lab it tears your heart." He said children at present at 80 percent of meth labs.
Conway said he is open to changing his position if opponents can show him how to prevent "smurfing," the use of surrogates to avoid the recordkeeping of pseudoephedrine purchases. He said many drug stories do not use the online recordkeeping system. He added that Oregon and Mississippi had "dramatic declines" in the number of meth labs after they scheduled pseudoephedrine.
As Goodman pressed the point, P'Pool said, "It?s really not about health care; it's about the proper role of the federal government." He said Kentucky could join the case with the stroke of a pen, but "My opponent has not been bashful in his support of Barack Obama and that?s why he?s on the sidelines."
P'Pool began the debate by sharply criticizing Conway's decision not to join lawsuits by Republican attorneys general challenging the constitutionality of the federal health-reform law: "He's absent form the fight against Obamacare ? because he supports Barack Obama and his re-election." Conway replied, "I'm not gonna take some of the valuable resourecs of the office of the attorney general and put 'em on a lawsuit on health care when it?s an issue that?s gonna get decided anyway." He said some attorneys general are supporting the law in court, and "I didn?t join them either because I wanted to focus on Kentucky first."
Conway replied that the lawsuit "might undo some of the underpinning" of Social Security and Medicare laws. "This is not a perfect bill; some things need to be fixed in health-care reform," he said, but he implicitly defended the bill's requirement to buy health insurance: "It costs Americans on average $46 billion a year to cover the uninsured," he said. "They?re going to the emergency room to get their care ? They?re already in the market. This is about being more efficient."
Click here for a story on the debate by Deborah Yetter of The Courier-Journal. Video of the debate is posted online here.
- "stop Meth, Not Meds," Ad Sponsored By Drug Industry Advises
With some legislators saying a law is needed to make the decongestant pseudoephedrine available only by prescription, the Kentucky Healthcare Products Association has launched an advertising campaign to fight the effort. The radio commercials urge "public...
- Conway, Stumbo Say Yonts' Pseudoephedrine Bill Doesn't Do Enough To Stop Smurfing
State Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville, has proposed a bill that would make people who have been convicted of meth-related crime to get a prescription to buy pseudoephedrine, but Attorney General Jack Conway and House Speaker Greg Stumbo both told cn|2's...
- Make Pseudoephedrine Available Only By Prescription And See What Effect It Has On Methamphetamine Making, Editorial Argues
The 2012 General Assembly should make the cold medicine pseudoephedrine available only by prescription to see if that curbs methamphetamine production, an editorial in the Lexington Herald-Leader argues. The editorial notes the plan of Democratic...
- Giuliani Backs P'pool, Citing Attorney General Candidate's Opposition To Health-care Reform Law
Republican Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City and presidential candidate in 2007-08, has endorsed GOP nominee Todd P'Pool in the race for attorney general, citing the candidate's "eagerness to join the legal fight against President Barack...
- Law Enforcement And Allies Getting Ducks In Row In 2nd Bid To Pass Bill To Require A Prescription To Buy Pseudoephedrine
By Tara Kaprowy Kentucky Health News With police finding 20 percent more meth labs in Kentucky than a year ago, they and others are again encouraging state legislators to make pseudoephedrine less available by requiring a prescription for it....