Health News
The group fighting a bill that would make the key ingredient for making methamphetamine available only by prescription spent more than $194,000 last month alone to lobby lawmakers, far more than any other lobbying interest at the General Assembly.
- Over-the-counter Drug Makers Start Campaign To Educate Potential Meth 'smurfers' About Consequences Of Their Actions
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News The lobby for makers of over-the-counter drugs, which has fought laws to tighten controls on sale of cold medicine that is used to make methamphetamine, is starting a public-education campaign to discourage evasion of...
- To Fight Meds-for-meth Bill, Consumer Healthcare Products Association Spent Almost $500,000 In Last Session, A Record
The biggest spender to lobby the Kentucky legislature in the 2012 session was the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which represents the over-the-counter drug industry. Of the $8.8 million spent in 2012 overall, the group spent nearly $500,000,...
- Meds-for-meth Bill Drew Record Lobbying Expenses, Not Even Including Radio And Newspaper Ad Campaigns
Makers of over-the-counter drugs spent more than any lobbying interest ever had during a single Kentucky legislative session in their effort to defeat a bill requiring prescriptions for the key ingredient in methamphetamine, Bill Estep reports for the...
- Makers Of Sudafed, Similar Cold Medicines Again Lead In Legislative Lobbying Expenses, And That Doesn't Count Their Radio Ad Campaign
The Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which is fighting legislation that would limit the amount of pseudoephedrine that could be bought without a prescription, remained the leading spender among lobbying interests at the General Assembly in February,...
- Philip Morris's Parent Company And Drug Makers Spent The Most On Lobbying The State Legislature Last Year
The two biggest-spending lobbies of the state legislature last year were a tobacco company that opposes a statewide smoking ban and a group of drug makers who oppose a bill to require prescriptions for decongestants used to make methamphetamine. The...
Health News
Group fighting meds-for-meth bill says it spent nearly $200,000 in January on lobbying, and that apparently omits radio buys
The group fighting a bill that would make the key ingredient for making methamphetamine available only by prescription spent more than $194,000 last month alone to lobby lawmakers, far more than any other lobbying interest at the General Assembly.The Consumer Healthcare Products Association "reported spending more on Frankfort lobbying for the month than the next eight largest groups combined," reports Tom Loftus of The Courier-Journal. "That's almost an obscene amount of money to be spending on one month on one issue," said Senate Majority Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester. Stivers is sponsoring the bill, which would require a prescription for cold and allergy medicine that contains pseudoephedrine.
The group with the second highest spending was the Kentucky Hospital Association, at $36,120.
CHPA "is a group of manufacturers and distributors of over-the-counter medicines whose members include Bayer Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson," Loftus reports. In a statement Monday, the group said it is again "efforts by some legislators to deny law-abiding citizens nonprescription access to certain cold and allergy medicines they depend on."
The $194,957.76 spent on lobbying apparently does not include what the CHPA spent on broadcast advertising, which it does not have to report. As of Feb. 3, the group had spent more than $82,000 running ads on Louisville, Lexington and Somerset radio stations owned by Clear Channel Communications Inc., the nation's largest radio operator, according to public-inspection files at those stations, the only ones that have been checked by Kentucky Health News and its journalistic partner, Jonah Engle. In 2011, CHPA paid the Kentucky Association of Radio and Television more than $93,000 to run ads, according to public-inspection files from Cumulus Broadcasting, another major owner of stations in Kentucky.
As for lobbying expenses, more than $12,000 was spent on salaries for three lobbyists, plus nearly $4,000 for food, lodging, beverage and transportation expenses. More than $150,000 was spent "for professional and technical research and assistance," plus nearly $27,000 for "educational and promotional items."
"I'm not surprised they reported so much for lobbying because it's obvious they're doing a pretty good job of getting their message out ... which I believe is a misleading scare campaign," said Sen. Ray Jones, D-Pikeville, who is co-sponsoring the meds-for-meth bill. (Read more)
- Over-the-counter Drug Makers Start Campaign To Educate Potential Meth 'smurfers' About Consequences Of Their Actions
By Al Cross Kentucky Health News The lobby for makers of over-the-counter drugs, which has fought laws to tighten controls on sale of cold medicine that is used to make methamphetamine, is starting a public-education campaign to discourage evasion of...
- To Fight Meds-for-meth Bill, Consumer Healthcare Products Association Spent Almost $500,000 In Last Session, A Record
The biggest spender to lobby the Kentucky legislature in the 2012 session was the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which represents the over-the-counter drug industry. Of the $8.8 million spent in 2012 overall, the group spent nearly $500,000,...
- Meds-for-meth Bill Drew Record Lobbying Expenses, Not Even Including Radio And Newspaper Ad Campaigns
Makers of over-the-counter drugs spent more than any lobbying interest ever had during a single Kentucky legislative session in their effort to defeat a bill requiring prescriptions for the key ingredient in methamphetamine, Bill Estep reports for the...
- Makers Of Sudafed, Similar Cold Medicines Again Lead In Legislative Lobbying Expenses, And That Doesn't Count Their Radio Ad Campaign
The Consumer Healthcare Products Association, which is fighting legislation that would limit the amount of pseudoephedrine that could be bought without a prescription, remained the leading spender among lobbying interests at the General Assembly in February,...
- Philip Morris's Parent Company And Drug Makers Spent The Most On Lobbying The State Legislature Last Year
The two biggest-spending lobbies of the state legislature last year were a tobacco company that opposes a statewide smoking ban and a group of drug makers who oppose a bill to require prescriptions for decongestants used to make methamphetamine. The...