House OKs watered-down anti-meth bill
AP-TN-XGR–Meth Production House OKs watered-down anti-meth bill Eds: APNewsNow. Will be updated.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A watered-down version of Gov. Bill Haslam’s anti-meth legislation has been approved by the House.
The measure was approved 80-17 on Wednesday, and is significantly different than the Senate version.
The House bill would set an annual cap of 150 days’ worth of allergy and cold medicines like Sudafed that could be bought without a prescription.
Haslam’s original proposal would have established a monthly limit of 2.4 grams of pseudoephedrine, or a 10-day maximum dose, before requiring a pharmacist to authorize another 10 days’ worth before getting a doctor’s prescription.
Facing resistance over that measure, the governor later removed the pharmacist element, and instead proposed a 4.8-gram month maximum and an annual cap of 14.4 grams. That proposal was adopted in the Senate. The House version sets a 5.8 gram monthly cap and annual limit of 28.8 grams.
