FACT/FICTION: Consumers don’t want to go to the doctor for a prescription every time they or their children get a cold. FACT: They forget to mention the other alternatives such as Phenylepherine. FACT: The back of a PSE box says children under 6 years old should speak with a doctor before using. FACT: If PSE was made a schedule III, it does not require a doctor visit, a doctor can phone in a prescription.
FACT: If PSE is scheduled it will only effect 15 products now on the market. There will still be 100s of other allergy medication on the shelf for people to buy.
FACT/FICTION: If Kentucky schedules PSE the meth cooks will just go to bordering states to buy it. FACT: Let them go to another state and buy their PSE. States that have scheduled PSE found that most meth cooks that go to another state to buy PSE cook their meth where they purchase it. Even if they bring it back we will have fewer meth labs.
FACT/FICTION: Kentucky will lose $750,000 in sales tax if PSE is scheduled. FACT: Kentucky spent $1.5 million in 2009 cleaning up meth labs. If you add in the cost of arrest, 1 day jail stay, public defender cost the total goes up to $4 million. (do the math, stats from Kentucky State Police.)
FACT/FICTION: Kentucky has the NPLEx system that monitors the purchase of PSE and BLOCKS the sale beyond the legal limits. FACT: Most smurfers buy under the limit anyway. If they do get blocked they just use a FAKE ID or call a group of friends to purchase for them. Blocking the sale of PSE does not prevent meth labs or an illegal sale of PSE.
FACT: We do not want to track PSE sales, we want to control PSE and significantly reduce meth labs.
FICTION: 75% of Louisville Metro’s meth labs were found by the use of NPLEx. FACT: In 2009 44 meth labs were found from NPLEx, 39 dump sites, and 63 were from complaints/informants.
FICTION: Kentucky’s 2009 increase in meth labs were due to the use of NPLEx. FACT: Of the 716 meth labs, 537 of them have been directly tracked. 54 of them were found due to NPLEx.
- Lake Cumberland Drug Task Force: out of 74 meth labs; 1 was found from NPLEx.
- Warren County Drug Task Force: out of 31 meth labs; 0 were found from NPLEx.
- Operation UNITE Drug Task Force: out of 55 meth labs; 7 were found from NPLEx.
- Kentucky State Police: out of 199 meth labs; 2 were found from NPLEx.
- Louisville Metro: out of 146 meth labs; 44 were found from NPLEx.
- Pennyrile Drug Task Force: out of 32 meth labs; 0 were found from NPLEx.
FACT/FICTION: “By adopting NPLEx as its e-tracking program, Missouri launches a pioneering effort to block illegal PSE purchases store by store, city by city, and state by state,” said Charlie Cichon, NADDI executive director. “NPLEx is the only solution that stops meth cooks from crossing borders to purchase PSE illegally, making it the most effective solution available.” FACT: NPLEx will not stop illegal PSE purchases because of smurfing and the use of FAKE IDs; this has been proven in Kentucky.
FACT/FICTION: States prefer e-tracking over scheduling. FACT: Kentucky was the first state to use and pay for NPLEx. No other state bought NPLEx until the Pharmaceutical Company offered it free after being approached by the tracking company. Kentucky is the only state with a track record; NPLEx does not reduce meth labs. Other states will likely take a free product and try it if told by an industry it will work.
FACT/FICTION: Since NPLEx was launched in Kentucky, sheriffs in several counties credit e-tracking with 70-100% of the meth lab busts. FACT: They fail to mention what counties and what sheriffs.
FACT: Operation UNITE Drug Taskforce ran the pilot project for METHCHECK in 2005; this 32 county Drug Taskforce is supporting scheduling of PSE.
FACT: Children found in meth labs are on the increase; Louisville Metro had 8 in 2008 and 22 in 2009. Appalachia HIDTA Drug Taskforces saw a 300% increase from 2008 to 2009. Tracking PSE sales will not decrease meth labs or reduce the number of children found in them.
FACT/FICTION: 73% of the people in Kentucky polled are against scheduling PSE. FACT: They do not tell us what questions were asked in the poll. How would you respond to: “If cold medicines are scheduled, you will have to go to a doctor and get them by prescription? Are you for scheduling?” That is a misleading question.
- Only cold medicines that contain PSE would require a prescription.
- If PSE was made a schedule III, it could be phoned in by the doctor and would not require a doctor’s visit.
FACT: One cannot compare Heroin or Cocaine to PSE. Heroin (comes from a plant) and Cocaine (comes from a plant) are not grown in the United States, PSE (manmade) and meth labs are. We can only control what we have.
FACT/FICTION: If PSE is scheduled it will be doctor shopped like Oxycodone or Hydrocodone. FACT: Since scheduling PSE in 2006, Oregon does not have doctor shopping of PSE. How do we know this; we spoke with narcotics detectives and the HIDTA director in that state. Oxycodone and Hydrocodone are a different category of drug than PSE. Doctors have few alternates to pain medications; doctors have numerous alternatives to prescribe other than PSE.
FACT: Kentucky had more meth labs in 2009 than ever before. For 2010 Kentucky is 38% ahead of last year as of 10/30/10 for found meth labs.
QUESTION: Do we let an industry that profits from the sale of PSE tell law enforcement and legislators how to clean up meth labs or do you listen to the people on the front line cleaning up the meth labs?