An effort to enforce limits on the sale of products containing pseudoephedrine, a common ingredient in some allergy and cold medicines that is also used to make methamphetamine, passed the Georgia Senate on Tuesday.
The chamber, however, added language to House Bill 588 that would additionally allow physician assistants to prescribe hydrocodone for up to 15 days — a change that would have to be approved by the state House before final passage.
HB 588 otherwise would provide supermarket and independent pharmacies with an electronic system to track purchases of products containing pseudoephedrine. State Rep. Valerie Clark, R-Lawrenceville, the bill's sponsor, has said 32 states already use similar systems, including all those surrounding Georgia.
The system would record a buyer’s information and enforce the purchasing limit of the substance, which in Georgia is currently 9 grams a month. The system would generate an alert if a purchase exceeds a buyer’s legal limit.
Under the bill, manufacturers of medications containing pseudoephedrine would pay for the system and offer its use free of charge to the state, pharmacies and law enforcement agencies. It would go live on Jan. 1, 2017.
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