The Senate Corrections and Criminal Law Committee heard testimony concerning SB 536 addressing methamphetamine related conviction reporting authored by Sens. R. Young, Yoder, and Head. This bill requires courts to report methamphetamine related convictions to the state police department, and requires the police department to report those convictions to the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators so that stop sale alerts may be issued through the National Precursor Log Exchange (NPLEx) to prevent individuals with methamphetamine related convictions from purchasing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine.
Sen. Steele offered an amendment to the bill similar to SB 445 providing that materials, compounds, mixtures, or preparations that contain ephedrine or pseudoephedrine would be dispensed only by prescription. Representatives from the Indiana Association of City and Towns, the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, the Terre Haute Police Department, the Wabash County Sherriff, the Madison County prosecuting attorney, and the mayor of Terre Haute testified in favor of the bill. Testimony against the amendment was received from a St. Francis hospital physician representing the Indiana Academy of Family Physicians; a physician from the Indiana State Medical Association; a representative from the Indiana Minority Health Coalition; a consumer healthcare products association director; a representative of the Indiana Retail Council; and a local resident of Speedway, Indiana. Sen. Steele’s amendment was held for further discussion.
Sen. Young then introduced testimony on his bill, and introduced an amendment expanding the precursor band tracked in NPLEx. The amendment was adopted by consent, and testimony explaining the bill was received by an NPLEx representative and legal counsel from the Indiana State Police. The Indiana State Medical Association, Indiana State Retail Council, and the Indiana Osteopathic Association testified in favor of this amendment. The amended bill was held for final vote.
Read the bill at http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2015/bills/senate/536.