Albany, N.Y.—The State Senate Tuesday unanimously approved legislation co-sponsored by Senator Tom O’Mara (R-C, Big Flats) to help local police and district attorneys track and prosecute violations of restrictions on over-the-counter sales of cold medications. The targeted medications are key ingredients used to manufacture methamphetamine.
“We continue to see alarming increases across the Southern Tier and Finger Lakes regions in the production, sale and use of meth, as well as other illegal drugs," said O’Mara, a member of the Senate Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction. “Law enforcement officers and prosecutors throughout our communities continue to do outstanding work on public awareness, education, enforcement and protection. We can help law enforcement by enacting laws like this one to help them prosecute meth crimes.”
The legislation (S.1236) O’Mara co-sponsors would, within state law, limit the sale of cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine to behind the counter, limit the amount of pseudoephedrine that an individual can purchase each month, and require that an individual present photo identification to purchase products containing pseudoephedrine. A federal law enacted over a decade ago, the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 (CMEA), already regulates retail over-the-counter sales of these products because of their use in manufacturing meth. However, while the CMEA has been helpful to law enforcement when investigating persons suspected of making meth, since no similar provisions exist directly in state law local police and district attorneys are limited in their ability to fully pursue violations of purchase limits.
States that have enacted similar or more restrictive retail regulations have seen a dramatic drop in the operation of small clandestine meth labs, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
O’Mara has consistently highlighted the dramatic rise in meth-related arrests and other incidents across the region over the past several years, including recent arrests in Steuben County.
