Cold Remedy Limits Delayed

An effort to combat the methamphetamine epidemic by limiting sales of cold remedies used to make the drug stalled in Congress after lawmakers dropped it from a spending bill.

The Senate version of a bill to fund Commerce, Justice and science agencies included a measure by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Jim Talent (R-Mo.) that would have restricted sales of popular over-the-counter cold medicines such as Sudafed and Nyquil.

Such medicines contain pseudoephedrine, which can be extracted and used to cook the illegal and highly addictive drug. The Feinstein-Talent legislation would have put cold medicines behind pharmacy counters and limited the quantities sold.

But a House version of the spending bill didn’t include the measure. House and Senate negotiators ran out of time to iron out their differences and left it out of the final bill, which passed the House on Wednesday and was in line for a Senate vote.

“We made a lot of progress,” Talent said. “Everybody was very committed to the meth provision. We were very close to having a final product.”

“I am disappointed ... but I am still hopeful,” Feinstein said.

Despite the setback, Congress could pass a meth bill as early as next week.

The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday passed a version of legislation by Rep. Mark Souder (R-Ind.) that also would put cold medicines behind the counter but differs on how much could be sold.

Under the Senate version, consumers would have had to show a photo ID and sign a log and been limited to 7.5 grams -- or 250 30-milligram pills -- in a 30-day period. The House version would limit sales to 3.6 grams per transaction but doesn’t include the 30-day limit. It also includes criminal penalties not in the Senate bill.