The Evansville area is, unfortunately, known for its high level of methamphetamine manufacture and usage. It is not like that in all areas of Indiana, but it is in the Tri-State region. In 2012, for example, Vanderburgh County ranked second in Indiana with 90 methamphetamine busts. The amount stayed about the same in 2013, authorities say.
Methamphetamine is a destructive drug, one that can destroy person and property alike while elevating the mood of the user.
One of its key ingredients, pseudoephedrine, is found in cold and allergy medicines, making them popular with those who manufacture meth in makeshift labs.
That has led officials and law enforcement officers in high incidence areas such as Southwestern Indiana to try for several years to seek legislation that would require pseudoephedrine to be purchased only via prescription. But alas, lawmakers from areas where meth is not so much a problem to want nothing to do with inconveniencing constituents who do not want to secure a prescription before purchasing cold medicine.
Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke is among those who have called for requiring prescriptions, but to no avail. Again this legislative session, making to make pseudoephedrine a prescription drug has gone nowhere and is going nowhere.
To her credit, State Rep. Wendy McNamara, R-Mount Vernon, is working on a proposal concerning meth, one that would require real estate disclosure statements on information about former meth labs.
It wouldn’t have the direct effect of preventing people from buying the meth ingredients over the counter at retain outlets, but it could begin to chip away at the problem.
McNamara’s bill, which passed the House and is under consideration in the Senate, would transfer to the Indiana State Police the responsibility of creating a database to track houses where meth has been manufactured.
In a report by Courier & Press staff writer Chelsea Schneider, McNamara said the bill has been a work in progress for months. She said her bill aims to create transparency in identifying and decontaminating houses where meth has been manufactured. Under her plan, once a property is certified as decontaminated, it would be removed from the meth database. The database would provide a link to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, if a potential buyer or member of the public wants to read the decontamination certificate. The idea is to get rid of tenants who are manufacturing meth, targeting houses where meth has been manufacturing.
Meth has created a mess among users. But until Hoosier lawmakers stop access to its chemical ingredients, it will remain a source of destruction among Indiana residents.