September 10, 2010
On Wednesday September 8th Mayor Mark Senter, representing the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, testified before the Indiana General Assembly’s Criminal Law Study Committee in Indianapolis.
The subject at hand was the meth problem in Indiana. There is a growing contsensus among law enforcement and law makers to attempt to make pseudoephedrine a prescription medication. Mayor Senter spoke about his experiences as a state police detective dealing with over 90 labs in 5 years on the meth lab team. He also spoke about what he has done as mayor to attempt to curtail the meth epidemic here in Plymouth with the Mult-Agency Drug Unit and monthly Town Hall Meetings.
Other speakers included sheriffs, prosecutors, and judges along with representatives from the Indiana State Medical Association, the Indiana Retail Council and the Indiana Drug Enforcement Association.
Electronic tracking of the sales of pseudoephedrine has just been introduced this month in Indiana, but the law requiring limits on the decongestants began in July of 2006. Two states, Oregon and Mississippi have already switched to requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine. Indiana changed from prescription to over-the-counter pseudoephedrine in 1976.