By: BILL ROSENBERGER
CHARLESTON -- A late-evening compromise between members of the House and Senate and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and his staff saved the substance abuse bill.
The bill is described as among the most comprehensive substance abuse legislation passed by legislators. But it was hung up on the medicine used in production of methamphetamine.
House members were adamant to include an annual cap on the amount of decongestant medicine containing pseudoephedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine that could be purchased. The Senate version only included a daily and monthly cap.
But no one wanted to see the bill, which includes so many other substance abuse components, die on the final night of the session.
"We potentially could have lost the entire bill," said Del. Don Perdue, D-Wayne, who was instrumental in getting the legislation completed Saturday night. "There's a lot of really good things, probably 85 percent that doesn't deal with pseudoephedrine."
The agreed-upon version puts in place a 48-gram annual limit while also decreasing the current legal limit per month, from 9 grams to 7.2 grams.
Perdue said deliberations between the governor's staff and members of the Senate and House also netted an additional $2.5 million for substance abuse programs, brining the governor's budgetary total to $7.5 million.
The Senate version, which passed unanimously on crossover day, had 7.5 grams, while the House Health and Human Resources Committee -- chaired by Perdue -- wanted 3.6. That was nixed by the House Judiciary Committee, along with amendments to include a Division of Motor Vehicle check for purchasers and allowing the local sheriff's offices greater access to the prescription monitoring system.
Continue Reading: heralddispatch.com
CHARLESTON -- A late-evening compromise between members of the House and Senate and Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and his staff saved the substance abuse bill.
The bill is described as among the most comprehensive substance abuse legislation passed by legislators. But it was hung up on the medicine used in production of methamphetamine.
House members were adamant to include an annual cap on the amount of decongestant medicine containing pseudoephedrine, ephedrine and phenylpropanolamine that could be purchased. The Senate version only included a daily and monthly cap.
But no one wanted to see the bill, which includes so many other substance abuse components, die on the final night of the session.
"We potentially could have lost the entire bill," said Del. Don Perdue, D-Wayne, who was instrumental in getting the legislation completed Saturday night. "There's a lot of really good things, probably 85 percent that doesn't deal with pseudoephedrine."
The agreed-upon version puts in place a 48-gram annual limit while also decreasing the current legal limit per month, from 9 grams to 7.2 grams.
Perdue said deliberations between the governor's staff and members of the Senate and House also netted an additional $2.5 million for substance abuse programs, brining the governor's budgetary total to $7.5 million.
The Senate version, which passed unanimously on crossover day, had 7.5 grams, while the House Health and Human Resources Committee -- chaired by Perdue -- wanted 3.6. That was nixed by the House Judiciary Committee, along with amendments to include a Division of Motor Vehicle check for purchasers and allowing the local sheriff's offices greater access to the prescription monitoring system.
Continue Reading: heralddispatch.com
Leave a comment