Campbellsville pharmacists have mixed views about meds-for-meth bill; a good example of localizing a statewide issue

Pharmacists have mixed opinions about a bill that would require a prescription to purchase pseudoephedrine after a monthly or yearly limit has been reached, reports Calen McKinney for the Central Kentucky News Journal in Campbellsville. (Photo by McKinney)

The drug is the key ingredient used to make methamphetamine. Last week the Senate approved a bill that would limit non-prescription individuals' purchases to 7.2 grams per month and 24 grams per year.

Tresa Phillips at Nation's Medicines in Campbellsville told McKinney she feels the system in place now — an instant computer tracking system called MethCheck — is working. "I'm not sure that a new law is going to make a big difference," she said, adding that a person who is buying the drug already has to show state-issued identification.

However, Jay Eastridge at Eastridge-Phelps Pharmacy applauded the move. "It sort of restricts pseudoephedrine getting into the wrong hands," he said. "I wholeheartedly support the bill." Eastridge said pharmacists have become "gatekeepers" in the face of the meth epidemic and "it's just painful to watch" people coming in "from one drug store to the next seeing what they can get."

Ed Baise of the Medicine Centre agreed that pharmacists have "become the police" when it comes to limiting pseudoephedrine. But he said the drug should be put in a class of its own and pharmacists should be responsible for controlling purchases. Baise pointed out allergy sufferers could be inconvenienced by the bill. "This may help some," he said, "but it's not gonna solve the problem." (Read more)

Smoking ban can't get a vote due to Republican boycott over chairman's block of measure for drug tests for welfare recipients

There could have been a vote Thursday on a bill for a statewide smoking ban, but a Republican boycott of the Democratic-controlled House Health and Welfare Committee over another bill prevented that.

"Republicans were upset over the committee chairman's decision not to have a vote on House Bill 26, sponsored by Rep. Lonnie Napier, R-Lancaster, which would require the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to implement a substance-abuse screening program for recipients of public assistance," reports Greg Hall for The Courier-Journal.

Chairman Tom Burch, D-Louisville, said he didn't allow a vote because he didn't want to "embarrass" Napier. "Whether he admits it or not, you don't embarrass somebody by killing their bill in front of them," he said. "You just hear it."

Just eight of 16 committee members were present; at least nine are needed to move a bill. Six of the absentees were Republicans; two were Democrats. "Without a committee majority present, no vote was take on HB 289, the smoking ban sponsored by Rep. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington. Burch said he likely will call a special committee meeting early next week to hear the bill," Hall reports. (Read more)

Senate panel and House OK bills to tackle prescription-bill abuse

Two bills aimed at attacking the state's prescription drug abuse problem made headway yesterday, with a major difference between the House and Senate measures, reflecting possible turf battles between state agencies and doctors' desire to maintain as much control over regulation as they can.

Senate Bill 2 would keep the state drug monitoring system — known as the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting, or KASPER — the responsibility of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. House Bill 4 would give it to the attorney general's office.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved Senate Bill 2 on an 8-to-1 vote. House Bill 4 passed the full House 81 to 7. The bills' low numbers reflect their importance to legislative leaders in both chambers.

Lawmakers feel the issue will ultimately be taken up near the end of the session in a conference committee, whose members represent the House and Senate and come together to come to an agreement between the two chambers, reports Jack Brammer for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

SB 2 originally required that doctors use KASPER when dispensing narcotics and get a KASPER report before issuing a prescription. At the request of the Kentucky Medical Association, bill sponsor Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, changed that stipulation, requiring the Kentucky Medical Licensure Board, made up mainly of doctors, to issue regulations on how doctors should use KASPER. Higdon said he made the change in order to get the bill out of committee, a move that angered Sen. Ray Jones, D-Pikeville, who accused the KMA of trying to "gut the bill." (Read more)

HB 4 would still require the use of KASPER, used by only less than a third of doctors, and "would bolster regulation on pain clinics and call on coroners to perform mandatory drug tests in cases of deaths with an unknown cause," reports Tom Loftus for The Courier-Journal. "It also would give commonwealth's and county attorneys access to the data in KASPER and would require that pain clinics be owned by a licensed physician or an advanced practice registered nurse." SB 2 would allow only doctors to own pain clinics, but Sen. Brandon Smith, R-Hazard, said clinics with non-physician owners should be grandfathered in if they have not have previous problems with the law.

As for whether the KASPER should stay in the cabinet or go to the attorney general, Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, said he doesn't has one strong feeling over the other. "We have to make sure the enforcement is there, whoever is doing it. properly," he told Ryan Alessi on CN|2's "Pure Politics." 

Kentucky ranked sixth in nation for obesity, fourth in high blood pressure, second for diabetes

A new report shows 29.5 percent of Kentuckians are obese, sixth highest in the nation. The state ranked second in the nation for the highest percentage of diabetes, with 13.7 percent of Kentucky residents diagnosed with the disease, and fourth in high blood pressure, at 36.3 percent.

According to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, West Virginia had the highest rates of obesity (35.3 percent),  diabetes (15.7 ) and high blood pressure (38.9) in the country. Colorado had the lowest, with 18.5, 6.8 and 22.6, respectively. Colorado "is the only state where fewer than 20 percent of adults are obese," reports Elizabeth Mendes for Gallup. West Virginia's obesity rate is the highest for any state since the study began in 2008.

The survey asked respondents if they had been diagnosed with diabetes or hypertension. to measure obesity, "participants were asked to report their height and weight, allowing Gallup to calculate their body mass index," reports The Huffington Post. A person with a BMI of 30 or higher is considered obese. (Read more)

March 24 is World Tuberculosis Day; 71 Kentuckians got the airborne disease last year

March 24 is World Tuberculosis Day, an observance meant to spread awareness about the disease, which is the second leading cause of death worldwide after HIV/AIDS. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate about 2 million people die each year from TB.

"Many people assume that TB is no longer a concern in this country, but we continue to see cases each year — in Kentucky and around the U.S.," said Steve Davis, acting commissioner of the state Department of Public Health. "While public health has made great strides in preventing the spread of the disease, our work continues."

In 2011, 71 active TB cases were diagnosed in Kentucky, though the state falls below the national average of 3.6 cases per 100,000 people.

TB is an airborne disease, transmitted when an infectious person coughs, shouts, sneezes, speaks or sings. It generally attacks the lungs, but can affect any part of the body, including the kidneys, spine and brain. If left untreated, the disease can be fatal.

People exposed to TB can also get a latent TB infection, which has no symptoms but can still be spread to others. That infection can progress into full-blown TB. Symptoms include coughing up blood, loss of appetite, chest pain and fatigue. (Read more)