Statement from Sen. Brinkley on House passage of HB 2941

Sen. Rick Brinkley, R-Owasso, co-author of House Bill 2941, released the following statement after Wednesday’s House passage of the anti-meth legislation. Principally authored by Rep. David Derby, R-Owasso, HB 2941 implements significant improvements to Oklahoma’s electronic pseudoephedrine (PSE) blocking system and calls for reasonable reductions to the amount of PSE an individual can purchase.

“It is an exciting day for those of us who have been working on this bill since last summer. We have worked hard to reduce the availability of PSE to those who manufacture meth, while protecting the ability of law abiding citizens to access the medications they need without a prescription.

“It is a victory for personal rights and for keeping the government out of our medicine cabinets. At the same time, we are passing the toughest anti-meth bill in the nation.

“We have to be honest. Consumers will have to remember to only buy allergy medicines with pseudoephedrine in the amounts now allowed by law. That is a small price to pay to prevent the nearly $59 million financial impact on law abiding citizens if the meds were to become available by prescription only. Additionally, we are providing law enforcement officers with more tools to fight the war on meth as we allow our tracking system to cross state lines.

“My hope is that these new law enforcement tools will result in an increase in the number of meth lab busts and the shutting down of this scourge on our society.

“We must remember that at the end of the day, meth is an addiction problem, not an availability problem. Until we adequately fight addiction in this state, meth usage will continue. In the meantime, law abiding citizens should not be the ones to pay the price. It didn't work with prohibition and it won't worth with meth.”

HB 2941 will enable Oklahoma’s blocking system to work across state lines, in real time. Meth offenders who attempt to purchase unlawful quantities of PSE will be blocked right at the point of sale and that sale block will follow them across state lines. HB 2941 also ensures that the block system is fully in sync with the state’s meth offender registry, which prevents individuals with meth offenses on their criminal records from being able to purchase pseudoephedrine.