Moving Presentation Helped Build Support For Bill To Combat Meth

Moving Presentation Helped Build Support For Bill To Combat MethBy Gail Riecken District 77 State Representative On Feb. 3, 2016 we in the House witnessed one of the best presentations I have seen in theyears I have been in the Indiana State Legislature.State Rep. Ben Smaltz (R-Auburn) presented his legislation, House Bill 1390, which is an effort to fight the scourge of meth labs in Indiana by further limiting the ingredients of the drug, including pseudophedrine.

I feel very fortunate to have been near the front of the line to sign on as a coauthor of House Bill 1390 but I take no credit for his fine work.

His moving description of children taken from houses where meth is cooked was heart-wrenching.

Take a look at the video below and you will understand what so many of us have not been able to put into words the way Rep. Smaltz did.

Here is the bill: House Bill 1390 is a common-sense approach to restricting the meth-making form pseudophedrine to someone who is not a patient of record at a pharmacy but allowing anyone who is a patient of record to buy what they always buy.

If the person is not a patient of record, that individual can purchase the tamper resistant pseudophedrine tablets.

If the person doesn’t like the tablets, that individual can have 24-, 30-milligram pills. If that isn’t acceptable, that individual has to go to the doctor.

Simple. Common sense. The average, hard working person is respected. If you want to thank Rep. Smaltz, here is his legislative email address: h52@in.gov.

It is not particularly easy to access the archived video of this presentation on the floor but here is a link to it: http://bit.ly/1oasw2r. Just click on the “Search for a session day” dropdown menu and select “Wednesday, February 3.” The presentation by Rep. Smaltz begins at the 1:52:40 point in the recording.