Davis Announces Plan at Home Blown Up by Meth Explosion
Evansville mayoral candidate Rick Davis has asked local pharmacies to begin voluntarily requiring a doctor’s prescription in order for local consumers to buy cold and allergy medications that are also used for making meth.
“I have spoken to several neighborhood associations during this campaign and I also held 8 Town Hall meetings this year, and I have been continually told what a plague meth labs and meth use are in our community,†said Davis, 42, the current Vanderburgh County Treasurer. “Meth labs are a danger to our public safety officials; they are a danger to unsuspecting neighbors; and they are a danger to innocent children who are growing up surrounded by dangerous, toxic chemicals being brewed in their homes.â€
Our community is also paying a heavy toll from other costs associated with meth labs, including taxpayers paying for crime-scene cleanups/hazardous waste disposal; meth-lab explosions that are a danger to unsuspecting neighbors and their property; drug treatment/burn patient treatment; foster care/counseling services for children of parents who are addicted to and/or dealing meth.
Already this year, law enforcement officials in Vanderburgh County have seized about 75 meth labs. The Federal government formerly budgeted about $480,000 per year to help our state’s local governing units clean up these hazardous, toxic and highly volatile meth labs. But due to budget cuts, that funding was stopped in February 2011, putting the cost of cleanup on the backs of local taxpayers.
Yet one fact remains: Meth cannot be made without pill tablets containing pseudoephedrine. Davis said it’s time to clamp down on the key ingredient and make it harder for illicit drug dealers to manufacture their product locally.
“We have to make a stand, and we need to make it now,†said Davis. “If I am fortunate enough to be Evansville’s next mayor, I plan on traveling to Indianapolis and testifying to our state representatives regarding the need to make over-the-counter medications containing methamphetamine precursors a prescription drug in Indiana. However, we cannot wait until 2012, when the state legislature convenes. We need immediate action and we need to be proactive.
Indiana State Rep. Gail Riecken joined Davis in calling for the prescription requirement to purchase pseudoephedrine products. She said she will help take a lead in the 2012 legislative session in an attempt to make the prescription requirement a state law.
Every day that goes before our state legislature can meet to decide whether or not to require a prescription to purchase these drugs means the threat of rolling meth labs being driven around our neighborhood streets, not to mention children going to bed with highly-volatile explosives in their homes,†said Davis. “On behalf of our public health and welfare, I beg local pharmacies to start requiring a doctor’s prescription in order to purchase these drugs.â€
If the state legislature does not act favorably, Davis said he would propose to the City Council members that they create an ordinance requiring a prescription in order to purchase pill tablet products containing pseudoephedrine.
Current state law now requires identification in order to purchase over-the-counter allergy drugs such as Sudafed.
Indiana law restricts the amount of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine purchases to 3.0 grams in a 7-day period.
“Locally, this law just doesn’t matter – not when someone can easily drive to Kentucky or Illinois within a half hour to 45 minutes,†said Davis. “People are driving to nearby states like Kentucky and Illinois to avoid this law, or they’re paying people to buy these drugs for them. Requiring a prescription will make it harder for these drugs to be made locally.â€
Davis said the request does not include pseudoephedrine products in liquid or gel cap form, because meth cookers do not use those products to make the dangerous drug. “So consumers may still purchase Sudafed, just in a different form. And there are scores of other allergy medicines that consumers may purchase to help ease their symptoms.â€
According to a 2009 Rand Corporation Study, society’s cost of meth is between $16 million and $48 million.
Requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine products has been an overwhelming success in the state of Oregon.
The number of meth labs dropped from 192 in 2005 to 10 in 2010, a 95% decrease in meth lab seizures for an entire state!
Other Indiana communities, including Terre Haute and Vincennes, have also asked that local pharmacies require a prescription in order to purchase pseudoephedrine products.
Eradicating these drugs, which were originally prescription-only until 1976, in our community is also bound to help drop property crime rates in the city, said Davis, who noted that the essential goal is to reduce explosions, toxic waste, injuries and death from meth-related crimes.
Statistically amazing that both Mr. Davis and Mr. Winnecke are against meth labs, but for clean parks and bike trails. This campaign will get really, really interesting when we finally learn their positions on illegal dumping, uninsured drivers, vandalism, clean water, saggy pants, high gasoline prices and finally world peace The gloves are coming off on these issues! Both refuse to be distracted by the minor issues with the hockey arena, Executive Inn, McCurdy hotel, ERC, VenueWorks and DMD.
I can’t wait to hear Davis’s plan to eliminate plastic shopping bags, non-migratory Canada geese, plastic 2-liter Pepsi bottles, and whaling. But fact is, I don’t expect to read about it until Dan McGinn or some other candidate enumerates the details in a council meeting or neighborhood association forum first.
Fact is Davis’s plan for controlling the meth problem is nearly identical to what councilman Dan McGinn proposed about the same issue at last week’s council meeting. Did Rick sit up watching the late night rerun on WNIN, or did H. Dan Adams (? at Large) provide him with an advanced copy of the meeting minutes?
I advocate for prescription only pseudoephedrine and Rick Davis for Mayor. …
So the average person (who is not operating a meth lab) with a bad head cold or allergy problems, now has to schedule a doctor’s appointment, get a prescription, then have it filled at a pharmacy. Added cost to that same average, law-abiding citizen who only wants to be relieved of their cold. There are already laws regarding the amount of purchase of pseudoephedrine. Insist the local pharmacies watch for excessive purchases by individuals.
Doesn’t anybody see this is only treating the symptons and not the real illness? Doesn’t anybody see it’s the average person who is being penalized for the actions of those who willingly break the law by operating a meth lab? And if memory serves me correctly, doesn’t Rick Davis have allergies that he would now require himself to go to a doctor first before he could get over the counter medication?
The tail wagging the dog.
Fact is under the county health insurance benefit, Rick can call a prescription in, have it waiting at the drive thru window, and pay a minimal copay. Fact is, the only reason Rick is running for mayor is because he suffers from a chronic illness, and wants to be able to walk halfway down the 3rd floor hall, and get free scripts from the nurse at the city employees free clinic.
This pretty will looks like a Della clone, the immature nature of the responses are hard to mistake, yes–this is by no stretch of the imagination, a sophisticated mind,–only a bitter partisan King John supporter, without any creditibility, only chapped lips and a “dark” nose.
Stick to the point and save the derogatory comments.
Meth making is a serious problem and until the courts and judges become more aggressive in sentencing offenders, it will continue to be a problem. Offenders often get suspended sentences or probation. Maybe a fine and costs. Jail time given is infrequent. Comments on creating a “meth-offender” registry might make for an interesting debate. And no name calling, OK?
Sorry, but, The Partisan shots are Cheap, and must be called out. What the CCO needs is a “Rant-Rant Lounge” forum to partition them from true discussions on the issues.
I’m with you! Meth, and Meth Labs threatens us all,— we need an answer, and a plan.
Of course it’s perfectly okay when the subject of the article is vetting the hotel contracts for Crash to say things like, “one wonders, do these people sit up at night, worshiping the Devil and figuring out a way to scam their brothers and sisters out of that All Mighty dollar? It’s hard to reach any other conclusion,—except that they are Evil People.†So, yes, I agree there may be a need for a rant forum.
Yes veracity/della, The Evil people that pay homage to, and/or, are part of the the King Weinzapfel Administration are being called out everyday on the CCO, and the C&P site.
I believe that the smoke of Snegal history in Evansville is a Disease that needs a cure at the Voting booth, the first vacination to eradicate it, was given this past May by the Voters, with the Booster shot coming in Nov.
Crash, how is this last comment of yours pertinent to the discussion of meth labs and precursor drugs? And how is your constant name calling and nasty references pertinent to the ereadication of your perceived political disease? You sound more like a carrier of the diseased politics that plagues D.C.
After much discerning, I must agree that Rick’s plan to make pseudafed prescription only is an unreachable ideal.
While I like his willingness to buck the good ole boy system, I am losing faith that he would be an effective leader.
Color me:
“On the Fence in Eville”
“Locally, this law just doesn’t matter – not when someone can easily drive to Kentucky or Illinois within a half hour to 45 minutes,†said Davis. “People are driving to nearby states like Kentucky and Illinois to avoid this law, or they’re paying people to buy these drugs for them. Requiring a prescription will make it harder for these drugs to be made locally.â€
What is going to keep the meth manufactures will do same thing if you require a prescription in Indiana? Rick, Evansville is only about 10 minutes from Henderson, Kentucky!
Veracity,,–I think I hear the Ice cream man’s truck ringing it’s bell, better go get your your allowance money from JW.
AND my previous comments on this thread, were in response to your partisan,–no substance– comments about the Candidate. What was it you said was the reason Mr. Davis was running for Mayor?–and what did that drivel have to do with the His position statement on the Danger and Tragedy of Meth?
Typo Above Sorry:
What is going to keep the meth manufactures from do the same thing if you require a prescription in Indiana? Rick, Evansville is only about 10 minutes from Henderson, Kentucky!
What is going to keep the meth manufactures from doing the same thing if you require a prescription in Indiana? Rick, Evansville is only about 10 minutes from Henderson, Kentucky!
I have one other Identity out here in cyberspace, Only ONE,
I post as royrogers on the C&P website,
I didn’t think that would be hard for anyone figure out.
Now there is a comment from Crash that truly pertains to meth labs and precursor drugs!
I will not banter with a child any longer, and It’s beautiful outside. Ta,Ta Della.
The proprietor of CCO and/or the moderator of this forum should develop a set of guidelines and etiquette for posters to follow. And if someone can’t follow the guidelines, then they should be given a “time-out” in the cry room.
So who’s paying for the Dr. office visit to get a prescription? So our insurance will go up to cover the costs, and uninsured Hoosiers won’t be able to afford the office visit to get over the counter medicine? What a dumb idea!
Do people not realize that this is only requiring a prescription for the tablet form of allergy medicine? There are still gel capsules and liquid forms of allergy medicine that do as good of a job as the tablets do on helping with the allergies. He is not asking for ALL alergy meds to have a prescription, just the tablets. Why in the world would people in this community not want to stop the meth labs and the fires that come with them? I, for one, think this is a great idea. If your allergies are that bad, then prescription allergy medicine is better than any OTC meds. This is a great idea Rick.
times of CRTC confusion, the Voice of Reason, can always be counted on to add clarity to the situation Tony Clement, in an effort to appear less-like-a-loser and more like a cool kid jumped into the UBB conversation via Twitter, simply to stir the pot and garner more public support for the next election. [url=http://biorelais.com]beats by dre [/url] zbzldhnd
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