{"id":604,"date":"2013-10-15T09:15:05","date_gmt":"2013-10-15T13:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=604"},"modified":"2013-10-15T09:15:05","modified_gmt":"2013-10-15T13:15:05","slug":"patrick-morrisey-sudafed-and-meth-labs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=604","title":{"rendered":"Patrick Morrisey Sudafed and Meth Labs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says he will decide over the next month on a package of initiatives to recommend to the West Virginia legislature to get control of \u201cthis prescription pill mess and this substance abuse mess.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_ZzAImXBHK0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But it was clear over the course of a five minute interview at the Apple Butter Festival in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia on Saturday that Morrisey would likely not recommend that the legislature put pseudoephedrine products on prescription as a way to get control of the burgeoning meth lab problem in the state.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Mississippi and Oregon recently have effectively crippled their meth lab problems by putting pseudoephedrine &#8212; a key ingredient used to make methamphetamine &#8212; \u00a0on prescription.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">According to West Virginia State Police statistics, there were 332 meth lab incidents through August 6 \u2014 on pace to hit 570 by the end of the year \u2014 more than double the 284 incidents from 2012.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">While Morrisey repeatedly said during the interview that he was \u201copen minded\u201d to the idea of joining Mississippi and Oregon and putting the drugs on prescription, he kept repeating pharmaceutical industry buzz words &#8212; like \u201cregulatory costs\u201d &#8212; to signal that he\u2019s going to toe the industry line &#8212; and preserve the hundreds of millions of dollars in industry profits from stuffy nose medications like Sudafed (Johnson &amp; Johnson), Advil Cold &amp; Sinus (Pfizer), Allegra D (Sanofi), and Claritin D (Johnson &amp; Johnson).<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cAt the end of the day, you have to not stop one problem and create another,\u201d Morrisey said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">When asked to identify what problem he would create if the state put pseudoephedrine products on prescription, he refused to do so.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But the pharmaceutical industry has weighed in with it\u2019s own detailed reports that the Attorney General will likely use to justify his decision, including one from Matrix Global Advisors in Washington, D.C. titled <a href=\"http:\/\/www.matrixglobaladvisors.com\/storage\/PSE.pdf\">An Analysis of the Economic Impact of Requiring Prescriptions for Pseudoephedrine Products.<\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The report finds that putting pseudoephedrine products on prescription \u201cwould force high social and economic costs on consumers\u201d including \u201cextra doctors visits, more absenteeism and lost work productivity, higher prices for pseudoephedrine products, increased health insurance premiums, and a loss of state tax revenues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The report finds that eliminating the state\u2019s meth problem by putting pseudoephedrine products on prescription does not seem \u201cworth the cost.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The industry\u2019s view is countered by most law enforcement and public health officials in West Virginia and around the country.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">They argue safer alternatives to pseudoephedrine products are readily available &#8212; and that the costs politicians like Morrisey truly care about are the hundreds of millions of dollars of pharmaceutical industry profits that will be lost if West Virginia and the country moves to put pseudoephedrine products on prescription.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">While Morrisey said that he wants \u201cto make sure I talk with the right people in the legislature who want to be constructive to solve this problem,\u201d the \u201cright people\u201d apparently don\u2019t include the heads of the House and Senate health committees &#8212; Delegate Don Perdue and Senator Ron Stollings.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In 2011, West Virginia sought to pass legislation that would put pseudoephedrine products back on prescription.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But the pharmaceutical industry \u2014 represented by the Consumer Healthcare Products Association \u2014 attacked the legislation and it was defeated.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The legislation was introduced by Perdue, a retired pharmacist and 16 year member of the West Virginia House of Delegates.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Perdue is chairman of the House Health and Human Resources Committee.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIt was extraordinary,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.corporatecrimereporter.com\/news\/200\/wvbigpharma09042013\/\">Perdue told Corporate Crime Reporter<\/a> in an interview earlier this year. \u201cIt passed out of my committee on a voice vote. There maybe was one dissenting vote. It passed out of the Judiciary Committee on a voice vote. Then it passed on the floor of the House of Delegates by a substantial majority \u2014 77 to 23.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThen it went to the Senate. It passed the Senate Health Committee and then went straight to the floor. It was the last day of the session. When it came up for a vote, the Senate tied 16 to 16. On a tie vote, the legislation failed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Perdue says that pseudoephedrine is a $3 billion a year product \u2014 and estimates are that 50 percent to 80 percent of that product is used to make meth.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Putting pseudoephedrine on prescription would cost the industry anywhere from $1.5 billion to $2 billion in lost sales.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Perdue says that\u2019s the reason his bill didn\u2019t pass the legislature \u2014 industry profits.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIt\u2019s positively all about profit,\u201d Perdue said. \u201cIt has nothing to do with public health. It\u2019s all about protecting their profits. It\u2019s not about individual freedoms. It\u2019s not about whether or not somebody has the ability to access cold medications. It\u2019s not about that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Perdue plans to reintroduce the legislation in early 2014.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Before running for Attorney General, Morrisey was a partner at the Washington, D.C. corporate law firm of Sidley &amp; Austin &#8212; and he has close ties to the pharmaceutical industry.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">On the same day that Morrisey was at the Apple Butter Festival, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wvgazette.com\/News\/201310120085\">Charleston Gazette ran an article<\/a> detailing Morrisey\u2019s connection to Cardinal Health, a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical and medical device distribution company.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Morrisey\u2019s predecessor &#8212; Darrell McGraw &#8212; sued Cardinal Health, alleging that the company helped fuel southern West Virginia&#8217;s problem with prescription drug abuse by shipping excessive numbers of pain pills to the region, according to the Gazette.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Gazette reported that earlier this year, Attorney General Morrisey was in on meetings with Cardinal Health about the lawsuit, even though he had promised to recuse himself from the case.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The paper reported that Cardinal Health paid Morrisey\u2019s wife\u2019s lobbying firm, Capitol Counsel, $400,000 last year, and another $210,00 between January and June 30, according to lobbying disclosure forms.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2001, Cardinal Health has paid $3.7 million to lobbying firms that his wife &#8212; Denise Henry &#8212; has worked for or owned, the Gazette reported.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says he will decide over the next month on a package of initiatives to recommend to the West Virginia legislature to get control of \u201cthis prescription pill mess and this substance abuse mess.\u201d But &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=604\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}