Facing down a multi-million dollar advertising and lobbying blitz by Big Pharma, the West Virginia Senate, by a vote of 25 to 9, passed legislation that would put pseudoephedrine on prescription. A similar bill now moves to the House of Delegates.<\/p>\n
Senate Republicans argued that the bill would impinge on West Virginians right to carry guns.<\/p>\n
Senator Clark Barnes (R) said that by passing the bill, the Senate risked turning over West Virginia gun control to Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama.<\/p>\n
If the measure becomes law, West Virginia will become the third state to pass such a law.<\/p>\n
Mississippi joined Oregon and put pseudoephedrine products like Sudafed (Johnson & Johnson), Advil Cold & Sinus (Pfizer), Allegra D (Sanofi), and Claritin D (Merck) on a prescription only basis and effectively crippled \u00a0their meth lab problems.<\/p>\n
In 2011, the West Virginia House of Delegates<\/a> passed similar legislation by a vote of 77 to 23, but the bill died in the Senate on a 16 to 16 tie vote.<\/p>\n Before the vote, radio talk show host Hoppy Kercheval, whose popular show Talkline has been running radio ads financed by Big Pharma with the theme \u201cStop Meth Not Meds,\u201d<\/a> said that if he were a Senator with a vote, he would vote for the legislation because \u201cthe police support it.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Facing down a multi-million dollar advertising and lobbying blitz by Big Pharma, the West Virginia Senate, by a vote of 25 to 9, passed legislation that would put pseudoephedrine on prescription. A similar bill now moves to the House of … Continue reading