Missouri's Rx-only PSE legislation moves to state Senate

ST. LOUIS — Missouri’s House of Representatives on Monday voted 100 in favor and 50 opposed to reclassifying pseudoephedrine as a prescription-only remedy and subsequently moved the matter to the state Senate — this despite the fact that electronic track-and-trace has been up and running for the past six months, blocking more than 30,000 potentially illegal PSE purchases, stated Scott Melville, president and CEO of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association.

"Moving forward, our hope is that the state senators apply common sense leadership and stop prescription-only legislation that would hurt Missourians, while standing up for electronic tracking technology, which we already know is working to stop those seeking to illegally purchase pseudoephedrine-containing medicines,” Melville said.

A recent national survey of more than 2,000 asthma, allergy, cold and flu patients conducted by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America with the Harris Interactive research organization showed an overwhelming majority of patients (71%) oppose laws that would require a doctor's prescription for PSE-containing medicines. As many as two-thirds of those patients supported an e-tracking system.