Drug Industry Group Spent $194,000 In January Alone To Fight Kentucky Anti-Meth Legislation [View all]

[Report1212]

For years, public health advocates have pushed for tougher regulation of these medications because they are commonly used to produce methamphetamine. Kentucky Senate Majority Leader Robert Stivers (R) has introduced legislation that would “require prescriptions for medications containing pseudoephedrine,” a key ingredient in producing meth. But the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), a national industry group representing over-the-counter drug manufacturers, has been fighting the legislation.

In January alone, CHPA spent $194,957.76 lobbying against the bill, making it the top spender in the state among all lobbying interests, spending five times as much as the second-highest spender, the Kentucky Hospital Association. Stivers, a conservative Republican, blasted this spending, and said it was a “drop in the bucket” compared to the money the group is spending to influence the public.

Read more: http://www.republicreport.org/2012/drug-industry-group-kentucky-meth/