While some think requiring prescriptions for cold remedies used to manufacture methamphetamine is the only way to reduce the number of toxic meth labs, Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville, wants a “common sense, middle ground” approach which “punishes the criminal.”

Yonts has pre-filed a bill which would track real time purchases of products with pseudoephedrine and bar anyone convicted of meth-related crimes from purchasing the common cold and allergy remedy. It would limit even legal purchases to 7.5 grams a month and 60 grams a year. But it would not require a prescription, allowing legitimate users to purchase the drugs over the counter.

“It punishes the criminal,” Yonts said at a Capitol press conference attended by members of the sheriff’s departments in Jefferson and Daviess counties. “It does not punish the soccer moms; it doesn’t punish the Walmart moms.”

Law enforcement officials and lawmakers are divided on the question of how to address the “scourge” of meth addiction and dangerous meth labs spreading across the state. The Kentucky State Police, other sheriffs and some prosecutors say Yonts’ approach won’t stop “smurfing,” the practice of hiring others to purchase the products which meth manufacturers use to “cook” meth in small labs, sometimes contained in two-liter pop bottles. Those labs produce toxic residue and can explode.

A Wayne County child died last year after drinking a drain cleaner used in meth production and several law enforcement officers have been injured while investigating meth labs.

“This won’t work,” said Karen Kelly, executive director of UNITE, a drug intervention and education program in southeastern Kentucky which works with law enforcement.

She said Oklahoma implemented a similar system two years ago but the number of meth labs has increased since then–from 743 in 2009 to 910 so far this year.

“If this worked, I would support it, but it has been in place for two years now and Oklahoma’s numbers have continued to rise and people have continued to die,” Kelly said.

Yonts and Jim Acquisto, a former law enforcement officer who works with APRISS, the company which operates the tracking system, said it does work. Acquisto said a similar law passed in Alabama had reduced the number of meth labs there by 74 percent. He claims meth labs have not increased in Mississippi which passed a prescription requirement this year. (Acquisto said his company stood to gain “zero” additional revenue from Yonts’ bill.)

But supporters of a bill filed last year by Sen. Tom Jensen, R-London, say the number of meth labs in Mississippi and Oregon, which also passed a prescription requirement, have decreased significantly. They concede the requirement won’t have a significant impact on meth use–but they say it will dramatically cut back on the number of labs which produce toxic wastes which are discarded and have poisoned children and sometimes explode injuring or killing people.

One who was injured is Barren County Sheriff Chris Eaton, who supports a prescription bill. Eaton suffered nerve and pulmonary injuries while investigating a homemade meth lab in Barren County. But he acknowledges there is division among sheriffs on the issue, saying he’d guess, “it’s probably 50-50” between those who support Yonts’ approach and those who support Jensen’s.

Maj. Tony King of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department said requiring a prescription won’t help, judging by the problem the state has with prescription painkillers. Rep. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, said busy mothers like her shouldn’t have to incur the additional costs and inconvenience of prescriptions when they’ve done nothing wrong.

Such prosecutors as Laurel County Commonwealth Attorney Jackie Steele and Warren County Commonwealth Attorney Chris Cohron prefer the prescription requirement. Laurel County had the highest number of meth labs in Kentucky last year. On Monday, Cohron told a task force looking at changes to drug laws, that dealers who exceed monthly purchase limits will simply pay others to buy the drug.

Rep. Linda Belcher, D-Shepherdsville, sponsored a bill similar to Jensen’s last year and has pre-filed a slightly altered version this year. It would require a prescription for pseudoephedrine products but would exclude liquid forms of the drug which make it more difficult to use in making meth.