On Thursday, dozens of laws passed in this year’s legislative session will become active. One of those laws limits the amount of pseudoephedrine a person can buy from a pharmacy. Pseudoephedrine, or PSE, is used in many cold and allergy medicines. It’s also a key part of meth production.
The new law limits adults to seven point two grams a month, which is roughly the equivalent of a box, before requiring a prescription.
But for people like Pat Davis, the new limits are a problem. Davis lives in Northern Kentucky, and has several children with asthma and chronic allergies.
“And this law is going to place an additional burden in terms of time and finances on me and I imagine most Kentucky families,” she says.
The law was hotly debated during the session and Davis and others fought against the bill. Most of Davis’ family suffers from asthma or chronic allergies. They use pseudoephedrine products to curb those symptoms.
Pharmacists, however, point out that there are numerous over-the-counter allergy drugs still available that do not contain pseudoephedrine. One of them, Travis Hudnall of Ely Drugs in Glasgow, told WKU Public Radio earlier this year that those non-pseudoephedrine medications are actually the best remedy for allergies in this region.
Lawmakers originally wanted to make pseudoephedrine only available by prescription, but couldn’t get enough votes to pass that version of the bill.
