Businesses Part of New Meth Free Coalition
InsideINdianaBusiness.com Report
The governor's office says business and trade associations from across the state are part of the new Meth Free Indiana Coalition.
7/1/2005 - Retailers, in particular, are being brought into the fight against methamphetamine. A new law takes effect today that requires retailers to take steps to control the sale of ingredients that can be used to make the drug. Pharmacies or stores with open pharmacies must place these products in the direct line of sight of a pharmacy counter with constant video monitoring, in a locked cabinet or behind a counter. Stores that do not have pharmacies or when their pharmacies are closed, must place the products in a locked cabinet or behind a counter.
Source: Inside INdiana Business
Press Release
FORT WAYNE – Indiana took additional steps to strengthen its fight against methamphetamine use today as Governor Mitch Daniels announced formation of the Meth Free Indiana Coalition. The collaborative effort among more than 15 law enforcement and social services agencies and business and trade associations from across the state will focus on prevention and education, treatment and enforcement.
“Tomorrow, when the Meth Prevention Act becomes effective, Indiana will no longer be a clearinghouse for the purchase of methamphetamine ingredients. In addition, we are gathering the state’s resources to further educate the public so Hoosiers can become more active in helping our efforts,” said the governor during a stop at a Marsh Supermarket in Ft. Wayne.
The Meth Free Indiana Coalition will be coordinated by the Criminal Justice Institute. That coalition will soon launch the Meth Watch program to better help retailers understand the law’s new requirements and to extend education efforts to the public.
The Criminal Justice Institute recently sent packets of information about the new law to more than 5,000 retailers across the state. The packet includes instructions to help retailers implement the law, state police-approved log sheets and a list of the more than 700 products affected by the new law.
“I know this law is a personal inconvenience but it’s one that I hope most Hoosiers are willing to accept because it helps us shut down access to this devastating drug,” said Governor Daniels.
Among requirements, purchasers of products containing ephedrine and pseudoephedrine must be 18 years or older, present an Indiana identification and sign a sales log. In addition, pharmacies or stores with open pharmacies must place such products in the direct line of sight of a pharmacy counter with constant video monitoring, in a locked cabinet or behind a counter. Stores that do not have pharmacies or when their pharmacies are closed, must place such products in a locked cabinet or behind a counter. Consumers also are limited to the purchase of only 3 grams of products containing ephedrine/pseudoephedrine products per week.
Indiana is the only state to include liquid and gel tabs in its restrictions.
Governor Daniels also updated other continuing efforts to fight the methamphetamine problem in Indiana:
The state police have launched a meth suppression unit that is solely dedicated to identifying and seizing drug labs and interdicting meth trafficked from other states and Mexico.
With the success of the meth treatment program at the Miami County Correctional Facility, a program initiated by Governor Daniels, a new meth treatment unit has been launched at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility. The Indiana Department of Correction has been profiled nationally as the only agency in the country to dedicate entire drug treatment units at its facilities to rehabilitation of meth offenders.
The Drug Endangered Children protocol developed by the Department of Child Services is near completion and will be unrolled in training sessions in July.
The Governor’s University Partnership is starting a pilot drug testing program between Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and drug prosecutors in Hendricks, Boone and Hamilton counties.
The state police have hired five forensic scientists for the Indianapolis lab to assist with eliminating a drug testing backlog.
The Indiana Prosecuting Attorney’s Council has begun efforts to remove closed cases for the testing pipeline and has so far, removed 400 cases from the state backlog.
Source: Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels' Office
Pharmacies shut down in two-hour protest at medicine policy
By Elias Hazou
PHARMACISTS across the island yesterday shut shop for two hours in protest at the government’s medicines policy, which they say has led to serious shortages in recent months.
Several chemists closed down from 11am to 1pm, in what president of the Pharmacists’ Association Nicos Nouris called a “spontaneous action”.
Nouris explained yesterday that the “strike” was not actually ordered by the association; what had happened was that pharmacists decided to attend pre-scheduled AGMs in all major towns to discuss problems faced by the profession since the introduction of the new pricing policy on medicines last March.
“However, by closing their shops, chemists wanted to show their frustration with the Health Ministry, which has backtracked on its promises to us,” added Nouris.
He said that back in March Health Minister Andreas Gavrielides pledged to implement a scheme for co-operation between state pharmacies and private chemists, which, it was hoped, would in the long term lead to the unification of the public and private health sectors.
Pharmacists see the realisation of the much-vaunted NHS (National Health Scheme) as the solution to problems facing the health sector, including the procurement of medicines.
Reserves have been running dangerously low in the past few months, with some essential medicines (such as blood-clotting drugs) now extremely hard to find on shop shelves. The Medical Association went as far as to claim that people’s lives were at risk.
The shortages became pronounced after March, when the government slashed by an average of 25 per cent the prices of some 1,000 medicines. Predictably, that led wholesale importers to say it was no longer profitable for them to bring in cheaper drugs.
Meanwhile the Health Ministry has on several occasions resorted to the quick-fix policy of procuring supplies from neighboring Greece as the need arises, even though the legality of this practice has been called into question.
“The fact the ministry broke its promise (on co-operation between private and public chemists) was the last straw,” said Nouris, justifying his colleagues’ action.
He added that the decisions of the various AGMs would be announced today at a news conference.
“These will not be isolated, temporary, decisions. They will involve a series of measures aimed at forcing the government to cease acting illegally and solve this major problem for good.”
But Gavrielides yesterday debunked the pharmacists’ claims, questioning the motives behind the two-hour closure.
“I find their action incomprehensible. They say that we have broken our promise. We have not. I have assured them that the scheme for operation will take place, and it will. It is just a matter of time,” the minister told state radio.