Majority of Missourians continue to favor nonprescription access to PSE-containing medicines

Consumer Healthcare Products AssociationMar 7 2012

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) released today a recent poll that found a majority of Missourians -- by a margin of 16 percent -- continue to favor nonprescription access to safe and effective medicines containing pseudoephedrine (PSE), such as Advil Cold & Sinus, Allegra-D, Claritin-D, Mucinex-D, and Sudafed over a prescription mandate. The poll also found that more than three out of four Missourians (78%) said they agreed with the following statement: "Requiring a prescription for medicines like Advil Cold & Sinus, Claritin D, and Sudafed punishes the consumers and not the criminals.  Missouri should be passing laws that go after the meth criminals instead of punishing law-abiding citizens." Additionally, 84 percent of Missourians agree that methamphetamine is an important issue in the state, but 74 percent believe the proposed meth offender registry is a better solution than a prescription mandate. 

"This survey proves that when Missouri consumers are presented with a prescription-only option and a reasonable alternative, a significant majority call for reasonable alternative measures," said Scott Melville, president and chief executive officer of CHPA. "Fortunately for these Missourians, State Representative Stanley Cox has introduced the STOP METH bill, which would enhance Missouri's proven real-time, stop-sale system by enacting tougher penalties for criminals in possession of PSE and significantly reducing the monthly and annual PSE purchasing limit."

"As this data makes perfectly clear, Missourians favor measures that balance the need to aggressively target meth criminals, while protecting law-abiding consumers access to the FDA-approved, nonprescription cold and allergy medicines they depend on," added Melville.  "The STOP METH bill is a model example of the balanced approach Missourians favor."