sudafed.JPG

Sudafed is often used to manufacture Methamphetamine, authorities say.

(AP File Photo)

LANSING, MI -- The "Breaking Bad" fiction ended this week, but methamphetamine production and use remains a very real problem in Michigan.

"It has just an absolutely devastating impact on families, on kids and really on the health and wellness of communities," said state Sen. John Proos, R-St. Joseph. "It's happening all across Michigan, but it's especially prevalent in Southwest Michigan."

Senate Bill 535, introduced last week by Proos, would create a Michigan methamphetamine abuse registry, requiring anyone convicted of a meth-related crime to obtain a prescription if they want to purchase over-the-counter cold or allergy medicine containing pseudoephedrine.

The nasal decongestant, traditionally contained in medications such as Sudafed, can be used as a precursor chemical in meth production, including the increasingly common "shake and bake" pop-bottle method.

In 2012, law enforcement agencies seized 325 meth labs in Michigan, according to a state police report, up from 254 in 2011. A significant majority of those labs were located in the southwest corner of the state.

As the Kalamazoo Gazette reported in its extensive summer series on the local meth problem, Kalamazoo and St. Joseph counties lead Michigan in psuedophedrine sales per resident, selling more than double the state average.

A 2012 Michigan law sponsored by Proos already caps the amount of pseudoephedrine an individual can buy on any given day or any given month. Pharmacy clerks are required to scan your driver's license when purchasing certain cold products.

If you've purchased too much "pseudo," you'll be blocked. In Kalamazoo County, the sale of 18.6 million milligrams were blocked between January 2012 and March 2013, according to state police statistics reported by the Gazette.

Under Proos' new registry bill, anyone who has been convicted of a meth crime and didn't have a prescription would be blocked as well.

The registry would be one step short of laws in Oregon and Mississippi that require a prescription for all pseudoephedrine sales. The law has proven highly effective in those states, but others have had a difficult time trying to pass similar measures.

"Pseudoephedrine is safe and legal," Proos said. "It helps people with runny eyes, sneezing and other cold-like symptoms. It makes sense that only those who are offenders and are causing concerns in their community would be required to have a prescription."

Separately, Proos introduced two other bills that would further criminalize "smurfing," the common term for an individual or group that travels store to store purchasing pseudoephedrine for someone else to use in meth production.

Under those bills, an individual who buys or possesses any amount of pseudoephedrine "knowing that it is to be used" for meth production would be subject to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000 or both.

Proos noted that pseudoephedrine has become a more popular precursor since the state began requiring the use of dye in anhydrous ammonia, a fertilizer that was commonly stolen from farms for use in meth production.

"This will be something that we continue to chase our tails on, to be blunt about it," Proos acknowledged. "Every action that we've taken to stop the growth of meth and the use of meth has resulted in a better mousetrap made by those who want to do it, who are desiring to do it and who want to profit off it."

Jonathan Oosting is a Capitol reporter for MLive Media Group. Email him, find him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter.