<p>The popular cold medicine Sudafed should go behind the counter because it is commonly used to make illegal methamphetamine, the House voted Friday.</p><p>The bill requires retailers to get a state license to sell cold medicine that contains only the main ingredient for meth, pseudoephedrine.</p><p>That would put Sudafed and a few other drugs behind the counter, but leave most cold medicines on store shelves. Customers would have to ask for Sudafed, but they wouldn't have to sign their names to get it, as in some other states.</p><p>"The manufacture of meth in our state has reached an epidemic," said the bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Jay Neal of LaFayette.</p><p>Neal's bill was backed by police in northwest Georgia, a region Neal says has been devastated by meth. Other provisions of the bill include a three-box limit on the amount of cold medicine customers could buy. It also requires wholesalers to report to authorities when a store buys an unusually large amount of cold medicine.</p><p>The bill passed 156-1 and now heads to the Senate.</p><p>The only vote against the meth bill was Rep. Bobby Franklin, R-Marietta, who said it would create an unfair burden on consumers.</p><p>"It focused the attention on those who were buying Sudafed rather than punishing those who use and produce an illegal drug," he said.</p><p>If approved by the Senate and signed into law, the bill would be one of several new laws created in recent years to try to curb meth use.</p><p>Two years ago, it became illegal to possess more than 300 pills that contain ephedrine. And last year, lawmakers approved a child endangerment law calling for stiffer penalties for people who cook meth around children.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x28669d8)</p>
