Tulsa County DA Angry Over Defeat Of Pseudoephedrine Bill

Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris held a news conference Wednesday to discuss the defeat of proposed legislation to make pseudoephedrine a prescription drug.

A house committee narrowly rejected a bill that would require a prescription to buy certain cold medicines that are key ingredients in making meth.

A similar bill died last week in a Senate committee.

4/26/2011 Related Story: Tulsa DA Makes Passionate Plea To Stop Meth Lab Problem

Harris said Wednesday he was very upset the bill did not pass and felt betrayed by elected officials, especially those whose districts are in Tulsa County.

"These elected officials chose to ignore all 27 elected district attorneys from every county in the state of Oklahoma, who support making psudeophedrine a prescription," Harris said.

He was one of the bill's more vocal supporters, speaking to government and civic groups about the dangers of methamphetamine use and manufacture.

Tulsa's reputation as the meth lab capitol of the U.S. is hurting all its residents, not just those directly victimized by the drug trade, he has said.

Harris said out of 902 Oklahoma meth lab busts in 2011, 428 of those were in the city of Tulsa alone. 

Others argue that it is not fair to make law abiding citizens get a prescription for their cold and allergy medicines.