I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1446
To amend the Controlled Substances Act to eliminate the safe-harbor excep-
tion for certain packaged pseudoephedrine products used in the manufac-
ture of methamphetamine, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 17, 2005
Mr. SOUDER (for himself, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. PETERSON of Penn-
sylvania, Mr. BOEHLERT, Ms. BORDALLO, Mr. CASE, and Mr. KENNEDY 
of Minnesota) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee 
on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Controlled Substances Act to eliminate the 
safe-harbor 
exception 
for 
certain 
packaged 
pseudoephedrine products used in the manufacture of 
methamphetamine, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 
‘‘Methamphetamine Abuse Prevention Act of 2005’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 
this Act is as follows: 
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 
Sec. 2. Findings. 
TITLE I—METHAMPHETAMINE PRECURSORS 
Subtitle A—Amendments to Controlled Substances Act 
Sec. 101. Regulated transactions in methamphetamine precursor chemical prod-
ucts. 
Sec. 102. Authority to establish production quotas. 
Sec. 103. Penalties; authority for manufacturing; quota. 
Subtitle B—Amendments to Controlled Substances Import and Export Act 
Sec. 111. Restrictions on importation; authority to permit imports for medical, 
scientific, or other legitimate purposes. 
Sec. 112. Notice of importation or exportation; approval of sale or transfer by 
importer or exporter. 
Subtitle C—General Provisions 
Sec. 121. Report by Director of Office of National Drug Control Policy regard-
ing regulation of list I chemicals. 
TITLE II—RESOURCES FOR ENFORCEMENT 
Sec. 201. Authorization of appropriations relating to COPS grants. 
Sec. 202. Expansion of methamphetamine hot spots program to include per-
sonnel and equipment for enforcement, prosecution, and clean-
up. 
Sec. 203. Special United States attorneys’ program. 
TITLE III—GRANT PROGRAMS 
Subtitle A—Public Health Service Act 
Sec. 301. Grants for services for children of substance abusers. 
Sec. 302. Local grants for treatment of methamphetamine abuse and related 
conditions. 
Subtitle B—Bureau of Justice 
Sec. 303. Methamphetamine precursor monitoring grants. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Methamphetamine, ecstasy, and other syn-
thetic drugs are dangerous drugs distributed 
throughout the United States.
(2) The manufacture, distribution, and use of 
methamphetamine and other synthetic drugs result 
in increased crime, damage to the environment, and 
hazardous waste that endanger the public, expensive 
cleanup costs often borne by Federal, State, and 
local government agencies, and broken families. 
(3) The Congress has acted many times to limit 
the availability of chemicals and equipment used in 
the manufacturing of methamphetamine and other 
synthetic drugs. 
(4) Pseudoephedrine is one of the basic pre-
cursor chemicals used in the manufacture of meth-
amphetamine. 
(5) The Drug Enforcement Administration has 
indicated that methamphetamine manufacturers 
often obtain pseudoephedrine from retail and whole-
sale distributors, in both bottles and ‘‘blister packs’’, 
and that the use of pseudoephedrine tablets in blis-
ter packs is pervasive in the illicit production of 
methamphetamine in both small and large clandes-
tine methamphetamine laboratories. 
(6) While current law establishes a retail sales 
limit of 9 grams for most pseudoephedrine products, 
including common cold medicine, there is no such
limit on the sale of blister-packed pseudoephedrine 
products. 
(7) 
The 
gram 
limit 
on 
bottled 
pseudoephedrine allows an individual to purchase ap-
proximately 366 thirty-milligram tablets per trans-
action, which is significantly more than a typical 
consumer would need for legitimate purposes. 
(8) Reducing the current 9 gram threshold to 
6 grams would allow consumers to continue pur-
chasing sufficient medication for legitimate purposes 
and would assist efforts to reduce illegal use of the 
pseudoephedrine products. 
(9) The Drug Enforcement Administration rec-
ommended in March 2002 that retail distribution of 
pseudoephedrine tablets in blister packages should 
not be exempt from the general retail sales limit. 
(10) In recommending legislation to correct the 
current disparity in the law between bottled and blis-
ter-packed pseudoephedrine tablets, the Drug En-
forcement Administration stated that ‘‘The removal 
of this difference would significantly prevent illicit 
access to this methamphetamine precursor and 
would be easier for both the government and the in-
dustry to monitor and would increase compliance by 
retailers’’.
(11) In its October 2004 National Synthetic 
Drugs Action Plan, the Department of Justice and 
the Office of National Drug Control Policy also rec-
ommended that the manufacture, import, export, 
and distribution of pseudoephedrine and other syn-
thetic drug precursor chemicals be subject to in-
creased governmental oversight to reduce the danger 
of diversion to illegal drug production. 
TITLE I—METHAMPHETAMINE 
PRECURSORS 
Subtitle A—Amendments to 
Controlled Substances Act 
SEC. 101. REGULATED TRANSACTIONS IN METHAMPHET-
AMINE PRECURSOR CHEMICAL PRODUCTS. 
(a) REDUCTION OF RETAIL SALES THRESHOLD.—
Section 102(39)(A)(iv)(II) of the Controlled Substances 
Act (21 U.S.C. 802(39)(A)(iv)(II)) is amended by striking 
‘‘shall be 9 grams’’ and all that follows and inserting the 
following: ‘‘shall be any quantity of pseudoephedrine over 
6.0 grams in a single transaction, or any quantity of phen-
ylpropanolamine over 6.0 grams in a single transaction, 
which quantity is—
‘‘(aa) with respect to nonliq-
uids, sold in package sizes of not 
more 
than 
3.0 
grams 
of
pseudoephedrine 
base 
or 
3.0 
grams of phenylpropanolamine 
base, respectively, and packaged 
in blister packs, each blister con-
taining not more than 2 dosage 
units, or where the use of blister 
packs is technically infeasible, 
packaged in unit dose packets or 
pouches; and 
‘‘(bb) with respect to liquids, 
sold in package sizes of not more 
than 
3.0 
grams 
of 
pseudoephedrine base, or 3.0 
grams of phenylpropanolamine 
base, respectively; or’’. 
(b) ELIMINATION OF BLISTER PACK EXEMPTION.—
(1) 
REGULATED
TRANSACTION.—Section 
102(39)(A)(iv)(I)(aa) of the Controlled Substances 
Act (21 U.S.C. 802(39)(A)(iv)(I)(aa)) is amended by 
striking ‘‘, except that’’ and all that follows through 
‘‘1996)’’. 
(2) DEFINITION.—Section 102 of the Con-
trolled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802) is amend-
ed—
(A) by striking paragraph (45); and
(B) by redesignating paragraph (46) as 
paragraph (45). 
(3) RULE OF LAW.—To the extent that there 
exists a conflict between the amendment made by 
paragraph (1) and section 401(d) of the Comprehen-
sive Methamphetamine Control Act of 1996 (21 
U.S.C. 802 note), the amendment shall control. 
(c) COMBINATIONS INVOLVING DERIVATIVES.—Sec-
tion 102(39) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 
802(39)) is amended—
(1) in subparagraph (A)(iv)(I)(aa), by striking 
‘‘the drug contains’’ and all that follows through 
‘‘unless otherwise provided’’ and inserting the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘the 
drug 
contains 
ephedrine, 
pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine unless 
otherwise provided’’; and 
(2) by inserting after and below subparagraph 
(B) the following: 
‘‘Each reference in subparagraph (A)(iv) to ephed-
rine, pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine in-
cludes each of the salts, optical isomers, and salts of 
optical isomers of such chemical.’’.
SEC. 
102. 
AUTHORITY 
TO 
ESTABLISH 
PRODUCTION 
QUOTAS. 
Section 306 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 
U.S.C. 826) is amended—
(1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘and for 
ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanola-
mine’’ after ‘‘for each basic class of controlled sub-
stance in schedules I and II’’; 
(2) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘or for 
ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanola-
mine’’ after ‘‘for each basic class of controlled sub-
stance in schedule I or II’’ each place such term ap-
pears; 
(3) in subsection (c), in the first sentence, by 
inserting ‘‘and for ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and 
phenylpropanolamine’’ after ‘‘for the basic classes of 
controlled substances in schedules I and II’’; 
(4) in subsection (d), by inserting ‘‘or ephed-
rine, pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine’’ 
after ‘‘that basic class of controlled substance’’; 
(5) in subsection (e), by inserting ‘‘or for 
ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanola-
mine’’ after ‘‘for a basic class of controlled sub-
stance in schedule I or II’’ each place such term ap-
pears; 
(6) in subsection (f)—
(A) 
by 
inserting 
‘‘or 
ephedrine, 
pseudoephedrine, 
or 
phenylpropanolamine’’ 
after ‘‘controlled substances in schedules I and 
II’’; 
(B) 
by 
inserting 
‘‘or 
of 
ephedrine, 
pseudoephedrine, 
or 
phenylpropanolamine’’ 
after ‘‘the manufacture of a controlled sub-
stance’’; and 
(C) by inserting ‘‘or chemicals’’ after 
‘‘such incidentally produced substances’’; and 
(7) by adding at the end the following sub-
section: 
‘‘(g) Each reference in this section to ephedrine, 
pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine includes each of 
the salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical isomers of 
such chemical.’’. 
SEC. 103. PENALTIES; AUTHORITY FOR MANUFACTURING; 
QUOTA. 
Section 402(b) of the Controlled Substances Act (21 
U.S.C. 842(b)) is amended by inserting after ‘‘manufac-
ture a controlled substance in schedule I or II’’ the fol-
lowing: ‘‘, or ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or phenyl-
propanolamine or any of the salts, optical isomers, or salts 
of optical isomers of such chemical,’’
Subtitle B—Amendments to Con-
trolled Substances Import and 
Export Act 
SEC. 111. RESTRICTIONS ON IMPORTATION; AUTHORITY TO 
PERMIT IMPORTS FOR MEDICAL, SCIENTIFIC, 
OR OTHER LEGITIMATE PURPOSES. 
Section 1002(a) of the Controlled Substances Import 
and Export Act (21 U.S.C. 952(a)) is amended—
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 
inserting ‘‘or ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or phenyl-
propanolamine,’’ after ‘‘schedule III, IV, or V of title 
II,’’; 
(2) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘, and of 
ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanola-
mine, ’’ after ‘‘coca leaves’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following sub-
sections: 
‘‘(d)(1) With respect to a registrant under section 
1008 who is authorized under subsection (a)(1) to import 
ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine, at 
any time during the year the registrant may apply for an 
increase in the amount of such chemical that the reg-
istrant is authorized to import, and the Attorney General 
may approve the application if the Attorney General deter-
mines that the approval is necessary to provide for med-
ical, scientific, or other legitimate purposes regarding the 
chemical. 
‘‘(2) Not later than 60 days after receiving an appli-
cation under paragraph (1), the Attorney General shall 
approve or deny the application. In approving such an ap-
plication, the Attorney General shall specify the period of 
time for which the approval is in effect, or shall provide 
that the approval is effective until the registrant involved 
is notified by the Attorney General that the approval is 
terminated. 
‘‘(e) Each reference in this section to ephedrine, 
pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine includes each of 
the salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical isomers of 
such chemical.’’. 
SEC. 112. NOTICE OF IMPORTATION OR EXPORTATION; AP-
PROVAL OF SALE OR TRANSFER BY IM-
PORTER OR EXPORTER. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1018 of the Controlled 
Substances Import and Export Act (21 U.S.C. 971) is 
amended—
(1) by redesignating subsections (d) and (e) as 
subsections (e) and (f), respectively; and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol-
lowing subsection: