I 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5347 
To eliminate the safe-harbor exception for certain packaged pseudoephedrine 
products used in the manufacture of methamphetamine, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 8, 2004 
Mr. SOUDER (for himself, Mr. WAMP, Mr. CALVERT, and Mr. OSE) 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 pe-
riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con-
sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
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. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Methamphetamine 
Abuse Prevention Act of 2004’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds that—
(1) methamphetamine is a dangerous drug dis-
tributed throughout the United States; 
(2) the manufacture, distribution, and use of 
methamphetamine results in increased crime, dam-
age to the environment, hazardous waste that en-
dangers the public, expensive cleanup costs often 
borne by Federal, State, and local government agen-
cies, and broken families; 
(3) Congress has acted many times to limit the 
availability of chemicals and equipment used in the 
manufacturing of methamphetamine; 
(4) pseudoephedrine is one of the basic pre-
cursor chemicals used in the manufacture of meth-
amphetamine; 
(5) the United States Drug Enforcement Ad-
ministration has indicated that methamphetamine 
manufacturers often obtain pseudoephedrine from 
retail and wholesale distributors, in both bottles and 
‘‘blister packs’’, and that the use of pseudoephedrine 
tablets in blister packs is pervasive in the illicit pro-
duction of methamphetamine in both small and large 
clandestine 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 9 gram limit on bottled pseudoephedrine 
allows an individual to purchase approximately 366 
thirty-milligram tablets per transaction, which is sig-
nificantly 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 United States Drug Enforcement Ad-
ministration recommended in March 2002 that retail 
distribution of pseudoephedrine tablets in blister 
packages should not be exempt from the general re-
tail sales limit; and 
(10) in recommending legislation to correct the 
current disparity in the law between bottled and blis-
ter-packed pseudoephedrine tablets, the United 
States Drug Enforcement Administration stated 
that ‘‘The removal of this difference would signifi-
cantly prevent illicit access to this methamphetamine 
precursor and would be easier for both the govern-
ment and the industry to monitor and would in-
crease compliance by retailers’’. 
SEC. 3. REDUCTION OF RETAIL SALES THRESHOLD TO 6 
GRAMS. 
Section 102(39)(A)(iv)(II) of the Controlled Sub-
stances Act (21 U.S.C. 802(39)(A)(iv)(II)) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘9 grams’’ each place such term 
appears and inserting ‘‘6 grams’’; and 
(2) by striking ‘‘and sold in package sizes of 
not more than 3 grams of pseudoephedrine base or 
3 grams of phenylpropanolamine base; or’’ and in-
serting the following: ‘‘and sold in, with respect to 
nonliquids, package sizes of not more than 3.0 
grams of pseudoephedrine base or 3.0 grams of 
phenylpropanolamine base, and packaged in blister 
packs, each blister containing not more than 2 dos-
age units, or where the use of blister packs is tech-
nically infeasible, packaged in unit dose packets or 
pouches and, 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; or’’. 
SEC. 4. ELIMINATION OF BLISTER PACK EXEMPTION. 
(a) 
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)’’. 
(b) DEFINITION.—Section 102 of the Controlled sub-
stances Act (21 U.S.C. 802) is amended— 
(1) by striking paragraph (45); and 
(2) by redesignating paragraph (46) as para-
graph (45). 
(c) RULE OF LAW.—To the extent that there exists 
a conflict between the amendment made by subsection (a) 
and section 401(d) of the Comprehensive Methamphet-
amine Control Act of 1996 (21 U.S.C. 802 note), the 
amendment shall control. 
SEC. 5. NATIONAL UNIFORMITY FOR RESTRICTIONS ON 
THE SALE OF PSEUDOEPHEDRINE PROD-
UCTS. 
Section 708 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 
U.S.C. 903) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘No’’ and inserting the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 
(b), no’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(b) PSEUDOEPHEDRINE DRUG PRODUCT.— 
‘‘(1) STATE AND LOCAL REQUIREMENTS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No State or political 
subdivision of a State or State authorized entity 
may establish with respect to the retail sales of 
any pseudoephedrine drug product any require-
ment or restriction that is different from, or in 
addition to, or that is otherwise not identical 
with, the requirements and restrictions that 
apply to pseudoephedrine drug products under 
this Act. 
‘‘(B) STATE PENALTIES.—Nothing in sub-
paragraph (A) shall be construed as preventing 
a State or political subdivision of a State from 
adopting penalties that are different from, or in 
addition to, or that are otherwise not identical 
with, the penalties that apply under this Act. 
‘‘(C) GRANDFATHER
CLAUSE.—Subpara-
graph (A) shall not apply to any requirement or 
restriction 
regarding 
the 
retail 
sale 
of 
pseudoephedrine drug products established by a 
State or political subdivision of a State or State 
authorized entity enacted prior to January 1, 
2005, other than a requirement or restriction 
allowing any individual to purchase more than 
6 grams of pseudoephedrine base in any single 
retail transaction.
‘‘(2) EXEMPTIONS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Upon application of a 
State or political subdivision thereof, the Attor-
ney General, not later than 30 days after re-
ceiving the application, may exempt from para-
graph (1)(A), under such conditions as the At-
torney General may prescribe, a State or polit-
ical subdivision requirement upon a determina-
tion by the Attorney General that— 
‘‘(i) pseudoephedrine drug products 
obtained in that State or political subdivi-
sion are being used as a significant source 
of precursor chemicals for illegal manufac-
ture of a controlled substance for distribu-
tion or sale; 
‘‘(ii) the requirement is likely to sub-
stantially 
decrease 
the 
use 
of 
pseudoephedrine drug products as a source 
of precursor chemicals for illegal manufac-
ture of a controlled substance for distribu-
tion or sale; and 
‘‘(iii) the requirement will not unduly 
burden interstate commerce. 
‘‘(B) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—
‘‘(i) REVIEW
IN
COURT
OF
AP-
PEALS.—Within 10 days after a deter-
mination by the Attorney General under 
subparagraph (A), the State or political 
subdivision involved, or an individual af-
fected by the determination, may file a pe-
tition for judicial review of such determina-
tion in the United States Court of Appeals 
for the District of Columbia Circuit, which 
shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any 
such petitions. 
‘‘(ii) DETERMINATION BY COURT.— 
‘‘(I) IN
GENERAL.—Within 20 
days after a petition under clause (i) 
is filed with the court, the court shall 
enter final judgement on the petition. 
‘‘(II) SERVICE REGARDING PETI-
TION.—With respect to a petition 
under clause (i), if the court deter-
mines that proper service was not 
made on the Attorney General within 
5 days after the date on which the pe-
tition was filed with the court, the 
running of the 20-day period under 
subclause (I) shall not begin before
the day on which proper service was 
made on the Attorney General. 
‘‘(iii) 
FINALITY
OF
DETERMINA-
TION.—Any determination made by the 
court under this subparagraph shall be 
final and conclusive and shall not be re-
viewed by any other court. 
‘‘(C) COMPUTATION OF DAYS.—For pur-
poses of this paragraph, Saturday, Sunday, or 
a legal holiday in the District of Columbia shall 
not be counted as the last day of any period. 
‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this subsection, 
the term ‘pseudoephedrine drug product’ means a 
product containing pseudoephedrine that may be 
marketed or distributed lawfully in the United 
States as a drug under the Federal Food, Drug, and 
Cosmetic Act.’’. 
Æ