Alabama lawmakers are considering new ways to block people from buying key ingredients used to make methamphetamine.

A new electronic database that was launched in January has already blocked the sale of more than 70,000 boxes of cold medicine with ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, the main ingredients in the
drug.

The Birmingham News is reporting that
legislators are now considering whether to require prescriptions to buy products that include those two ingredients.

Supporters of the new law say, while the database has helped crack down on meth manufacturing, it doesn't prevent makers from recruiting runners to buy enough cold medicine to make a batch.

But the legislation would likely face opposition from
pharmaceutical companies and lawmakers who see the bill as too onerous.

A law requiring prescriptions for products that contain pseudoephedrine has already been enacted in Mississippi.