And legislators Thursday descended wholeheartedly into junior high school humor during debate of a bill meant to cut off largely unregulated Internet sales of erectile dysfunction drugs.
Brigham City Republican Sen. Peter Knudson earnestly told his colleagues of the risks posed by KwikMed, an Arizona company that runs a Web site where men simply fill out a questionnaire to receive prescriptions for drugs like Viagra, Cialis and LeVitra.
Knudson said KwikMed can't be sure that those who apply are adults. And if someone has a bad reaction to drug, they have nowhere to turn.
"All of these drugs are potentially harmful. These drugs can cause blindness or death," Knudson said. "The piece that is missing from this company's process is the clinical process."
Knudson even tried to appeal to lawmakers' finely honed moral compasses, noting that porn sites routinely link to KwikMed's site.
It was all for naught. The bill failed on a 19 to 7 vote, but not before legislators injected some awkward levity.
Sen. Ed Mayne, D-West Valley City, offered that he had "no conflict of interest, whatsoever" on the bill. When Provo GOP Sen. Curt Bramble scurried over with a prescription bottle, Mayne said, "Go take them yourself."
Then, he added, "The state of Utah has invested millions of dollars to develop a new slogan for the state of Utah - Life Elevated. I would want to do nothing to hurt that image."
Bramble said he might offer his own pun, but his wife and daughter were in the Senate Chamber just then.
Even Democratic Salt Lake City Sen. Scott McCoy couldn't resist. "This is a hard vote for me," McCoy said. "It's been keeping me up late at night."
Linda Hilton, with the Coalition of Religious Communities, was sitting with three nuns in the Senate overflow room, listening to the debate. "They wanted to know, 'What's so funny about getting drugs off the internet?' " Hilton said. She did her best to explain.
walsh@sltrib.com
SB146
Would close a loophole that allows online sales of erectile dysfunction drugs.
Next step: Filed with dead bills.
