(ASHEVILLE) -- Decongestant medicines commonly used to make meth may soon be harder to purchase in North Carolina. A state House bill would make drugs like Sudafed, Allegra D and Claritin D only available through a prescription.

Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan says the move would curb meth manufacturing, but not end it. "Where there's profit to be made or a habit to be taken care of folks will find a way around it usually but this is definitely going to make it much, much harder," said Duncan.

He added that the idea does have drawbacks. It would make it difficult for some people who depend on those drugs for cold, flu and allergy relief to get, and it would be harder to track if people are getting numerous prescriptions for the drugs.

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association has warned that  if half of Americans who use pseudoephedrine drugs had to visit a doctor to get a prescription, it would cost $750 million per year. Currently only Mississippi and Oregon have laws requiring such prescriptions.

Duncan admitted that it would put more pressure on doctors to make sure they are writing prescriptions for those drugs to people who really need them.  Opponents to the legislation propose an electronic system that can stop the purchase of pseudoephedrine drugs at the point of sale.

(Thanks to: WWNC)