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A bill with good intentions to hit the meth manufacturers has now become "anti-business," said Sen. Kim Elton, D-Juneau. "It's gone from being tough on criminals to being tough on pharmacists."

Lawmakers were scrambling to rewrite amendments that might put pharmacists at ease. The bill was delayed on the Senate floor Monday while up for reconsideration.

Nancy Davis, executive director of the Alaska Pharmacists Association, said her group has no problems with restricting the sale of Sudafed because people are abusing it. In fact, many shops across the state are already keeping their Sudafed behind the counter.

Caren Robinson, a lobbyist for the group, said a Juneau pharmacist has refused to sell the medicine to suspicious people who could use it for drugs. Occasionally, meth makers will steal it, she added.

But the group doesn't like the new changes to the bill. More restrictions on over-the-counter drugs would cut into the pharmacists' time, Davis said. The cost of these measures would be passed onto the consumer.

Pharmacists and shop owners, particularly smaller ones pressed for space, may not have enough storage space for products that are added to the list, Davis said.

"Where does it end?" she said.

Robinson suspects some smaller stores in the state will stop carrying restricted medicines.

The Senate is expected to vote again on the bill on Wednesday.

The bill first passed Thursday 17-1, with Senate Minority Leader Johnny Ellis, D-Anchorage, dissenting. He didn't like the portion concerning marijuana, which was tacked on earlier this month.

"It's not about marijuana. I don't use it. I don't like it. I don't smoke it," Ellis said of his decision. "It's about the right to privacy."

Elton said it was one of those votes in which he wishes he could have said "maybe." He voted against the marijuana legislation last year in a committee when the bills were separate. But he wants tough legislation on meth.

Senate Bill 74 was designed to reopen a 31-year-old court ruling that the state constitution allows Alaskans to keep up to 4 ounces of marijuana in their homes.

The bill called for criminalizing all marijuana possession, dishing out misdemeanors for those with less than 4 ounces and felonies for those who had more than that.

HB 149 also lists certain anabolic steroids as illegal substances.

The governor has said the marijuana bill is must-pass legislation.

Ellis said it was fused with the meth piece because the marijuana bill did not have enough votes to pass.

The House of Representatives will have the opportunity to alter the bill with amendments when it arrives for a concurrence vote, said Speaker John Harris, R-Valdez. It will not go through committees, as HB 149 as a meth bill already passed through the process.

Harris said his caucus will most likely vote its conscience on the bill and not along party lines. House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz, D-Anchorage, said he wants to look at the bill before making his decision.

But Berkowitz added that the effort to criminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana may be futile as courts would still side with the constitution and not overturn their 1975 decision.

House Majority Leader John Coghill, R-North Pole, said his mind is made up.

"I think the penalties need to be as stiff as we can make them," he said. "I know I'm not being in lock-step with my district on that ... but for me, the issue of speaking out as a society and saying this is not welcome is appropriate."