(The Center Square) – New legislation would allow Arizonans to obtain Ivermectin over the counter.
House Bill 2007 would let people get the medication without a prescription or consultation with a health professional.
State Rep Nick Kupper, R-Buckeye, who pre-filed HB 2007 last month, told The Center Square he decided to sponsor this bill after constituents kept asking him about it.
According to WebMD, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of Ivermectin in humans to treat parasitic worm infections. Ivermectin is also used to treat parasitic worms in livestock animals.
Ivermectin is listed on the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines.
Kupper said one of the things that pushed him to promote this legislation was an argument when the recreational use of marijuana for adults 21 and older was legalized in 2020. That legalization came when approximately 60% of Arizonans casting ballots approved Proposition 207. An argument for the measure was that people were already using marijuana, so why not regulate it and make it safer?
According to Kupper, the same logic applies to Ivermectin.
The drug is already legally available, but only at a feed store, meaning it is labeled for animal use rather than human use, he told The Center Square.
“If your concern is that people are already going to the feed store and buying the horse version and using it off-label, then doesn’t it make sense to follow the same thought process with marijuana and have a human-labeled version available?” Kupper asked. “If you want to use it and it’s not harming anybody else, why do I, as the government, care?”
“If you’re using Ivermectin and it’s safer than these other things, I shouldn’t care that you’re using it. That should be your decision,” he said.
If the bill is voted on during the legislative session, legislators will most likely vote on it along party lines, Kupper said, but he added not every issue needs to be partisan.
If the bill passes, Kupper said he is “not gonna hold a lot of hope” that Gov. Katie Hobbs would sign it.
Arizona would become the fifth state to allow people to obtain Ivermectin over the counter if HB 2007 became law, joining Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana and Tennessee.
During the upcoming legislative session, Kupper told The Center Square he will focus on bills related to individual liberties.
In November, Kupper pre-filed HB 2005, which prevents doctors and healthcare providers from denying or providing substandard medical care based on a person’s vaccination status.
A month later, the state representative also pre-filed HB 2059, which would create “derestricted speed zones” in some rural regions of Arizona where people operating non-commercial vehicles would not be subject to a daytime speed limit. For these zones to be established, they need to meet safety and infrastructure requirements.
The speed limit would go down to 80 mph 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset, HB 2059 noted.
