Lawmakers are mulling whether to exempt North Dakota's local jails from state law that requires a nurse or someone with special training to give medication to inmates.

Many county jails have been scrambling to comply with the law since Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem concluded in March 2004 that it applied to them.

On Thursday, the Legislature's interim Budget Committee on Government Services considered two proposals to exempt local jails. The panel, which intends to meet again late next month, deferred action on either proposal.

One committee member, Sen. Stanley Lyson, R-Williston, said jailers already receive training in dispensing medicine to prisoners. Mandating the presence of a nurse or elaborate schooling for corrections officers is going too far, said Lyson, who is a former Williams County sheriff.

"They can't even give a person an aspirin in the middle of the night without a nurse being there," Lyson said. "This is ridiculous."

Terry Traynor, assistant director of the state Association of Counties, said the mandate is costly for counties to meet. When it comes to dispensing medicines, county jails should be treated in the same fashion as centers that care for children and disabled adults, Traynor said.

"Most jails … don't have a nurse on site 24/7, so it gets very difficult if someone in the middle of the night needs an aspirin," Traynor said. "The correctional officer can't go get an aspirin, take it out of the bottle and give it to the prisoner … It creates a real staffing difficulty for facilities."

Rep. Al Carlson, R-Fargo, the committee's chairman, said nursing groups will be asked to testify about the proposal at a future meeting.

Sharon Moos, director of the North Dakota Nurses Association, said the group had not taken a position on the issue. However, Moos said people who dispense medicine should be trained to spot signs of an adverse reaction.

"We certainly would have some concerns about non-nurses administering medication under any circumstances," Moos said.

Constance Kalanek, director of the state Board of Nursing, could not be reached immediately for comment on Thursday. The board is a regulatory agency.

Stenehjem's opinion said state law requires a nurse, or a licensed medication assistant under a nurse's supervision, to dispense prescription drugs to county jail inmates. Nonprescription drugs should be given out in the same fashion to minimize jails' legal liability, he said.

Rep. Eliot Glassheim, D-Grand Forks, said he was concerned about allowing corrections officers to give prescription medicine to inmates without training.

"I understand … the comment about, it's midnight and you need an aspirin, but we're also talking about prescription drugs," Glassheim said. "Under this proposal, are we going to have people who know nothing about drugs, and their interaction, giving out prescription drugs?"

Traynor said prescription drugs were dispensed for years without incident before the attorney general's opinion was issued.

"The counties … understand that they have a liability to provide the best care possible, and all of them have nursing staff that oversees what goes on," Traynor said. "It's just that they aren't there 24/7."