Pubdate: Sun, 14 Jul 2013
Source: Morning Call (Allentown, PA)
Copyright: 2013 The Morning Call Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/DReo9M8z
Website: http://www.mcall.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/275
Author: Daniel Patrick Sheehan

PENNSYLVANIA JOINS ELECTRONIC FLAGGING SYSTEM TO CURB METH PRODUCTION

You're a target if you want to buy pseudoephedrine to make methamphetamine.

Your sinuses ache, you need a decongestant and you want one with 
pseudoephedrine, stored behind the counter. So you pick a card off 
the drug store rack and hand it to the pharmacist, along with your 
driver's license, then sign an electronic purchase log.

That procedure, in place since 2006 under federal law, is used to 
track purchases of products containing pseudoephedrine, which is an 
effective sinus medicine but also a key ingredient in the manufacture 
of illegal methamphetamine. The logs allow investigators to link 
pseudoephedrine purchasers to meth operations.

Now, Pennsylvania has joined 28 other states in adopting an enhanced 
tracking system, one that can immediately flag suspicious purchases 
and stop them before they happen.

House Bill 602, which Gov. Tom Corbett signed into law last week, 
added Pennsylvania to the National Precursor Log Exchange system, 
known as NPLEx.

The system provides real-time electronic monitoring of 
pseudoephedrine purchases and blocks sales for anyone trying to buy 
more than the daily legal limit of the drug - 3.6 grams. That can 
thwart someone moving from store to store to buy in bulk, a practice 
known as smurfing.

Pharmacists aren't required to report someone flagged by NPLEx. They 
simply refuse the sale.

Legitimate consumers who may need more than the legal limit - to 
treat allergies in a large family, for instance - can obtain a 
prescription for the medicine.

The system's operator, the National Association of Drug Diversion 
Investigators, is funded by the manufacturers of products containing 
pseudoephedrine - and two similar drugs, ephedrine and 
phenylpropanolamine - so the service comes at no cost to taxpayers.

State Rep. Marguerite Quinn, R-Bucks, who sponsored House Bill 602, 
said it makes sense for manufacturers to bear the cost of the system. 
Some states have gone to a prescription-only method of dispensing 
pseudoephedrine-containing medicines. That cuts into profits by 
eliminating over-the-counter sales.

The industry already had been affected by the logging system.

Some manufacturers reformulated their products to eliminate 
pseudoephedrine, replacing it with less-effective decongestants.

Quinn said she sponsored the bill out of growing concern over the 
spread of methamphetamine manufacturing and other drug use and what 
she regarded as an antiquated system of tracking pseudoephedrine purchases.

"There are methods in terms of electronics that can help and it's 
important that we take advantage of them," she said.

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association, a trade group, 
applauded the state's entry into the system as a way of curbing 
criminal activity while keeping products available to legitimate customers.

"While the vast majority of consumers purchase cold and allergy 
medicines legally, some criminals attempt to obtain illegal 
quantities of pseudoephedrine in order to manufacture 
methamphetamine," Scott Melville, the group's president and CEO, said 
in a prepared statement.

"NPLEx gives retailers the power to block these illegal purchases at 
the register before they happen, giving communities and Pennsylvania 
law enforcement a new and critical tool in stopping the illegal sale 
of these medicines to criminals."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom