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Pharmacies to track pseudoephedrine sales with online logbook Thursday, Jun 5, 2008 Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - All Arkansas pharmacies selling products containing pseudoephedrine are now logging the sales of such products online, allowing law enforcement officials to easily monitor the sales, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel announced Wednesday. Pseudoephedrine, used to treat cold symptoms, is also a key ingredient in methamphetamine, an illegal drug that has become widespread in use across Arkansas. Law enforcement officials will now be able to tell who is buying the drug, in what quantities and where. "I have full confidence that both pharmacies and law enforcement throughout the state will use this system to better protect our state's people and its future, and that this will take us one step closer to turning the tide on the meth epidemic in Arkansas," McDaniel said. The attorney general announced the program at the Searcy Police Department. The number of estimated meth labs in Arkansas declined from 1,206 in 2004 to 463 in 2006 after a law passed in 2005 required pharmacies to keep products containing pseudoephedrine behind the counter and record who purchases the products, McDaniel's office said. The online logbook will prevent meth manufacturers from circumventing that protection by purchasing small amounts of products containing pseudoephedrine at multiple pharmacies, McDaniel said. Other states have used similar online logbooks and gotten positive results, the attorney general said. A year after Oklahoma implemented its system, meth lab seizures in the state dropped 85 percent, he said. North Little Rock narcotics detectives use a similar system, which has significantly decreased the purchasing of raw materials used to make meth. The Legislature has allocated $591,000 in set-up costs for the logbook this year, with another $392,000 pledged for next year. |
