Rockford Pharmacies Use Electronic Database to Track Meth Ingredient Sales

Rockford, IL - "This is where we had to place all of the pseudoephederine products, behind the prescription counter, so the patient can`t just pick it off the shelf," says Tom Hunt, pharmacist at Nihan & Martin. "They`ve got to ask for the product." The pharmacy made that change in January to comply with a new state law. It requires anyone buying the decongestant pseudoepederine and ephederine, two common meth ingredients, to show an ID and sign a log. About 100 names are signed on the paper log at Nihan & Martin from the past month. They say the process works fine for their close-knit neighborhood pharmacy. "It takes time to follow state laws like that," says Hunt, "but we`re happy to do it because it curtails methamphetamine labs and if it helps." Walgreens, on the other hand, is seeing a problem. For example, just down Alpine, theres a Walgreens on Guilford. A few miles down, theres another one on Harrison. People are buying their limit of medicine containing pseudoephederine at one store, signing the log, and then going to another one to buy more. To fight back, Walgreens is implementing an electronic tracking system to curb the problem. State officials hope other pharmacies will follow their lead. "We`re not simply doing this to hassle people," says Lisa Madigan, Illinois Attorney General. "We`re doing this for a law enforcement purpose and electronic database does it better." But pharmacists at Nihan & Martin say they wouldnt implement an electronic tracking system unless it was a city or statewide effort. "With us just being the one store, it wouldn`t be necessary to have something like that," says Hunt. "Who are we going to tell but ourselves?" Madigan says the ultimate goal is to have a federal or statewide database.