AG TOUTS TRACKING OF METH INGREDIENT

ILLINOIS: Madigan praises Walgreens for creating national database

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan praised Walgreens last week
for the effectiveness of its new electronic database that enforces
legal limits on how much of the stimulant pseudoephedrine an
individual can purchase.

The first of its kind, Walgreens' national database improves on the
old-fashioned system of logging pseudoephedrine purchases on paper.
Pseudoephedrine is used to make the illegal drug methamphetamine.
According to Phil Burgess, Walgreens' national director of Pharmacy
Affairs, the paper-based tracking system proved ineffective partly
because of the difficulty of keeping accurate handwritten records.

At a Walgreens pharmacy in the Loop on Wednesday, Madigan and Burgess
demonstrated the virtues of the new system. Customers who buy
pseudoephedrine-containing medicines, such as Claritin and Sudafed,
are required to provide a state ID card and sign a log. The system
then records each individual's name, address and state ID number,
along with the details of the sale. Pseudoephedrine is a chemical
compound often used in decongestants.

A major drawback of the paper logging system was that it only tracked
transactions within each Walgreens store, not among all stores.
Burgess noted that the old system made it simple to evade the federal
law without interstate cooperation.

And, Madigan said, since Illinois' neighboring states lead the
country in the number of illicit meth labs, implementing a national
tracking system is vital.

By Sept. 30, nationwide restrictions will be placed on the purchase
of pseudoephedrine, Burgess said. An individual buying products that
contain the stimulant must be 18 years old, and customers will be
limited to 3.6 grams of pseudoephedrine per transaction.

While these federal restrictions will set the minimum standards for
regulation, Illinois joined the roster of about 20 states that place
additional controls on the sales of the drug.