PRIVACY LAWS SNARL PLANS FOR PHARMACY DRUG-WATCH SYSTEM

A legal loophole is preventing New Zealand from creating a computer
network which would alert police to suspicious purchases of medicines
which are being processed into the drug P.

The Australian Government has allocated funding for a nationwide
database after the successful Queensland trial of a system called
Project STOP, which records the driver's licence details of anyone
buying drugs such as decongestants containing pseudoephedrine, which
are used to make P.

Queensland police are sent alerts from the database when repeat
purchases are made. They have since reported a 23 per cent reduction
in the amount of P labs being discovered.

New Zealand police and the Ministry of Health were informed of the
Australian trial by the Pharmacy Council of New Zealand late last
year, but hit a legal hurdle in initiating a similar scheme in New
Zealand because of the privacy laws surrounding the use of driver's licences.

Some New Zealand pharmacies demand identification when people buy
drugs containing pseudoephedrine.

But Euan Galloway, chief pharmacist adviser to the Pharmaceutical
Society of New Zealand, says the process is "more bluff than anything".

Whereas their Australian counterparts are alerted by the online
database, New Zealand police must request handwritten or faxed
information from pharmacies.

Mr Galloway said the current process was slow, inconsistent and
solely reliant on the goodwill of pharmacists.

Pharmacy staff could deny any sale without identification if they saw
the need, but a database would assist in that decision-making process
and allow much faster intercepts by police.

The Australian database alerted pharmacists and police when a person
last bought drugs containing pseudoephedrine or if they had been
declined a sale. It was also a deterrent to those customers.

"If you're dishonest, you know that you will be being tracked."

Mr Galloway said the hold-up in getting a "live" computer system in
New Zealand was due in part to laws surrounding our driver's licences.

"In New Zealand the driver's licence can only be demanded for the
purposes of identifying yourself as a licensed driver," he said.

"The Australian driver's licence can be used for the way in which it
is used in Project STOP. It appears that ours can't but police and
civil liberty groups are currently trying to determine whether that
is the case or not.

"On first reading the [Privacy Act] legislation, the answer's no. But
there might be ways around that."

Manually recording pseudoephedrine purchases was also costly for
business as pharmacy staff had to take time off work to testify in
court against offenders.

Mr Galloway said other issues, including funding, needed to be worked
through before a live database could operate.

It could cost as much as "a few million dollars" to find suitable
computer software, broadband internet access and computer security
protection for stores.

He said another problem needing resolution was what pharmacy staff
would do when people who did not have a driver's licence needed
medication containing pseudoephedrine.

Associate Health Minister Jim Anderton said legal experts were
currently looking into the privacy concerns surrounding the
initiation of a New Zealand version of Project STOP.

"There were some difficulties being faced up to in terms of human
rights and some of the methods of implementation were in question.
There were some issues which officials in New Zealand are keeping a
close watch on."

There was no time frame on when a decision would be reached, he said.

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said he would like a
database set up to deter criminals and to identify any "errant"
pharmacies where pseudoephedrine products were being sold carelessly.

A database would provide another tool to help reduce one of the ways
people were accessing P.

"It makes so much sense."

MEDIC ALERT

IN AUSTRALIA A database is being set up which alerts chemists when
customers return to buy medicines used to make P.

IN NEW ZEALAND Police investigated the system but found privacy and
human rights rules prevented the use of driver's licence details to
track pharmacy purchases.