Law Enforcement Due Praise
5.31.16–Travis Fitzwater, Fulton Sun
It’s hard to thank our brave local law enforcement enough for all they do to keep our communities safe. We’re reminded this week, during National Police Week, that it’s important we take the time to recognize their efforts and give thanks. I also want to applaud their success with tackling the meth issue in our state.
Because of their partnership with pharmacies and utilization of the National Precursor Log Exchange (NPLEx), we’ve been able to stop the sale of pseudoephedrine to potential criminals who reach their legal daily, monthly and yearly limit on cold and allergy medicine containing pseudoephedrine. Meth criminals try to hop from pharmacy to pharmacy, purchasing large amounts of the cold and allergy medicine to make meth at home. Not only does NPLEx stop the purchase of the medicine before criminals can walk out of the store, the smart technology allows police to also monitor suspicious purchase activity, playing a critical role in many ongoing meth investigations.
I’m proud that our state is one of 33 across the country that have adopted this technology, and we’re seeing real results. In 2015, more than 2 million boxes of cold and allergy medicine were blocked, with over 45,000 in our state alone. We owe success of the program to our local law enforcement and their leadership in fully utilizing the system.
With a strong monitoring system in place, our men and women in blue can focus on an ever-growing threat at the heart of the meth epidemic, drugs coming into the country from Mexico.
Travis Fitzwater,
State representative, District 49