State Anti-Meth Measure Is Working, Study Says
2.13.15 – Rachel Herndon, The Missouri Times
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – An initiative called ‘Stop Meth Not Meds’ is praising Missouri’s use of the National Precursor Log Exchange (NPLEx), the state’s real-time, stop-sale pseudoephedrine tracking system.
“The leading manufacturers of PSE, which support ‘Stop Meth Not Meds,’ are working closely with state legislatures and law enforcement to help implement new real-time, stop-sale technology to effectively enforce current laws restricting PSE sales, while still allowing legitimate consumers convenient access to effective and needed medicines,” according to the Stop Meth Not Meds website.
Missouri State Representative Kurt Bahr, R-O’Fallon, lauded the 2014 data from the program, telling The Missouri Times that “the program works.”
A growing number of states are using NPLEx, making Missouri one of 31 across the country that currently utilize the technology to automatically block unlawful, attempted pseudoephedrine (PSE) purchases at the point of sale. NPLEx helps retailers and law enforcement officers work together to stop criminals from illicitly purchasing pseudoephedrine and diverting the medicine to meth. Because of this system, PSE sales, and meth crime, are down across the country.
In 2014, the NPLEx system in Missouri has helped block the sale of more than 35,000 boxes of pseudoephedrine, stopping nearly 91,000 grams — about 200lbs — from getting into the hands of meth criminals.
Read more here.