Alabama to implement e-tracking program to block PSE sales

WASHINGTON The Consumer Healthcare Products Association on Tuesday expressed its support for Alabama law HB 528, signed into law by Gov. Bob Riley, that calls for implementation of a real-time electronic sales tracking system to block illegal purchases of cold and allergy medicines containing pseudoephedrine.

CHPA also commended Rep. Frank McDaniel, D-DeKalb and Marshall, and Sen. Lowell Barron, D-DeKalb, Jackson and Madison, for securing bipartisan support for this important piece of legislation which passed through both chambers unanimously.

Alabama joins nine other states — Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Washington — that have adopted e-tracking.

“We applaud Gov. Riley and the Alabama legislature for implementing a solution that will fight domestic meth production while maintaining consumer access to important cold and allergy medications,” stated Linda Suydam, president of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association. “This system offers an effective solution to reducing meth labs and is the only solution that works across state lines.”

The makers of PSE-containing medicines are providing an industry-funded system to allow law enforcement to identify “smurfers” or those who try to illegally violate limits in state and federal law on the amount of PSE-containing medicines individuals can purchase in a given period of time. E-tracking poses no new barriers to consumers, collects only the information already required under federal law, and enables law enforcement to find the meth labs that would otherwise go undetected.

According to a recent poll conducted by David Binder Research, more than three-fourths of Alabama voters support an e-tracking system.  The poll also found that voters believe e-tracking will help law enforcement receive the information they need to identify those who are purchasing illegal amounts of medicines containing PSE. As many as 78% of those surveyed agree that e-tracking will be “a huge help to law enforcement.”