State Will Track Drug Sales In Real Time

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - State lawmakers hope a program they approved Thursday will decrease methamphetamine production by restricting sales of a precursor, pseudoephedrine. The program creates a real-time electronic log of purchases of pseudoephedrine, a common ingredient in cold medicine.

Consumers are limited to buying 9 grams of pseudoephedrine every 30 days: the equivalent of two 15-dose boxes of 24-hour Claritin D.

The bill is on its way to the governor for his signature.

The move came one day after officials from the U.S., Mexico and China signed a joint statement in St. Louis urging international cooperation in the war on meth. Missouri is a hotbed of drug labs and has long led the nation in meth lab busts. According to the National Clandestine Laboratory Database, Missouri since 2004, has accounted 15 percent of the clandestine meth laboratory incidents for the entire United States.

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