Congress considers e-logbooks to further combat meth production

ALEXANDRIA, Va. —For all the good last year’s Combat Meth Act has done—according to the Drug Enforcement Administration, it has significantly curbed homegrown production of methamphetamine—“meth-heads” and their dealers still might be able to source their methamphetamine precursors, namely pseudoephedrine, from local retail outlets.

On the home front, the Combat Meth Act is achieving its desired effect. “Since passage of various state legislative measures and the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act…DEA has seen a significant decline in the number of clandestine methamphetamine laboratories across the United States,” stated Joseph Rannazzisi, deputy assistant administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, before the committee on Senate Finance last month, noting that there has been a 41 percent reduction from 2006 in the number of domestic meth labs. Initially, DEA had hoped for a 25 percent reduction in domestic meth labs.

The act has worked so well in part because it has effectively restricted distribution of cough-and-cold medicines through a finite number of retailers—a little more than 76,000, more than half of which are pharmacies, have been self-certified through the DEA Web site since the implementation last year of the Combat Meth Act—compared with the some 750,000 retail outlets that sold PSE products prior to the Combat Meth Act’s passing, the DEA stated citing data provided by the Consumer Healthcare Products Association. There are some 30,000 outlets that have not yet self-certified and are still selling PSE products, the DEA estimated, which is an issue the agency is attempting to address through informational mass mailings.

One confounding issue realized in the aftermath of the Combat Meth Act is the lack of an aggregate logbook database from which DEA and law enforcement can check to make sure PSE quantity restrictions are being effectively realized. “Though law enforcement can view the required logbooks, paper logbooks are difficult to effectively review and analyze,” Rannazzisi noted. “Electronic log-books, though not required under [the Combat Meth Act], are easier to review, but generally there is no connectivity between them within any given state and certainly not on an interstate basis. Due to this lack of connectivity, law enforcement has reported several cases of “smurfing”—defined as an individual or group of individuals traveling to multiple stores and purchasing quantities of pseudoephedrine or ephedrine products at or under the legal limit per store. Presently, the issue of connectivity is being addressed at the state level, although legislation recently has been introduced at the federal level.

“I’ve joined Sen. [Dick] Durbin, [DIll.], to close this ‘smurfing’ loophole,” announced Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, during the Senate hearing. “The Methamphetamine Production Prevention Act of 2007 would amend the Combat Meth Act to allow for electronic logbook systems, and create a federal grant program for states looking to create or enhance existing electronic logbook systems.”

The National Association of Chain Drug Stores opposes any legislation regarding the mandate of electronic logbooks, however.

Peter Wolfgram, president and chief executive officer of Bungalow Drug, who testified before the Senate Finance Committee last month on behalf of NACDS regarding the ongoing problem of methamphetamine abuse, emphasized one issue NACDS has with electronic logbook mandates, though he did not address the e-log-books specifically—the necessity for a national standard. “One national standard for retail availability is important because a patchwork of requirements is confusing to consumers, law enforcement and retailers,” Wolfgram testified, referencing the multitude of PSE restrictions enacted by a number of states prior to the passage of the federal Combat Meth Act. “For chain pharmacies, which operate in practically every state, city, town and county in the country, it is complex and costly to have to create and update different policies, procedures and employee training programs for each pharmacy outlet.”

That argument also holds for electronic logbooks.

Already, one of the leading states in combating domestic meth production, Iowa, has plans in place to implement an electronic log-book mandate. “We are working on the state level to obtain passage of legislation that would allow us to implement a real-time electronic tracking system for pseudoephedrine sales, to address the loopholes that exist in the current law that has led to the practice of ‘smurfing,’” reported Gary Kendell, director of the State of Iowa Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy.

But electronic logbooks could pose a number of problems to retailers, NACDS has stated in a position paper on its Web site, not the least of which is forcing a drug store clerk to risk good customer service by becoming an actual law-enforcement agent. “A mistake by a clerk or in the electronic logbook’s computer system may wrongfully indicate that an innocent purchaser has exceeded the legal limit and cause the clerk to mistakenly refuse to sell PSE products to that purchaser,” NACDS stated. “Moreover, it would place the clerk at risk for physical violence by dangerous methamphetamine cooks and addicts for refusing to conduct a sale.”

NACDS also expressed concern over the need for a national electronic log-book standard, which currently does not exist and without which would force multi-state retailers to develop myriad electronic logbook systems for each of the states in which they operate. “Pharmacies in Oklahoma have been told by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration that they may have to operate two separate logbooks in order to comply with both the federal and state requirements,” NACDS stated.

Bungalow Drug, an NACDS member since 2002, is a family-owned, hometown pharmacy chain based in Belgrade, Mont. The company provides pharmacy services for approximately 3,000 patients out of three locations in Montana with 24 employees, including eight full-and part-time pharmacists.