New law prevents illegal sale of pseudoephedrine-containing medicines at no cost to the state, Allows consumers to purchase cold medicine without a prescription
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Washington, D.C. -- The Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) today commends Governor Bob Riley (R) for signing into law HB 528, which calls for implementation of a real-time electronic sales tracking system (e-tracking) to block illegal purchases of cold and allergy medicines containing pseudoephedrine (PSE). CHPA also applauds Representative Frank McDaniel (D-DeKalb and Marshall) and Senator Lowell Barron (D- DeKalb, Jackson, Madison) for securing bi-partisan 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 State - that have adopted e-tracking.
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"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," said 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. Seventy-eight percent of those surveyed agree that e-tracking will be "a huge help to law enforcement."
CHPA is the 129-year-old-trade association representing U.S. manufacturers and distributors of over-the-counter medicines and nutritional supplements.
www.chpa-info.org
Contact: Elizabeth Funderburk, +1-202.429.9260 (w) or 202.256.5677 (m)
/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- March 30/
SOURCE Consumer Healthcare Products Association
