The next step in Missouri’s fight to stop methamphetamine-making begins in about two weeks. The Department of Public Safety will hold the first of eight training sessions for pharmacists and law enforcement officers, starting November first, to show them how to operate Missouri’s new computerized system that keeps track of purchases of meth precursors.
About one-fourth of Missouri’s pharmacies have signed up for the system and the department expects the rest to be participating by the end of the year. Department spokesman Mike O’Connell says the new system will keep track of people who buy pseudoephedrine and should not be sold to again. The sale will be blocked, but recorded and will be available to law enforcement officers immediately.
He says the information could lead to a visit to someone’s home by a police officer wanting to know what’s going on.
Within months, half of the states around us will be tied into the same computerized reporting system, providing even more opportunities to spot accumulation of meth ingredients.
The training sessions will be in Springfield, West Plains, Cape Girardeau and St. Louis; Jefferson City, Kirksville, St. Joseph, an Independence.
Mike O’Connell and Bob Priddy talk databases 6:09 mp3
