In an attempt to curb meth production, people in one area state will be tracked when they buy some common over-the-counter medicines.
Information on Delawareans buying many commonly used over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines will soon be entered into a national database.
Under a bill being signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Jack Markell, retailers and pharmacists will not be able to sell nonprescription medicines containing pseudoephedrine until entering personal information about the purchasers, which they already collect, into the database.
The new law, which takes effect Jan. 1, is aimed at cracking down on the production of illegal methamphetamine, for which pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient.
The database tracks pseudoephedrine sales and can send a signal to stop a purchase to prevent meth cooks from obtaining illegal quantities of the drug through purchases at multiple stores or in different states.
Information from the database will be given to state police weekly.
