MASON CITY, IOWA (AP) -- A new computerized tracking system has stopped more than 10,000 people who attempted to buy products containing a cold medicine used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.
The Globe Gazette in Mason City reports that in the first two months after the new tracking system went online in September, there were nearly 230,000 purchases of products containing pseudoephedrine, found in many cold medicines. Of those, the system blocked 10,425 purchases.
The system tracks individuals and limits purchases to once a day with a monthly maximum of 7,500 milligrams in a 30-day period.
All of Iowa's 642 pharmacies participate in the program.
Dale Woolery, of the Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy, says the system seems to be helping to cut down on the material needed to produce meth.
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