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Minnesota News: Methamphetamine Precursors - Another Update
Reprinted from the July 2006 Minnesota Board of Pharmacy Newsletter.
The federal Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 was signed into law on March 9, 2006. Parts of this law are at odds with a state law enacted by the Minnesota Legislature in 2005. Where the two laws are in conflict, the stricter provision applies. The chart shows a summary of some of the requirements in place in Minnesota at specified times.
Packages must contain no more than 3 grams of ephedrine or pseudoephedrine calculated as the base drug, not the salt. For example, Claritin-D® 24 Hour contains 240 mg of pseudoephedrine sulfate, but only 181.8 mg of the base. Consequently, 15 tablets contain 181.8 mg * 15 = 2727 mg or 2.727 grams of pseudoephedrine base. Two of the 15 count packages of this product would contain about 5.5 grams of pseudoephedrine. (However, because of the federal law, a purchaser can purchase only one such package a day.)
Per state law, no more than two packages of products containing ephedrine or pseudoephedrine may be sold in a single over-the-counter (OTC) transaction. As illustrated in the chart, the federal law’s 3.6 gram daily limit may mean that only a single package can be sold. Per state law, no person may make OTC purchases of more than two packages, containing 6 grams, per month. Licensed practitioners who are authorized to prescribe drugs may issue a prescription for larger quantities.
Currently, for OTC sales, the pharmacy must require the buyer to provide photographic identification showing the buyer’s date of birth. Individuals must be at least 18 years old to purchase products that contain ephedrine or pseudoephedrine. The buyer must sign a paper or electronic document listing the date of the sale, the name of the purchaser and the amount of drug sold. Effective September 30, 2006, the following information must also be logged: time of sale; products sold (by name); and address of the purchaser. The logbook will have to contain a notice to purchasers that entering false statements or misrepresentations in the logbook may subject the purchaser to criminal penalties under 18 U.S.C. §1001 and the notice must specify the maximum fine ($250,000) and term of imprisonment (five years). The entries in the logbook must be kept for at least two years.
Under state law, a pharmacy is allowed to report “suspicious” sales to law enforcement authorities but is not required to do so. Furthermore, a pharmacy does not have to provide a copy of its logbook to law enforcement authorities on a routine basis. Under current federal law licensees have a reporting requirement for transactions involving “extraordinary quantities” of OTC precursor drugs, unusual methods of payment or delivery, or other circumstances indicating that the drugs may be used illegally; however, the federal requirement is mandatory not discretionary. But, like Minnesota law, there is no federal reporting requirement for every transaction of such drugs. The United States attorney general will be issuing additional regulations concerning federal reporting requirements, perhaps later this year.
Additional information concerning methamphetamine precursor drugs can be found on the Board’s Web site at
www.phcybrd.state.mn.us/hf1.htm.
