By AP/St. Louis Public Radio
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – People wanting to buy certain cold and allergy medicines in Missouri will soon be checked in a statewide database intended to catch illegal drug dealers.
State rules took effect Tuesday requiring pharmacists selling pseudoephedrine-based medicines to enter details about the buyer into a real-time electronic database.
Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient in the illegal drug methamphetamine. The new database is intended to prevent people from buying more than the maximum daily or monthly amount of pseudoephedrine products allowed under Missouri law.
Gov. Jay Nixon was highlighting the new database rules during a news conference Tuesday in Springfield. A Nixon spokesman said that pharmacies will start using the database over the next several months, following several regional training sessions.