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Phelps: Anti-meth stop-sale system is working

Posted February 14, 2017 10:00 pm

STAFF REPORT

HARRISBURG – Results of a “stop-sale” system to deter methamphetamine manufacture show the system is working, Rep. Brandon Phelps, D-Harrisburg, says.

Phelps released year-end 2016 data today for the National Precursor Log Exchange, known as NPLEx, the real-time, stop-sale system that monitors and blocks unlawful purchases of safe and effective cold and allergy medicine containing pseudoephedrine, or PSE. PSE can, at times, be used to make meth.

In 2016, NPLEx blocked 101,655 boxes of PSE in the Prairie State, totaling over 234,000 grams. The number of boxes blocked is approximately an eight percent reduction from 2015 and a three percent reduction in the number of unique purchasers of PSE. This is evidence that those who are attempting to illegally purchase PSE are being dissuaded from doing so because of this system, Phelps said.

Also, in 2016, Illinois saw a nearly 25 percent reduction in meth lab seizures compared to 2015. Plus, 232 arrests were made due to NPLEx in last year, Phelps said.

“As Illinois continues to make progress in our battle against meth production, it is clear the important role NPLEx plays in this fight,” Phelps said. “The decrease in blocks of PSE and in unique purchasers demonstrate that the ban on PSE sales to known drug criminals as well as the use of NPLEx have deterred criminals in the meth making process.”

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