ID needed for cough drugs as ice targeted
By Mark Metherell
April 7, 2006
CONSUMERS buying cough and cold medicines will be asked to show identification as part of a new online scheme to disrupt the production of certain illicit drugs.
The powerful methamphetamines ice and speed pose Australia's biggest illicit drug problem.
This month NSW pharmacists will be able to join an online scheme enabling them to instantly identify suspected "pseudo-runners" - repeat buyers of pseudoephedrine products who then sell the products to speed factories.
The move follows a trial in Queensland which so far this year has led to the arrests of 15 people on 116 charges and the identification of three illicit drug factories.
The emergence of highly organised groups of runners, who may visit dozens of pharmacies in a day to acquire bulk quantities of the tablets, is estimated to provide 90 per cent of the raw product used in the clandestine manufacture of speed.
The methamphetamines dominate the illicit trade and have been linked with dangerous and violent side effects.
A packet of Sudafed tablets, costing consumers about $15, sells for about $50 on the drug blackmarket and, according to the Pharmacy Guild, the price in Brisbane has soared to $200 in the wake of the online crackdown.
Under Project STOP, pharmacists will require all buyers of the medicines to produce photo identification, details of which the chemist then keys into a computer linked to the network.
The identification number instantly triggers the display of all recent purchases by the ID holder of suspect products on the pharmacist's screen.
The pharmacist can then refuse to sell to the customer if the purchase is suspicious. The system also sends a mobile phone message to law enforcement agencies giving details of a suspect buyer and the time and place of the attempted purchase.
The president of the Pharmacy Guild, Kos Sclavos, said the real-time tracking capability meant police could map the likely movements of "pseudo-runners", leading to their interception.
The development was a "critical blow" at illicit drug makers, he said. The runners were "well-organised and notoriously difficult to detect, often travelling interstate in the course of their run", Mr Sclavos said.
He said the success of the crackdown in Queensland had been such that the runners were moving south of the Tweed.
One of the major routes used, involving visits to scores of pharmacies, was known as the "J run", involving an expedition down the coast from Cairns to Melbourne, then making a "J-turn" to Canberra.
Mr Sclavos said the online system had proved effective but relatively simple to operate and had drawn keen interest from overseas agencies.
The federal Justice Minister, Chris Ellison, said the Government would provide $380,000 to support the establishment of Project STOP nationally.
A national survey of drug use in 2004 found 9.1 per cent of Australians aged over 14 had used amphetamines and methamphetamines in their lifetime.
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