A recent stream of people traveling from California to Utah to buy pseudoephedrine and other precursor chemicals used in making methamphetamine is raising concerns among law enforcers and the Utah Attorney General's Office.
Over the past two months, agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration have arrested three men who traveled from California and went store-to-store in Utah trying to purchase as much pseudoephedrine as they could, said Michael Root, supervisory special agent with DEA Metro Narcotics.
One man arrested late last week would either go to the stores himself or hire unemployed people to buy boxes of the over-the-counter decongestant for him. He would take cases of the drug back to California for use in making meth, Root said.
Andres Perez Aguirre, 39, from Los Angeles, had 15 different California drivers' licenses that he was using, Root said.
In light of the arrests, law enforcers fear word has gotten out that Utah does not have an electronic database, like the one in California, of people who have purchased pseudoephedrine.
"It's very concerning," said assistant Utah attorney general Vernon Stejskal.
In 2007, the Utah Legislature passed a law that required ephedrine and pseudoephedrine products to be stored behind a store's counter, and required the buyer to show a driver's license and sign a log. The attorney general's office pushed hard for the law to include requiring the buyer's driver's license to be swiped at the time of purchase and the information entered into Utah's prescription drug database. But that provision was defeated and taken out of the final bill.
Stejskal said he would talk with Attorney General Mark Shurtleff about the recent arrests and his office might try again to have pseudoephedrine purchases electronically recorded.
"Any tool that law enforcement can be equipped with to help detect these things while they're happening is good," he said.
Currently, law enforcers trying to follow the trail of people who buy precursor meth chemicals have to travel to each store and look through handwritten logs.
Most stores have a working agreement with local drug agents to report suspicious activity, Root said. It was due to the reporting of one store that DEA agents were alerted to the California case.
Aguirre was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of violating the clandestine drug lab act, 13 counts of forgery, identity fraud and possession of a controlled substance.
"It's part of Utah's push to crack down on the illegal use of legal drugs," Root said.
In 2002, Shurtleff went to several stores around the state, giving courses to employees on what red flags to look for to help law enforcement crack down on the sale of precursor chemicals. Under Utah law, store owners who turn a blind eye could be charged with a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
The DEA reported a drop in the number of meth labs busted by authorities in Utah over the past several years after efforts to prevent the sale of precursor drugs for illegal purposes went into effect.
