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The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics (OBN) is teaming with state pharmacies to further curb the production of methamphetamine. In 2004, Oklahoma passed model legislation restricting the sale of pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient in the manufacturing of meth. As a result, meth labs have declined by more than 90-percent, statewide. Mark Woodward, Spokesman for OBN, says his agency is launching an awareness campaign targeting those individuals still seeking pseudoephedrine for cooking meth.

"OBN and local pharmacies want to increase awareness to those trying to exploit the system. We know some meth cooks send multiple people into pharmacies with several identification cards, purchasing the maximum
9-grams with each card. This awareness program is designed to deter this so-called "smurfing" of large quantities of pseudoephedrine."
- Mark Woodward, OBN Spokesman

Woodward says several thousand placards are being displayed at pharmacy counters across the state, alerting customers that all pseudoephedrine sales are tracked and monitored electronically by both OBN and the pharmacy. The placards were purchased through a federal grant as part of a methamphetamine enforcement partnership between OBN and the Chickasaw Nation Lighthorse Police Department.

"This is a great collaborative effort between the bureau of Narcotics, our friends in the pharmacy community and the Chickasaw Nation. These placards will be a visual tool to put the illicit methamphetamine manufacturers on notice that we are working together to monitor pseudoephedrine sales in our plight to rid our state of clandestine methamphetamine laboratories."
-R. Darrell Weaver, OBN Director

OBN is also working with state lawmakers on legislation to combat those using multiple identification cards to obtain more than 9-grams per month. Woodward says while meth labs have been reduced from 1300 per year prior to 2004 to less than 300 labs today, the numbers can be even better.