Law-enforcement agencies say that tracking prescriptions of drugs containing pseudoephedrine helps prevent drug purchases intended for illicit methamphetamine production, but some say the computerized tracking systems violate the privacy rights of buyers.

The Associated Press reported July 18 that pharmacies across the country have been installing the tracking systems in response to a March 2006 federal law regulating pseudoephedrine purchases. Purchaser identity, drug quantity and other information is being collected whenever an individual buys drugs like Sudafed, Claratin D, or Aleve Cold and Sinus.

When a buyer exceeds preset purchasing limits -- typically just a few boxes of medicine -- detectives are automatically notified. Systems like Kentucky's MethCheck allow police to track purchasing patterns in hopes of uncovering attempts to gather drugs for meth production.

But Beth Wilson, executive director of the Kentucky chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the system is troubling and could entrap consumers who simply are looking to stock up on medications for their families.

"People's health information -- it's intimate, it's personal, it's something people desperately want to keep private," said Wilson. "For law enforcement to do an investigation, there must be a reasonable suspicion. I'm not sure just the amount of medication justifies that."

"It's just an investigative tool," replied Van Ingram of the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy. "During the course of any investigation, you're sometimes going to interview people who aren't guilty of wrongdoing but who are part of the investigative process."