Project Stop

Project STOP is an initiative of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia to address the problem of precursor diversion through Australian Community Pharmacies. The most common precursor sourced through the community pharmacy channel is Pseudoephedrine which can be used in the illegal manufacture of methamphetamines.

Project STOP is an online tool which provides decision support to pharmacists who need to establish whether requests for products containing Pseudoephedrine are legitimate. It also assists pharmacists in meeting their state regulatory recording requirements where they exist.

Project STOP has been trialed in Queensland since November 2005.

The Attorney Generals Department contributed funding for this project under the National Strategy to Prevent the Diversion of Precursor Chemicals into Illicit Drug Manufacture, an Australian Government Initiative.

Project STOP is a decision making tool for pharmacists aimed at preventing the use of pseudoephedrine based products to manufacture methamphetamine. The system works by helping pharmacists to determine patients’ therapeutic needs.

To participate in Project STOP, a pharmacist will need to ask you for photographic identification when you request a pseudoephedrine-based product.

Project STOP operates in the following way:

1. Upon requesting a pseudoephedrine-based product, your pharmacist asks to see an acceptable form of photographic identification (see below).
2. Your pharmacist records your identification card number in a protected database held and operated by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.
3. Your pharmacist also records the name of the product and the quantity you have requested in the database.
4. The database checks to see if your identification number was previously entered into the database within an appropriate threshold period.
5. The pharmacist decides whether or not to supply the product based on a determination of your therapeutic needs.
6. The database records whether or not the sale was made.

In some states and territories it is a legal requirement for pharmacists to record your name and address when supplying pseudoephedrine. Your pharmacist will only request this extra information if required by law.

Forms of photographic identification that are acceptable for the purposes of Project STOP include:

• a State or Territory issued driver’s license
• a State or Territory issued Proof of Age card
• any other State or Territory assigned form of photographic identification.

Use of an Australian Government issued form of identification (such as an Australian Passport or Medicare card) is expressly forbidden by the Privacy Act (under National Privacy Principle 7).

Methamphetamine, including the highly pure form known as ‘Ice,’ is Australia’s most serious drug problem. The late 1990’s saw a marked increase in the popularity of this drug. Almost one in ten Australians now reports having tried methamphetamine. It has been estimated that there are approximately 73,000 dependent users—almost double the estimated number of regular heroin users in Australia (1).

Pseudoephedrine is the key and essential ingredient for the manufacture of methamphetamine. Pseudoephedrine based mediations such as the cold and flu preparations sold in pharmacies have been identified as a major source of the pseudoephedrine used to manufacture methamphetamine in Australia.

In keeping with the Quality Use of Medicines guidelines which form part of our National Medicines Policy and the concern about the use of pseudoephedrine based products for illicit drug manufacture, the Australian Government and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia have implemented Project STOP to decrease the sale of pseudoephedrine for illicit use.

The Attorney-General’s Department contributed funding for this project under the National Strategy to Prevent the Diversion of Precursor Chemicals into Illicit Drug Manufacture, an Australian Government Initiative.

(1) - Australia Institute of Health and Welfare (2005). 2004 National Drug Strategy Household Survey. Canberra: AIHW