A defendant was caught making methamphetamine with SUDAFED, lithium batteries, muriatic acid, propane, funnels and filters. The police looked up his history of purchases of Sudafed using the National Precursor Log Exchange (NPLEX). That’s where your information goes when you hand the pharmacist your license while buying a box of Sudafed or combination product.
The police found a plethora of Sudafed purchases by the defendant and his girlfriend. The evidence was used at trial after the defendant filed a motion to suppress the NPLEX information. His theory was that a search warrant was needed to access the NPLEX data because he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his “health information”. The trial court and appellate courts both said “WRONG”. NPLEX does not gather “health information”, it’s RETAIL PURCHASE INFORMATION. So, now you know why the pharmacist asks for your license, and has you sign for your purchase of Sudafed.