Last week State Representative Brent Yonts sent a memo around that addresses concerns about his meth registry proposal.

It’s such a good idea that we thought we should share the entire memo with you, as it was largely ignored:

November 23, 2011

To: State Legislators, Reporters, and Interested Parties
From: State Rep. Brent Yonts
Re: Setting the Record Straight Regarding My PSE Legislation

This memo will set the record straight regarding information being circulated that essentially says my plan to create a meth offender registry won’t work because it has been tried and failed in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma did not implement real-time tracking, and my plan fixes their flawed approach. Comparing my proposal to Oklahoma’s system is like comparing apples to rotten apples. We can’t stop innovating solutions for taxpayers just because another state legislature didn’t get it quite right.

While Oklahoma has a registry, it is not working in real time coordination with their tracking system. That makes their system incapable of blocking meth offenders at the point of sale. My legislation works in real time with Kentucky’s current NPLEx system, meaning we can block meth offenders at the moment they try to buy pseudoephedrine. Incidentally, an identical system to what I’m proposing is set to take effect in Tennessee in January.

Read the rest after the jump…

To be clear, Oklahoma’s meth offender registry list is a separate document used after the fact by law enforcement to match the list with their tracking system purchase data. My meth offender registry is symbiotic with our current NPLEx, real-time, stop sale system and is therefore a vastly better idea than what they’ve done in Oklahoma.

Another important fact is that Oklahoma’s system does not cross state lines. Oklahoma’s meth lab problem is in the Tulsa region, which is within a few hours driving distance to Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, and Missouri. Appriss, the company that operates the NPLEx system used in Kentucky and 17 other states, has counted approximately 7,000 people who crossed state lines this year alone accounting for about 25,000 grams purchased.

So has the Oklahoma model worked? No. But I’m not proposing the Oklahoma model. I am proposing a better model that will stop meth offenders from purchasing pseudoephedrine while protecting law abiding citizens from unnecessary hassles and increased health care costs. Comparing Oklahoma’s meth offender law to what I am proposing is a red herring.

Brent Yonts