A parliamentary question regarding the mandatory use of Project STOP by WA pharmacies for tracking pseudoephedrine sales, government funding, and information sharing with police. The answer clarifies the mandatory nature for pharmacies selling pseudoephedrine, lack of direct government funding, and police access to patient identifiers.

AnsweredQoN 1332Legislative Council
Asked
26 November 2014
Portfolio
Health

QuestionView source ↗

PHARMACIES
— PROJECT STOP
1332. Hon LJILJANNA RAVLICH to
the parliamentary secretary representing the Minister for Health:
(1) Is it
mandatory for pharmacists in Western Australia to use Project STOP for tracking
certain medicines?
(2) If yes to (1) —
(a) have all pharmacies in WA
registered to participate; and, if not, why not; and
(b) does the government provide
any funding to support Project STOP; and, if so, how much?
(3) If no to (1), how many pharmacies in WA are registered to
participate in Project STOP?
(4) What medicines are required to be tracked using Project
STOP?
(5) Under what
circumstances is information gathered by Project STOP automatically relayed to
Western Australia Police?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question.
(1) Under the WA
government's poisons legislation, it is mandatory for a pharmacy to use
an approved recording system to keep information on over-the-counter supply of
pseudoephedrine. Project STOP is presently the only approved system for this
purpose.
(2) (a) No. Only
pharmacies that sell products containing pseudoephedrine are required to
register.
(b) The Western
Australian government does not provide any direct funding to Project STOP.
(3) Project STOP
is not a government-owned system, and the exact number of participating
pharmacies is not available.
(4) It is the over-the-counter
supply of pseudoephedrine from a pharmacy.
(5) Western
Australia Police has access to patient identifiers, such as driver's
licence numbers, recorded in the Project STOP system.

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