CVS customers will be required to provide identification to purchase nail polish remover in new efforts to curb the illegal use of the chemical to create meth, and limit the number of bottles sold.
According to WPRI, CVS stores across Southern New England will be participating in asking customers for ID.
"Our policy limits the sale of these products in conjunction with other methamphetamine precursors and is based on various regulations requiring retailers to record sales of acetone," CVS Public Relations Director Mike DeAngelis told the Daily Mail.
CVS/Pharmacy also released the following statement about their policy change:
"Because acetone is an ingredient used in the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine, we recently implemented a policy that a valid ID must be presented to purchase acetone-containing products such as nail polish remover. Our policy also limits the sale of these products in conjunction with other methamphetamine precursors and is based on various regulations requiring retailers to record sales of acetone."
Rhode Island CVS stores posted the following sign in their stores, according to WPRI:
"CVS/Pharmacy is helping to protect our community from the illegal making and use of methamphetamine because acetone can be used in the process. Valid I.D. must be presented to purchase acetone-containing products."
Asking for ID when someone wants to purchase nail polish remover is a store policy, and is reportedly not in accordance of any state laws or regulations.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) spokesman Christopher Kelly released a statement about the new CVS policy:
"We are not aware of any FDA specific regulation of iodine or acetone sales other than those generally in place for all active or inactive ingredients in approved products."
The new CVS policy may be connected to a 2010 federal lawsuit settlement.
According to the Daily Mail, the company agreed to pay $77.6million in a court case "charging the company with selling large amounts of cough medicines that contain pseudoephedrine, a main ingredient in methamphetamine, to criminals who then used it to cook crystal meth."
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