Research shows that the drug can cause serious health and behavior problems, including memory loss, violence, psychotic behavior and possibly neurological damage.
Methamphetamine also suppresses sexual inhibitions, and health officials have said it is a major factor in an increase in sexually transmitted diseases, including hepatitis and HIV/AIDS.
Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Los Angeles County's public health director, said he was intrigued by Riverside County's idea but said it would take time to see how well it works.
"It's innovative. But I don't think we know at this point what's going to be effective," he said.
"Trying to limit the availability to legitimate users is a reasonable approach, even though it restricts personal freedoms to some extent," he said.
Assemblyman Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood) introduced a bill in the Legislature this year that would have required logging similar information on buyers of cold medications.
Koretz said he dropped the logging provision after it drew concerns from other legislators who worried it would infringe on privacy and that maintaining it would require creating a state database.
"For me, it wasn't a big issue," he said, adding that he thought logging could create a significant deterrent.
"The big factor with meth users is a high degree of paranoia," he said. "If they know you're keeping their name and address and other information ... it would make it a lot harder for them to make the purchases."
Times staff writers Susannah Rosenblatt in Riverside and Maura Reynolds in Washington contributed to this report.
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--- UNPUBLISHED NOTE ---
See follow-up story published on June 30: "Meth Measure Wouldn't Burden Shoppers." Legislation as passed was significantly different than this story reported.
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