Like many who have tried to buy sinus medicine containing decongestants recently, I was made to feel like a criminal when buying my (over-the-counter) Claritin-D. As a person with recurring sinus trouble, I know that all products containing pseudoephedrine have been behind the counter at most drug stores for months now, supposedly to curb the meth epidemic. However the interrogation I went through today was new.
First I had to go to the pharmacy counter (an inconvenience) and wait in line to buy something that is 100% legal, and used to be available without going to the counter. Then, I needed to show my drivers license for them to enter my drivers license number into their database. Since I had prescriptions filled at that pharmacy in the past, they already had my information stored, but fif they didn’t already have that information, I would have to give them “all of my information.”
The Combat Meth Act, sponsored by U.S. Sens. Jim Talent, R-Mo., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., went into effect Saturday. Customers looking for medications like Sudafed and Nyquil now will be limited to about 120 pills a day and 300 per month.
“The important thing legitimate consumers need to remember is that they will still have access to the medicine they need, but the meth cooks won’t be able to stock up,” Mr. Talent said in a statement.
(Read the full article here)
Look, normal people like me who don’t have Meth labs in our basements, but just need pseudoephedrine to be able to breathe through our noses, may still be able to get all the medicine we need. But, we shouldn’t be made to feel like criminals when buying our medicine.
Whether drugs should even be illegal is a question for another time, but law abiding citizens shouldn’t be left to feel like criminals, just because some people are making a legal product into an illegal drug.