I now have to show ID and fill out a form to buy cold medicine

[Susang]

As of today in Illinois, you have to show a valid drivers license or state ID and fill out a detail form to buy Sudafed or any medication that happens to contain pseudoephedrine. I'm sorry, but when is this shit going to stop? Are DNA samples next?

[GOPisEvil]

1. You can thank your local meth cooks and users.

Some people end up ruining things for everyone else.

[Susang]

3. It's so ridiculous

The last time I tried to buy OTC allergy medicine, it took the people at Target about 25 minutes to find out who had the key to open the lock-box.

And what about the people who get sick or run out in the middle of the night (don't laugh, it happens to me all the time). Instead of being able to go to the local 24 hour grocery store or drugstore in their neighborhood, they're going to have to find someplace that has a 24 hour pharmacy.

They're spending a fortune on this law and yet they're still gang-bangers selling drugs on my corner every night. It doesn't matter what inconvenient laws they pass, people will still find a way to make & sell illegal drugs. It's inevitable.

[GOPisEvil]

4. Yeah, it's arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic for sure.

It makes life more inconvenient for law-abiding citizens. I guarantee this is a blip for meth producers. They've figured out how to get around this already, I'm sure.

[Kali]

32. nah its getting outsourced to real criminals in Mexico

whenever there is a war on anything you can bet there will be escalation from all involved. So now, the meth prices will go up, the addicts will need to rip off more stuff, the smugglers will be more advanced and thus dangerous, the law enforcement, likewise will need to upgrade weaponry and technology and so it goes.....

[barb162]

76. that's right, supply and demand

[alarimer]

51. Or they will switch to somethimg else

that may or may not work as well. I saw something called Sudafed PE and you don't have to jump through hoops to get that. But I have no idea if it works. I figure that I might as well go to the doctor and get a prescription if I am going to have to go through a lot of bullshit to get allergy meds. I might as well go for the big guns.

These laws may reduce the amount of meth made in the area but they won't cut down on the use- instead it will all be brought in by the big drug cartels. Yeah, that's an improvement. :sarcasm:

[RoyGBiv]

67. "They" are spending nothing ...

Unless by "they" you mean you and me and everyone else who shops at these places, they aren't spending a lot on this kind of law. Like a good number of drug control laws in this country over the last few years, enforcement rests with the proprietor of the store. They have to create regulations for their employees, assure they are carried out, fill out forms, etc. They basically had to create a whole new level of company bureacracy to deal with it. This means a higher cost to you. Smaller places will stop carrying the drugs, which will result in an increase in price, which means a higher cost to you. The official policing agencies deal with the retail establishments, which does involve a cost to the government (again, us), but not the same level that would be required if those policing agencies were dealing with the actual criminals.

[DBoon]

74. It's called "outsourcing"

They just made sure that all the domestic meth labs are replaced by a few large ones in Mexico.

[barb162]

75. I use that stuff too re allergies. Can't wait to have to show ID

But how else do you keep the meth off the streets

[SoCalDem]

2. It will NEVER stop.. those ingredients are what meth cookers use

and now the meth cookers will have to do what the rest of us may have to start doing.. buying meds from Mexico:)

[Robb]

5. Allow me to kill this thread

With a cut-and-paste from what I wrote a few months back:

This is NOT a casual drug problem that can be compared to other drugs.

I'm an EMS worker. Aside from the horrible effects of meth use, which you can read about anywhere, let me tell you what we come across that NOBODY came across before with other drugs:

Meth labs produce waste byproducts that meth cookers (because they are also addicts) don't dispose of properly. About every month one of the poor SOB's picking up trash along the side of the highway (usually volunteers, often elderly) grabs a poorly closed plastic trash sack and gets an exposure that puts them in the hospital for three days.

The chemicals involved cannot be metabolized by the body. So the body excretes them, typically through the skin causing horrible, terrifying sores.

Ambulance drivers and EMTs I work with tell stories about responding to fires in the past two years in rural communities, double-wides on 35 acres in the sticks. Kids so exposed they're going to be in the health care system forever.

A good friend in law enforcement showed up on a call when the mom called the ambulance because her 3 year-old daughter wasn't breathing ... cop buddy stepped on nails from a buried plank. EMT rolled through similar with the stretcher. Sheriff's office later described the WHOLE LOT booby-trapped, broken glass, needles, even a bomb. To say nothing of the chemicals that took a week to clean up with everyone dressed up like Teletubbies from Mars.

All this for a product where you spend $200 on ingredients to earn $800 IF you sell the whole batch, which you usually don't.

This is a drug for the poor, the desperate, and ultimately the paranoid. Most stores in Colorado restrict the number of ingredients you can purchase at once. Smaller producers are being driven out of business because they can't afford to hire the 11 year-old "runners" to head out to different stores all over town. It kills off the little meth labs, which are the ones who have no FUCKING IDEA what they're doing.

So production moves off-shore? Pardon my insensitivity, but great. It means two things: the cost of the drug will increase, which means fewer poor people will be able to afford it, and maybe the problem will move into the class of people who may actually take some action about it; and secondly, I won't have to carry the goddamn biohazard crap every time I head out on a call.

Passing the problem on? Better believe it. :grr:

[Susang]

8. Sorry, but making me sign a form isn't going to stop it

Or perhaps you'd like to discuss it with Jose on the corner? He's there 24/7, no matter what laws they pass. And he has whatever you might be looking for.

[Robb]

10. No, it won't stop it.

Read my post. It makes it more difficult.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Susang]

13. No, it won't

They've already figured out a way around it. Trust me. All this is going to do is make it difficult for sick people to buy OTC cold medicine. Meth labs with keep popping up, it's just too easy to buy the stuff in Mexico and other countries.

[Robb]

14. Of course they have

You're missing the point. The health risk is the mom-n-pop producer, who will get run out of business.

[Susang]

47. You're kidding, right?

You don't think that someone who's addicted to meth and is cut off from making their own isn't going to purchase it elsewhere? I would firmly disagree with that hypothesis.

I don't believe I'm missing any point here. I live amongst people selling drugs mere feet from my house on a daily basis. I see who purchases from them. I've seen first hand how the CPD turn a blind eye to it. The people who make and sell meth are not exactly law-abiding citizens. If you honestly think that preventing the average cold sufferer from buying a couple boxes of Sudafed will stop any of this, well, I think that's somewhat naive.

[Robb]

48. Right.

Well, I disagree. I also don't think you know a thing about meth, and what we're looking at here.

Sorry. This is not the same as the drugs you're thinking in terms of.

[Susang]

53. Well Robb, you're wrong

I do know a thing or two about meth. And it's presumptuous of you to assume that I don't just because I don't agree with your world view. Notice that I've never accused you of not having any familiarity with the drug, and I would expect you not to assume that you know my experience, just because I don't feel the burning need to broadcast it to the entire DU community.

[Dangerously Amused]

21. Robb, I see your point, but...

...when is the last time someone who was addicted to crystal meth allowed a higher price tag to stop them?

Addicts have their priorities. Their addiction is # 1. Period. If the price of meth goes up, well, that just means cutting back on luxuries if the addict is rich or middle class, or cutting back on essentials if the addict is poor. Which is to say... IF they are inclined to come across the money legally. If they're not so inclined, they'll just have to commit a few more crimes to raise the funds. Costa doin' business, ya know?

Meanwhile, honest citizens can't get their cold medicine without the third degree. What about non-English speakers who can't fill out the form or answer the questions? What about mass transit folks, or the non-driving elderly, who don't have a driver's license (or other form of state issued ID)? I don't think it's fair to make them suffer because some other people abuse the product. And I'm going to guess that there are a lot more honest citizens who will have to suffer than there are meth heads whose lives will be improved by these laws.

I agree with you that the meth problem is serious and needs to be addressed. I respect you undertaking the stressful and challenging job you do, and I am sorry that you have to see the those horrible things. I also DO agree that these laws HELP to address the meth problem. I just disagree that the benefits of the laws outweigh the costs to the rest of society.

[RoyGBiv]

68. It's not really the price tag ...

Products that contain pseudoephedrine are among the highest shoplifted items in retail stores that sell them. Many of these stores had already gone to placing them behind counters or at least in locations with high visibility in attempts to discourage shoplifting. Signing a form, imo, is a stupid aspect of these kinds of laws but not allowing them to be sold without requiring some sort of human contact to request them is not in and of itself a bad idea. Some states are simply going overboard with implementation of the idea in a misguided attempt to identify large scale cookers. That's not going to happen through any kind of law like this, but it sells well to the largely ignorant public and will likely remain a part of some laws.

The bottom line is that the basic point of these laws in their various forms is to make such drugs not as easy to steal or purchase in large quantities, quantities that no one who really needs them would ever purchase. I don't have a fundamental problem with that, even if I think certain implementations is stupid. The Constitution doesn't guarantee my right to convenience.

[Deja Q]

6. How do they determine abusers?

One druggie can get a bunch of friends to periodically chip in. Then their friends have friends too...

It softens the problem, but it definitely won't eliminate it.

Never mind lost profits to the drug companies either... well, there's always a silver lining somewhere... :rofl:

[qnr]

7. Really :/ -- However, I took this "senior delinquents" photo in OK, I

thought the concept was funny. A little off-topic, but similar:

[Susang]

9. Is that real?

That's hysterical! :D

[qnr]

11. Yup, at the United Supermarket in Cordell, OK :) n/t

[fishwax]

55. that's hilarious

:rofl:

[caty]

12. I know this is a pain in the

a** to have to do this---but, I can see the point. It won't bother me even if they start doing it in my state. I never buy cold medications. Drinking lots of water (hot if I'm congested) always works great without the side effects cold meds can have on me.

[LostinVA]

37. Then have some sympathy for those of us who MUST use

this stuff daily. For many of us, it's the ONLY thing that makes a dent in horrible allergy/sinus problems that plague us 24/7, 365 days a year.

It makes me upset that there are always people on the meth threads that don't get this. We NEED these drugs. And, because of this law, I can only legally buy a 14-day supply, because I need two tabs a day. And, since it's OTC, insurance won't pay for it. So, I'm miserable, sleepy, lethargic, and migrainy 12 hours of the day.

This "cold medicine" isn't usually even used by people with colds, just allergies.

[SW FL Dem]

44. Exactly!

I am amazed at how many DUers don't have a problem with the invasion of privacy that is involved in these laws. Several states are now requiring purchasers to fill out a form and provide ID for each purchase of a product containing pseudoephedrine, even if those products can't be used in the production of meth (because they are chemically combined with other ingredients. Other states require a prescription. I guess if you don't have allergy/sinus issues, it's no skin off your teeth if the government tracks your purchases. I wonder how they would feel if the government decided to track alcohol purchases or cigarette purchases in order to find people who might be drunk drivers or people who expose others to secondhand smoke.

This is an issue of privacy as well as inconvenience.

[alarimer]

52. I do have a problem with the invasion of privacy

Fortunately I am luckier than most allergy sufferers in that I can use other things to deal with it, rather than giving up all my personal data. I am sure that signing the forms or whatever puts people on an automatic suspect list too. I'll bet that the pharmacies will willingly hand this stuff over to law enforcement should they ask. Otherwise why make people sign? Why not just limit the number of boxes? Or just keep them behind the counter but not take names?

[barb162]

80. Yeah what bothers me is that you get put on a list

because you have an allergy to mold or dust or your dogs. The cops can see the list, which I guess I find invasive. MAybe I should carry my allergy tests results with me or have them handy if the cops come to the door. I don't see why they just don't use the last two solutions you mention.

[caty]

46. I didn't realize from

your post that you had to take these meds every day. I thought you just bought them when you had a cold. I do have sympathy for you in that case.

[Fox Mulder]

15. It's one of the dumbest laws ever.

It's not going to stop people from making meth. They'll find another way to make it.

[LynneSin]

24. Trust me, it's a great law and much needed

You're right - they'll find other ways to make the meth. If I'm a major meth lab cooking this stuff for a living I'm probably on some farm out in the middle of nowhere and getting caseloads of cold meds shipped to me from Mexico.

They aren't the problem (well they are, but in a different way).

The problem is anyone can search the internet and download the recipe to cook meth for themselves. Not only is this process highly toxic (some of the ingredients include drano or fertilizer for the ammonia) with leftovers worthy of a superfund site. But if the lab experiment goes bad the explosion will take down a few homes along with the home where the meth is cooked.

Give it a year or so and most cold manufacturers will create non-pseudoephidrine cold meds. The law has actually been sucessful in several mid-west states that have been doing this for awhile. They can tract down who's buying and bust the users and also help prevent explosions.

I'm pretty cool with the drug culture but meth users are just some of the most disgusting lowlifes out there. Oddly enough it's a redstate issue!

[fishwax]

58. i used to live in an apartment near neighbors who cooked

I'm pretty sure they did, anyway. We never conversed about it. I'm cool with the drug culture too, generally speaking, but meth is a very dangerous animal with no redeeming social value, and I can support a law that's going to put fuckers like that out of business. They will almost certainly still use, but if they aren't mixing up a batch in their living room then they aren't endangering everybody else living in the complex. :grr: Those who, say, grow their own pot, are generally not endangering their community, but meth makers put everybody around them in danger.

Some cold med makers have already changed their formulas--i think that DayQuil/NyQuil took pseudoephedrine out of their product ...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

72. When I was volunteering in Mississippi, I spent much of my time handing

out non-prescription meds and bandaids, etc. in the medical tent, and the doctors thought very little of the non-pseudoephedrine cold meds. They'd dig through the bins of decongestants to find the REAL Sudafed.

I can't take (traditional) Sudafed myself--it dries my mouth--but pseudoephedrine is an essential component of Tylenol Sinus. I'm lucky in that I don't need it often, but when I need it, nothing else will do.

[Kali]

86. I used to think I couldn't take regular OTC allergy meds because

they knocked me on my ass. I participated in an allergy study (sold myself for scientific experiments - monty python, ha ha) and learned that the side effects REALLY do lessen after a few days - just need to start on a weekend -ha ha. The value of this info is not about loosing a weekend but about how much cheaper those meds are!

[Beware the Beast Man]

16. Hey, that War on Drugs is really going places, innt?

:eyes:

[greatauntoftriplets]

17. Friends own a weekend house in Oregon, IL....

The farmers out there are required to keep their fertilizer out and in plain sight for the same reason.

[eyesroll]

18. I had to show ID to buy one 15 mL bottle of baby cold medicine.

It wasn't pseudoephedrine -- there was some other drug in it that can't be used for meth but Walgreens nonetheless has decided is dangerous enough to restrict. (Apparently it can hurt you if you OD.)

The funny thing was -- there were 5 doses in there, intended for a 20 to 30-pound child. No way there's enough in there to do much harm to the average adult.

That and this is Milwaukee, where plenty of under 18s have children of their own and will now apparently need Grandma's help to buy cold medicine.

[SPKrazy]

19. I agree, it is a STUPID law!

F*ck meth heads

Are they going to cook up meth using Claritn D?

I doubt it!

I get tired of the ID, signing the book, being asked "when the last time" I bought any Claritin D.

I wish it were a prescription because it would be easier to get and cheaper no doubt.

[fishwax]

59. why wouldn't they use Claritin D?

:shrug:

[SPKrazy]

66. You would have to separate out the Claritin from the D

and it is expensive in comparison to a supersize bottle of pseudoephedrine

[fishwax]

69. it isn't easy to get a supersize bottle of pseudoephedrine

in most states these days. It might be more expensive, but I think it's fairly common for small-time cookers to use Claritin D. I could be wrong, though.

[SPKrazy]

70. I'll check, but I don't think Claritin D

which costs about $8.00 for 10 of them

vs. a bottle of 50 30 mg pseudoephedrine for a couple of bucks is much cheaper.

Then you have to separate the claritin, or else you have a really dry high I would imagine :sarcasm:

I just resent having to show my ID, be questioned, sign etc. to get my allergy meds that my doctor would gladly prescribe if they weren't over the counter.

If they are so damned dangerous, they shouldn't be over the counter in my opinion.

[BuelahWitch]

20. They're doing this in Kansas now too

It's not so much I have to do the ID song and dance, but it pisses me off that places like Walgreens never put their store brand version of Claritin D on sale anymore. The regular claritin doesn't do crapola for my allergies, but it's as cheap as they come. :grr:
I suppose they don't want to overload their pharmacy with people who need the pseudoephedrine, but it's not our fault the state passed the stupid law...

[LynneSin]

22. Trust me, I have no problems with this new law (we have it in DE)

I don't think it'll cut back on the amount of meth out there because for the major meth labs they'll just ship cases of cold meds up from Mexico or something.

But what is scary is the homemade labs in someone's kitchen where they download the recipe off the net and try to cook this stuff themselves. You do NOT want those people living anywhere near you because if their meth lab blows up they're taking the neighbors with you.

Some cold meds like Nyquil are the in the process of reformulating it without the pseudoephrindrine and I think we'll see more cold meds go that route. I don't blame you for your anger but meth users are the scourge of society and states that have had this law for awile have seen a decrease in meth use and meth lab blowups

[SW FL Dem]

26. Sorry but the substitutions don't work, Sudafed PE is worthless shit.

and most allergy sufferers know that. The substitute has been available for years, it wasn't used because it doesn't work. Now overzealous lawmakers wanting to jump on the stop meth bandwagon are making life miserable for millions of allergy sufferers.

[LynneSin]

33. For most people with the average cold their are other problems

I realize there are people who need the pseudo, but if I'm dealing with an average cold I probably don't. Hell I can't take too much of it or I get all edgy.

Like I mentioned in another post, have you thought about drugstore.com?

[LostinVA]

38. It's like taking a placebo, isn't it?

People don't get it.

[SW FL Dem]

23. This law is asinine.

It won't do anything to help the meth problem and it is major inconvenience to innocent allergy and cold sufferers. I know meth is a problem but this law is like using a band aid to stop cancer.

[LynneSin]

25. Actually the law is working

It's not going to stop the major meth labs but crackdown on the casual users who are trying to cook this stuff themselves. If you knew your next door neighbor was cooking meth believe me, you'd want them busted.

[SW FL Dem]

28. If I knew my neighbor was cooking meth I'd call the cops

My family has serious allergies and we need daily doses of a medication that contains pseudoephedrine. It's a combination product that can't be used to produce meth, but because of these asinine laws, I have to stand in line at a pharmacy every friggin 5 days to buy a box of my Drixoral. These laws are a major pain in the ass for lots of people, the benefits don't outweigh the burdens.

[LynneSin]

30. Of course any of would

if we knew they had it. I've always been fasicinated about stuff like this (dont' ask why - it's hard to explain) and I read alot about the problem after watching "Crank: Made in the USA" on HBO. Some of the older processes you'd know in a heartbeat someone was cooking because of the smell. This is probably why why Crank is more of a rural problem than urban one. But supposively there are newer processes that help hide the odor. I mean, I've never lived near a crank lab but I've met users :scared:

Have you thought about trying an online site like http://www.drugstore.com?

http://www.drugstore.com/search/search.asp?searchtype=1&trx=28198&trxp1=60&srchtree=1&search=Drixoral&Go.x=4&Go.y=15

I think you might be able to buy more at one time and alleviate the pharmacy line

[SW FL Dem]

42. The cost online is at least 30% more than I can get at my local Costco

and then I have to pay shipping. We used to be able to buy this in a 1000 quantity from a local pharmacist for 60 buck, the new laws prevent that. We are already paying 10 bucks for 30 tablets which last us a whole 5 days. Drugstore.com charges 10 bucks for 20 tablets.

[skygazer]

27. Gotta start somewhere

What do you suggest?

Hey, I realize it's a pain in the ass - I work in a supermarket and have to deal with irate customers who can't understand why they can only buy a certain number of cold remedies per visit. Still, it's a minor inconvenience - minor for me, minor for you and yes, even minor for those who are elderly or riding the bus or any of the other cases mentioned above. Nobody is going to die if they can't get their cold meds right away and the thing is, they can get them - they just have to jump through some hoops.

I'm not a big fan of the War on Drugs - I think a phenomenal amount of time and money is wasted chasing potheads and casual users of coke or whatever. BUT meth is different. Many of its victims are the children of the people who are processing it, there are suspicions that homes that have been used for meth labs have so much residue in them even after major cleaning that they make the next tenant sick and the risk of explosion and fire is high - a genuine threat in arid rural areas where many meth labs thrive.

You have to start somewhere and by making production too much of a hassle for the mom and pop operations (which are the ones who have the most unsafe conditions), you're making a tiny dent. Which is better than nothing. At the same time, by making it more difficult, you increase the risk of them getting caught because they have to take more chances and that may lead you to bigger producers.

It ain't perfect but I'm not going to complain about that one. Meth is a horrible scourge and in some places, it's really out of control.

[LynneSin]

31. Exactly

Now that we know we have to jump through hoops just play it smart and get enough of what you need in the months when you aren't sick. I'm stocked with enough Alka-seltzer & Nyquil to get me through cold & flu season!

[fishwax]

61. it won't reduce meth consumption, but it will stop small-scale production

there will still be plenty of meth available, i'm sure, but it will impede the ability of joe dirt down the street to endanger the whole block by regularly cooking up his own supply.

[LynneSin]

29. Does anyone here understand why this law is needed

Or are we just bitching about something we don't clearly understand, because anyone who thinks this law is dumb has no clue about the entire meth culture and how it works. Nor do they realize that this law is NOT targetted towards the major meth labs in the country that probably never bother with getting their cold meds from the local drugstore.

How would you feel if you lived next door to someone producing toxic waste and dumping it in their backyard to create their own mini-superfund? How about if they had a chemical experience setup in their kitchen with a recipe found on the net and enough explosivity to take out their home and anyone living next door to it.

These are not the people who are mass producing meth. Like I said, if you're mass-producing meth you probably live out in rural bumfuckville with no neighbors for a few miles and your ingredients are so large-scale that you probably have a supplier of cold meds shipping it to you from Mexico or the Carribean.

But meth is so highly addictive that after awhile it becomes too costly to buy so some users end up getting their hands on recipes and making their own meth. Their source of supplies for their home lab comes from your local drugstore. So now you have someone tweaking out on Meth resorting to making their own toxic and explosive product from a recipe that a friend of a friend found on the internet. This isn't the pot plant grown in the closet, this is 1000000 times more dangerous!

You want that living next door to you? I didn't think so.

The cold med laws are geared towards cracking down on those dangerous chemical experiences and from what I've read they are actually working in some of the states that have had these laws for awhile.

As for the cold med manufacturers already Nyquil is reformulating to remove the pseudoephedrine from their product. I know it sucks but we'll survive.

As for me, I just bought my stuff ahead of time and what I bought was the economy size. I love Alka-seltzer cold and I use Nyquil at night. So I made it a point to buy the stuff now before I'm in need of it. Plus when I visit my mother in two weeks I'll pick up some more in Pennsylvania just to be safe.

[Blue-Jay]

39. Nobody fully understands anything.

Except you, of course.

[LynneSin]

40. Oh hell I don't understand squat

but I read enough about this law to understand why it's a good idea.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

73. Look, I worked with street kids, and so I've seen meth abusers

But meth addiction is a SYMPTOM, not a problem in itself. The ingredients have been available forever, but meth has become a problem only in the past ten to fifteen years.

It's the drug of the hopeless, the ones who feel that they have nothing to lose, the ones who are working two jobs to stay alive, the ones living on the streets because they have such dreadful families, the ones who despair of getting out of poverty and (ignorantly) see meth as a chance to get ahead financially.

Give people hope and positive results, and meth will fade away.

[LostinVA]

34. We've been doing it here for a few months -- stupidity

First, most meth is not made here, it comes from Mexico. SEcondly, it is just insulting. Thirdly, I can only buy enough in one month to last two weeks.... Fourthly, I show my ID, they fill out a paper form in a notebook... after going back one month to see if I've bought any... but just at that drugstore. There are about 40 places in my town alone where I can buy this -- so what good does this do???? However, I do not go someplace else and buy enough to last em a month, because JUST IN CASE I got caught, I'd be in some major hot water.

Pisses me off... I had to wait in line for 30 minutes last week to get a 14-day's supply.

This si so not a good way to handle this. Make pot legal, and put the cops and money towards meth. Leave ME alone.

[LynneSin]

36. I hate to say it but you'd be suprised where it's come from

Because if you have a raging meth habit you probably can't afford to buy this stuff on the street. Nothing like setting up a little meth lab in your basement to help feed your habit and maybe sell a few 8-balls for some cash.

It's out there more than you think - don't kid yourself on that one!

[LostinVA]

41. I never said it wasn't out there -- I know it is

However, I think it is disgusting and actually criminal that I can't legally buy enough of a LEGAL med that I need. I have to take half doses, and live half my life feeling miserable. I can't even do anything outside past late afternoon because of this. NO thought was given how to help those of us who aren't meth heads (ie most of us) avoid this situation.

I should be allowed to buy more than two packs a month. Sorry.

I also feel this is the political drug issue du jour, regardless of its prevalence.

[Robb]

50. Issue du jour?

Right. And most of it comes from Mexico. :eyes:

For what it's worth, try going into a store and buying a battery, lye, and antifreeze on the same trip. The Man will hassle you then, too. And I'll thank him for it.

I'm sorry, I feel for allergy sufferers (for I am thee) and I really like you (and everyone else I'm yelling at in this thread) a lot. But this is not your mother's drug. It is not the same. The old rules do not apply.

No other drug has made me question humanity's worth like this one. It. Is. Bad. And if it was just bad for the users I might suck up my mensch and let them die. But innocents go with this drug like no other. And they go badly.

I'm not on the front line with this, I'm cowering and pissing my pants right behind the guy on the front line. And if I have to get my Claritin-D in one-week's worths, I'm going to.

You should too.

[Jamastiene]

65. I agree with you wholeheartedly that meth is bad.

It is pure POISON. Whether this new law will actually help the situation or not is something I question though. I don't buy cold medicines. I usually just take tylenol for the aches and eat plenty of chicken soup and potatoes with garlic for the congestion, but in case I do need to buy any cold medicine for my aunt, my taking the time to sign a form is not going to stop meth producers. Period. I would like to see the all stopped. Supply and demand will be the key to stopping them. If we concentrated heavily enough on educating the teenagers the right way instead of fooling around with eggs frying in commercials, more of them would decide not to ever touch the poison.

This new law is only going to make the problem worse. Crime is going to go up, not down. Mark my words. The law is flawed, sorry. Make meth producing and selling a felony with a minimum of 25 years behind bars with no parole. Stick to it. Actually arrest them. Offer rewards to get people to turn them in, but don't punish law abiding citizens while the meth makers skirt the law. They have already shown that the law doesn't matter to them. The law is nothing to them. It's not going to reduce the problem, unfortunately. Sorry.

[Cobalt Violet]

35. What information did you have to give them?

Did you have to tell them what it's for?

[grateful581]

43. I don't understand that

I'm sure you were not picking up 20 packs of cold medicine.
Here in my state, cold medicine is under the counter.

[TheProphetess]

45. It can be a pain in the ass

I was visiting my friend in Florida over the summer. She was pregnant and got a very bad cold. The doctor gave her a list of select medications she could take (she had some other stipulations besides pregnancy about what she could take). Anyway, one night she was just miserable and had run out of the cold medication so I ran to Walmart (it was the only place open and close by) to grab some more for her. Problem was that the pharmacy was closed and, therefore, I could not buy any of the medication on her list. The poor woman - pregnant and miserable with no medicine to help her get some relief. I had no idea that they stopped selling those drugs after pharmacy hours. I guess it's been a growing problem but I was not in the loop 'til now. :shrug:

[Gormy Cuss]

49. Vote with your feet.

Talk to your physician and find out what the alternatives are, then avoid OTCs with pseudoephedrine unless you absolutely, positively can't get relief from other products. The sooner the manufacturers understand that they're losing business, the sooner they'll put out effective products without it,

[anarch]

54. well this is way too inconvenient

Screw it, I'm just gonna go buy some crank from my neighbor...a couple lines of that and I'll be all cleared up.

[Jamastiene]

56. Same here in North Carolina.

Lawmakers do not even realize that by talking about it incessantly for three months before doing it, they gave meth makers time to come up with a plan to get aroud the law. The rest of us now have a brand spanking new stress adding annoyance in our lives. Thanks lawmakers for being so naive and at least trying to solve the meth problem. No dice. Meth makers will outsmart you every time. Education about the horrid effects of that drug AND making damn sure no graphic images of the horrid effects of that drug go unseen by teenagers would have been better. The eggs and the bacon make kids joke about eating their brains or adding ketchup. The little nursery rhyme commercials seem aimed at parents and not children too. Children and teenagers need a wakeup call and a heavy dose of reality if they are going to make the decision NOT to touch that poison. Period. Nothing else will reach a teenager. Instead lawmakers aggravate the hell out of the rest of us with silly new laws that won't stop meth makers. Typical.

[Susang]

63. I agree wholeheartedly

Great post! :thumbsup:

[pdx_prog]

57. We have had this law in Oregon for a couple of years now.

So fucking what.....you are inconvenienced a little when you go to buy your Sudafed. Here, you are allowed to buy two boxes at a time.

The first year the law was in enacted, meth lab busts were down 59 percent.

That's worth a little inconveniece to me.

[Susang]

62. So you don't have any concerns about your right to privacy

None at all?

[pdx_prog]

64. No.

You do the same thing for other drugs. To me, if it shuts ONE lab down then it was worth it. They aren't preventing anyone from buying it, you are just signing something saying that you are buying it.

I don't see what the problem here is.....:wtf:

[Loonman]

60. Thank the fucking meth heads

Human garbage...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

71. Same here in Minnesota

Tylenol Sinus is the cheapest, most effective remedy for my sinus headaches, and now I have to fill out forms to buy it.

The 99% of us who genuinely have sinus headaches have to go through this crap just so 1% don't use it to cook meth.

Hey, kids, I've got an idea! Why don't we go after the CAUSES of meth addiction, which is most common in depressed rural and blue collar areas? Let's get these people some hope for their economic future instead of telling them to be scared of the Ay-rabs and the gays. Let's make it so that cooking meth no longer looks like the surest way out of poverty. Let's make it so that people don't try to stay awake doing two full-time jobs just to survive.

But no, that would be LIBERAL.

[Horse with no Name]

77. It's ridiculous

Not to mention that local law enforcement has access to these records.
For folks with severe sinus problems, I would imagine you would get on a watch list really quick.
Only place to buy it in my area is now Walmart.
I went and bought some and had to put all my info in their computer.

[derby378]

78. Just started this in Texas last year

All the meth dealers in Oklahoma cleaned out their drugstores of pseudoephedrine until Oklahoma started restricting PE sales, so here come all the meth lab boys over the state border into Texas, buying up all of our stash along with our own local meth talent. So now we have a PE law. I'm so thrilled.

[texanwitch]

79. I wonder if this isn't having an effect on the sale of these products.

When this law came in I found an herbal tea that works better then the pills I used to buy.

[barb162]

82. It has to have an effect

[texanwitch]

83. I would buy 2 boxes a month, no more.

I don't know what they are doing with the information, not getting mine.

[barb162]

84. I still have an ample supply from the doctor so I haven't been

subjected to this yet. I bet I won't like it but there's no choice

[texanwitch]

85. I have been in the drug store and have seen people buy another

product not to have to show ID. I am glad I found this herbal tea, I have been feeling so much better since drinking it, very little sinus problems.

I wish you well.

[CanuckAmok]

81. that's nothing. Up here you need ID to catch a cold.

n/t

[MadHound]

87. Just another reason to put an end to the War on Drugs

Stop invading the privacy of law abiding citizens, stop inconviencing consumers, stop harassing people who are suffering and need medication.

Legalize meth, in fact legalize all drugs. When you do so, you will put the meth labs out of business permanently. Instead, drug production will occur like any other manufacturing process, in clean, controled facilities, and waste will be disposed of properly. In addition, this will end that whole huge crime wave that is brought about by drugs, people who steal to feed their habit. Also, after the euphoric rush of legalization, drug usage and drug addiction will actually go down, especially if you tax drugs and divert some of that revenue stream towards drug education programs, and programs that help addicts go clean.

We need to face the fact, a large segment of the human population has an inherent need to alter their state of consciousness, one way or another. And no law, no hurdle is too high for these people to clear. Apparently we didn't learn this lesson during Prohibition, we have got to learn it now. Otherwise we will continue to suffer from a large crime way, and decreasing civil liberities, all due to an unwinnable War on Drugs.