I went to buy some pseudoephedrine yesterday because we ran out at home. A sign on the shelf prompted me to ask for it at the pharmacy. They would only sell it to me in small blister-packs and in order to buy any, they wanted to transcribe all of the information on my driver’s license.
A little bit of research reveals that this is roughly connected to the national Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005, signed into law earlier this year as part of the PATRIOT act extension. Apparently, pseudoephedrine is used to created (illegal) methamphetamine and meth chemists qualify as terrorists under PATRIOT.
States, however, have gone even further. Oregon has gone so far as to make pseudoephedrine a Schedule III controlled substance that requires a prescription. Many other states, like Massachusetts have made pseudoephedrine a over-the-counter drug that’s kept, well, on the other side of the counter. It was, I think, the first I ever had to buy an over-the-counter drug over a counter. Usually, I just pick it off the shelf myself.
I find that fact slightly humorous. But it hardly seems worth collecting and recording a pile of personal information on every person who wants to buy a weeks worth of cold medicine — particularly when the largest producers of U.S. meth remain outside of the country.
Here in the midwest US, meth is a very serious problem. I recently moved to Iowa from FL and hadn’t even heard about it until I got here. But it’s a very big deal and I guess locking down the pseudo-ephedrine, which happened about a year ago, has had a major impact in the number of makeshift labs they’re finding. So, we survive. I guess that not only is the drug an especially nasty one, the cleanup of the labs is particularly nasty too.
Whatever, it’s a big scare story cooked up largely by the Oregonian (where we treat more meth addicts per capita than any other state), and peddled to the national media until it turned into a federal “crisis”.
Here’s a reasonable article on how the Oregonion used bullshit numbers to sell panic and papers. There’s more articles from big-name papers (e.g. NYT, WSJ), but I had trouble finding those on a moment’s notice.
Not being able to buy pseudoephedrine without a prescription is particularly annoying. What about people without medical coverage? Plus half the state lives in Portland, a mere 20 minute drive from Vancouver, Washington and easy meth access. Conventient for us Portlanders, but it sucks to be you poor rural mid-staters.
Hi Mako,
as with certain copyright laws, this particular act only hinders legal user from getting it and does not hinder illegal use. What’s more they went too far and could have gotten the same effect with far less. From my reading on Meth habits, addicts went into stores and stole tens of boxes when it was out in the open. No addict went to the counter with this hugh pile and paid for it. So the mere act of moving it behind a counter would have stopped addicts from stealing it and made legal use no harder. But the current administration seeks to conflate everything with terrorism and at the same time track its citizens. I await the time when all such law will be rolled back. I already heard that the ‘new’ variation of pseudephedrine is not as effective and would not waste my time buying a knock-off that costs the same and is useless.
Happy dried sinuses,
–Kev
I used to work in methamphetamine prevention here in Houston, and I have taken a class (but not the test) to be a Certified Prevention Specialist, and I will tell you that Kevin Mark is exactly right: buying the pseudoephedrine is not cost-effective. I don’t know if it was addicts or the meth cookers themselves that stole it off the shelves, but it doesn’t matter.
Having said that, I am personally not particularly upset that pseudoephedrine is no longer on the shelves, since it always would put me to sleep during the day and wake me up at night. The new, less effective stuff doesn’t do that. ;-)
bmc
I don’t mind that pseudoephedrine is behind the counter. But taking down you licence info is completely over the top. It is a growing problem everywhere. I am tired of being asked for ID for such trivial things. I know some cashiers ask for ID out of habit and have no idea why or what they are really checking.
And don’t bother with the Sudafed PE stuff. It isn’t nearly as effective.