Following the lead of states such as Kansas, Congress continues to pursue federal restrictions on the sale of some over-the-counter cold medicines that can be used in the making of methamphetamine, most recently through a revised bill unveiled last week by Sens. Jim Talent, R-Mo., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. As welcome as such efforts are, this issue brings to mind the debate over gun laws, which also penalize lawful users along with would-be crooks. Lawmakers should not focus so much on meth’s supply side that they neglect the needs on the other fronts in this fight, such as law enforcement and drug treatment.
Posted by Rhonda Holman
2 Comments
As much as meth is a problem, I was really disappointed to realize to get my normal allergy medicince I have to go through a pharmacist and fill out a card just to purchase the product. Even worse the store I usually purchase the product at has stopped carrying it. Nice.
This law is freaking ridiculous! Cold medicine is the most widely used item that is necessary to make meth, why couldn’t they have put restrictions on the other items?I can buy shotgun shells at 2am at Walmart, but I can’t buy OVER THE COUNTER medication? That’s stupid!This is just another example of it being easier to punish everybody than to actually get to the real problem. It’s like Kindergarten. Maybe they should offer a reward to anyone that turns in a meth house…I’m just sick of having to make sure I get to a store at a certain time to get a medication that has been over the counter for YEARS because a bunch of methheads might use it for bad stuff…I guess that’s why Wichita PD feels the need to station an officer at Walmart…someone might buy some Tylenol Allergy Sinus!
I have to wonder if the Pharmaceutical companies are behind this in some way…make it inconvenient enough that people will go on prescriptions or buy Claritin instead.