I went to pick up some Sudafed this morning and was shocked that I had to show my photo ID. Apparently, thanks to the PATRIOT Act, your driver’s license is taken, with all of the information recorded into a computer, and only then, after this five minutes of nonsense, are you able to purchase your Sudafed. The effort was initiated in October to go after methamphetamine labs. But this is an utterly debasing thing to go through when you’re standing in line feeling like shit and all you really want to do is rest up and get better. The other thing: does my name go into a fucking database because I had the temerity to want to cure my fucking cold? And is this really the best way to fight meth labs when these drug cooks are going to get their ephedrine elsewhere?
Ed:
I don’t think this is the best way to go about it, but the fact is it will make it much much more difficult for the drug cooks. It shouldn’t have been made part of the Patriot Act, but it may have a beneficial result. I don’t think any list of sudafed users is gonna be used in a wrong way–just too random a list.
I’m all for the inconvenience if it turns out to have an effect on meth use/new addicts. (I just had a similiar situation when I got sudafed last week.) I’m not sure if it will or not, but it’s probably worth a try.
The main problem is the big drug companies. They were unwilling to have legislation passed to solve the problem, so it had to be appended to the Patriot Act if it was going to get passed at all. And if third parties are able to purchase this stuff from the drug companies, then the measure will prove completely pointless.
JeffV
I thought it was a great idea at first – I didnt’ realize it was part of the Patriot act now though. WTF? That makes no sense. The last time I picked some up it was pretty fast – it didn’t take 5 minutes. Maybe your pharmacist is slow!
I think it does make a difference – before, drug dealers would load up a car full of people and go from store to store buying up the limit. Now if they do that, there’ll be evidence. Unfortunately, they just get it from elsewhere now. Which emphasizes the sad fact is that if people really want something, they’re going to get it somehow.
It isn’t in the Patriot Act. Patriot, at its core, is a law about money laundering. A sloppily written and poorly thought-out law concerning money laundering, but it’s about money laundering. Sudafed wasn’t even regulated when Patriot passed, and was long regulated when it was renewed.
Anyway, I always ask for batteries when I get mine. I don’t fear Big Brother. I fuck with his head.
To clarify the PATRIOT Act association, which I was wrong about, this was passed through by Feinstein and Talent in the same H.R. bill with the “USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act.” Hence, my confusion. Whiile in the same piece of legislation, the Combat Meth Epidemic Act of 2005 was a different subtitle of the act in question.
http://feinstein.senate.gov/06releases/r-meth-patriot.htm
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HR03199:@@@D&summ2=m&
The only reason I thought it was part of the PATRIOT Act is because the sticker at Walgreen’s said PATRIOT ACT. I shouldn’t entirely trust stickers at Walgreen’s. So apologies for the confusion. 🙂
Buying Sudafed in Canada is only a problem if you look like a professional hockey player, which I don’t, thank goodness, because I buy a lot of Sudafed.
You can also buy codeine over the counter in Canada. It’s a wonderful country. 😉