Are You a Registered Allergy Sufferer?

Jacob Sullum | November 18, 2005

Today I was in a drugstore for the first time since a new Virginia law restricting access to pseudoephedrine took effect. All the cold and allergy remedies that contain the drug have been replaced by merchandise cards like they have for computers at Office Depot or TV sets at Circuit City. If you want some Sudafed, you have to bring the corresponding card to the pharmacist, who will ask you to show ID and sign a register. All this is supposed to interfere with illicit methamphetamine manufacturing, but at best it will shift production away from small local labs and toward the large-scale traffickers who already account for the vast majority of the illicit meth in the U.S.

If you're eager to be inconvenienced in this manner so you can do your part to help achieve a drug-free society, but you don't live in Virginia or one of the other states with similar restrictions, fear not: A federal law restricting pseudoepedrine is expected to pass soon. The good news is that the bill no longer includes new mandatory minimum sentences.

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|11.18.05 @ 2:03PM|#

Good. I want the purchase of cold medicine to become a HUGE pain in the butt for everybody, because I have reached the conclusion that the only way this bullshit country's Soccer Mommies and NASCAR Daddies will realize how evil the War on Drugs is, is if EVERYBODY becomes super-inconvenienced by it.

|11.18.05 @ 2:04PM|#

but at best it will shift production away from small local labs and toward the large-scale traffickers who already account for the vast majority of the illicit meth in the U.S.

See, it's always the family meth businesses that get hurt. All those big businesses are coming in and taking jobs away from small town meth producers. We need meth subsidies to keep these family businesses afloat.

Also, the only thing I personally am allergic to is a form of rye grass found only in South America. So ha, ha, ha to the rest of y'all!

Jeff P.|11.18.05 @ 2:05PM|#

This card system became common at Walgreens here in CT, but the reason given was theft. It was easier to keep the stock up front than put sticky anti-theft tags in individual boxes.

MP|11.18.05 @ 2:07PM|#

I want the purchase of cold medicine to become a HUGE pain in the butt for everybody

This is unfortunately a trivial pain in the butt. The sheep will adjust their expectations, just like seat belt laws.

|11.18.05 @ 2:08PM|#

Serious question: it seems to me that the WOD is unique in that it's the only thing in our country where innocent, legal behavior becomes outlawed just because it LOOKS sort of like a crime. I mean, consensual sex hasn't been outlawed in the name of Ending Rape. Driving cars hasn't been outlawed to end hit and run deaths. Compare that to the war on drugs--make it hard to get a legal medication, because it MIGHT be illicit! And remember the case of the little first-grader who gave her friend a baggie of rocks and clover, and got in trouble because it sort-of looked like a drug deal?

Jennifer-

We'll be told that enduring a little inconvenience to buy cold medicine is our Patriotic Duty. And people will go along with it.

Hakluyt|11.18.05 @ 2:10PM|#

There is a certain plant in Nigeria that I am allergic too.

|11.18.05 @ 2:15PM|#

BTW, is anybody shocked that these laws are going to help the biggest, wealthiest drug producers while driving their small competitors out of business? Of course, to even suggest that this is not a coincidence would of course be preposterous!

|11.18.05 @ 2:18PM|#

Kill all cats everywhere and I wouldn't need over the counter allergy relief ever again. What bothers me about this is the availability of 24 hour OTC asthma inhaler has gone away. You have to have a pharmacist on hand for that late night kitty induced asthma attack. Plan accordingly.

Under the new regs, some states (some stores?) require you to fill out a confirmation that you are not, in fact, going to make meth. I hate the government.

I just thought of a better analogy: like making it illegal to sell fruit juice to kids, because they MIGHT ferment the juice into booze.

Seriously, guys--other than the WOD, can you think of anything in American history where perfectly legal, innocent stuff is made illegal for the sole reason that a really, really stupid cop might mistake it for something illegal?

Rich Ard|11.18.05 @ 2:18PM|#

I'm allergic to psilocybin, but I'm working on my tolerance.

|11.18.05 @ 2:19PM|#

Jennifer:

Real guns. Toy guns.

Viking Moose|11.18.05 @ 2:20PM|#

"Kill all cats everywhere and I wouldn't need over the counter allergy relief ever again."

yeah. cuz kittens lead to clowns. and clowns are evil. wicked. naughty zoot.

"a really, really stupid cop"
a federal agent?

|11.18.05 @ 2:21PM|#

Jason--

Gotcha. And what a coincidence--both cases involve the government outlawing things that they have no fucking business outlawing, anyway!

Small correction: Right now, it's just an Executive Order from Gov. Warner. But it will become law as soon as the legislature meets again.

In the recent election, I checked both major party candidates' statements on this stupidity. Democrat Tim Kaine -- the winner -- fully supported it. Republican Jerry Kilgore opposed it, not out of any anti-WOD principle, but because the paperwork requirements would burden small pharmacists. Ugh.

|11.18.05 @ 2:25PM|#

pseudoephedrine

Why bother making meth out of it? In my opinion, it's as potent as it needs to be already. I've driven a car on meth before. When I took pseudoephedrine for my cedar fever while visiting Austin, TX, though, I could barely see straight much less walk. I was stoned outta my mind.

|11.18.05 @ 2:29PM|#

I'm not allergic to anything I know of, either, but I sometimes buy asthma medicine to consume before hockey games...the amp from the pseduoephedrine as well as the bronchiodialator ingredient help me play better.

Anyway, here in AZ they have the cards you have to take to the pharmacist, but they don't do anything, just ring you up or hand it over.

Weird.

Although I suppose if I tried to buy 50 boxes they might say something.

MP|11.18.05 @ 2:42PM|#

Lowdog,

Ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are related but not the same thing. You are likely refering to neither of these, but the synthetic version of ephedrine called ephedrine HCL, which is found in bronchodilators such as Vasopro. Bronchodilators were the big loophole in the FDA's ephedra ban, and are the commonly used replacement for ephedra by dieters and body builders.

I have no idea if ephedrine and ephedrine HCL can be used in meth production, as I don't know a thing about meth.

|11.18.05 @ 2:45PM|#

Spray paint, box cutters, laser pointers, certain types of glue and some solvents have varied legal status around the country. Arts & crafts stores are a one-stop shop for substance abusers and terrorists.

Hakluyt|11.18.05 @ 2:46PM|#

Jacob Sullum,

We need to ban X-Mas and Turkey Day.

More Heart Attacks During the Holidays: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10018776/site/newsweek/

|11.18.05 @ 2:47PM|#

Smacky,

I have lived in Austin for 25 years now, and I still haven't experienced "cedar fever". I suspected that this was a fictional malady that locals used to disguise their cocaine and meth usage. Thanks for straightening me out! And make sure to let us know the next time you visit our fair city. M1EK, Shannon Love, and Dave B. are also in this area.

Psuedoephedrine is obviously a gateway drug. Users quickly move on to harder drugs like Nyquil, Sominex, Tums, and eventually they have a full blown addiction to real ephedrine.

|11.18.05 @ 2:50PM|#

This is unfortunately a trivial pain in the butt. The sheep will adjust their expectations, just like seat belt laws.

I agree. Especially since there is a replacement for pseudoephedrine called phenylephrine that is already being used by Sudafed, Contac, et al.

Now, if there were no replacement THEN it would be a pain in the ass. And then MAYBE some Soccer moms would realize how stupid the War on Drugs is.

|11.18.05 @ 2:52PM|#

MP,
Am I wrong that seatbelt laws have actually worked? (by worked I mean increased usage resulting in fewer deaths/driver over and above the effects of airbags)

|11.18.05 @ 2:53PM|#

I have lived in Austin for 25 years now, and I still haven't experienced "cedar fever". I suspected that this was a fictional malady that locals used to disguise their cocaine and meth usage. Thanks for straightening me out!

Well, I should point out that I was hopped up on cocaine and meth at the time of my cedar fever attack.

JUST KIDDING!

I seriously am allergic to cedar pollen. If you haven't had an attack by now then you probably never will. FYI, my attack occured in North Austin at Natural Bridge Caverns. Apparently there's a whole lotta breedin' between the trees up in those parts.

Mike|11.18.05 @ 3:05PM|#

I live in VA. I asked my pharmacist what he thought about maintaining a log book, he said it's not something that he thought he'd be doing when he went to college. Apparently, the pharmacists are responsible for alphabetizing it too, and that he's sure that someday there will be a log for aspirin!

Maybe the distractions for the pharmacists that these laws bring will lead to a pharmacist dispensing oxycodone to someone trying to get tylenol 3...

|11.18.05 @ 3:10PM|#

Phenylephrine does nothing for me, and there is no way I am signing myself up on the suspected tweakers database. I guess I have to go back to having a stuffed-up nose all the time.

Mike|11.18.05 @ 3:11PM|#

Another interesting development. Nyquil has removed pseudoephedrine from their products without replacing it at all, so they took the phrase "stuffy head" out of their long sales pitch. I emailed P&G about this, asking them why they purposely made their product less effective and did not reduce the price, when (at least in VA) the old Nyquil had so much other garbage in it that it was impossible to make meth from it, so it wasn't behind the counter. Their response was that in some states, anything that contains pseudoephedrine now or soon will require a prescription.

I replied to them that since the CVS branded "night time" medicine still contains pseudoephedrine I see no reason to buy their product ever again. That was a month ago and they have yet to respond.

|11.18.05 @ 3:29PM|#

I foresee a time in the near future where allergy sufferers will be mugged in the middle of the night by thugs brandishing a cat.

MP|11.18.05 @ 3:29PM|#

Am I wrong that seatbelt laws have actually worked?

The objection to seat-belt laws was not due any potential lack of effectiveness, but was due to the intrusive Nanny state nature of the policy. My point in relating that to pseudoephedrine was that people get used to policies that they initially object to on philosophical grounds but that don't necessarily have a signficant impact on day-to-day lives.

It is all part of the explanation for the non-stop growth of government.

Mike|11.18.05 @ 3:48PM|#

A free market solution to seatbelts:

Insurance companies offer you two options.

1. If you get in a crash they will only cover you if you are wearing a seatbelt

2. If you get in a crash they will cover you regardless of seat belt usage, but at a much higher premium.

This will allow people to make their own choices without adversely affecting seatbelt wearer's insurance rates.

|11.18.05 @ 3:59PM|#

mk:

In my world, that gets you two to the chest and one to the head.

|11.18.05 @ 4:02PM|#

MP - I know that ephedrine and psudeoephedrine are 2 different things. I actually buy an asthma med that has 25mg of psudeoephedrine and then some sort of HCL as the bronchodilator in a much higher dose. Can't remember the name of it...it comes in pill form.

But I wish it was easier to find ephedrine...it's better, imo.

Two points:

Part of the reason pseudophdrine became so poular is because the FDA banned phenylpropanolamine.

Now the much-ado-about-nothing meth scare is going to send more people to the doctor for their sinusitis and we'll wind up with more over-prescribing of antibiotics.

Am I wrong that seatbelt laws have actually worked?

Yes you are wrong. Seat belt USE may work, laws are just masturbatory scratchings on paper. And air bags have probably been more helpful anyway.

|11.18.05 @ 4:10PM|#

I got my driver's license before seat-belt laws, yet I always, always wore my seatbelt from the first time I ever drove. (I've always been cautious/worried that way.)

Yet I oppose seatbelt laws, and have become especially opposed to them these last few months, ever since vile groups of Connecticut cops have started "seatbelt checkpoints." Yes, they'll stop traffic on a busy thoroughfare during the morning rush hour for this.

They post signs for it: "seatbelt checkpoint ahead." So you know there's no way they'll actually catch anyone not wearing a seatbelt. No, it's just one more way for the cops to deliver the important message to us 'civilians': "We can fuck with you any damned time we want. What're you gonna do about it, huh?"

Bad enough the bastards take my freedom away; telling me it's for my own good, health or well-being just adds insult to injury.

MP|11.18.05 @ 4:11PM|#

Mike,

A Public Choice solution to seatbelts:

Insurance companies decide that a way to lower costs is to reduce injury rates. Instead of educating their customer base, they lobby to make the government do all the work. The lobbying costs are far less than the educational costs. The enforcement costs are passed along to consumers via mandatory higher general taxes and occasional use taxes (citations).

|11.18.05 @ 4:30PM|#

The sketchier the area I'm in, the less likely I am to wear a seatbelt. Clearing a seatbelt so you can draw a weapon from a strong side holster is no fun.

At highway speeds, you need to continue driving and the seatbelt matters more anyway, so I always buckle up between the on ramp and the off ramp.

My grandmother doesn't understand my argument at all. You guys do, though, right? Right?

Mike|11.18.05 @ 4:38PM|#

Usually when I carry in the car, I take it out of the holster and put it somewhere more easily accessible, such as wedged between the seat and the console.

|11.18.05 @ 4:47PM|#

smacky,
I'm not a pharmacist, and I don't play one on TV either, but I'm thinking a good treatment for "cedar fever" would be to drink more gin, to build up an immunity.
Cedar is in the juniper family, and juniper berries flavor gin. In fact gin get's its name from a corruption of juniper.
Hey, you could put some tonic in there to ward off that pesky malaria!
You can never be too careful.
Have a great weekend, everyone!

|11.18.05 @ 4:54PM|#

Ruthless -- ya think we could start getting health insurance to cover that treatment?

|11.18.05 @ 4:55PM|#

I'm thinking a good treatment for "cedar fever" would be to drink more gin, to build up an immunity.

Ruthless,

gin

Now there's a drug you want to keep me away from. You ever think I'm obnoxious or mean on H&R? Whoa, buddy, you haven't seen anything unless you've given me some gin.

I've had a bottle of it sitting in my apartment for months. I'm afraid to open it.

You have a good weekend, too!

Timothy|11.18.05 @ 5:12PM|#

And make sure to let us know the next time you visit our fair city. M1EK, Shannon Love, and Dave B. are also in this area.

Hey, I live in SA man, not that far.

First they ban meth, then they ban ephedrine, then ephedra, then pseudoephedrine, then pretty soon they'll be banning good ol' fasioned caffeine. Makes me want to take up doing drugs just to thumb my nose at the fed.

|11.18.05 @ 5:32PM|#

Ruthless,

You have explained why I have managed to avoid cedar fever and malaria. Self medication does work! I will investigate this cure in some depth this weekend.

The trees they call "cedar" here are more properly known as "Mountain Juniper". The Germans introduced these trees to central Texas to ameliorate their homesickness. This was actually one of the earliest land swindles,as the Germans were led to believe that the Texas hill country was prime farming land.

|11.18.05 @ 7:07PM|#

Russ, the phenylpropanolamine really worked for me and didn't keep me awake or make my heart race the way pseudophdrine does. Thanks FDA.

Jason Sonenshein|11.18.05 @ 7:25PM|#

Kill all cats everywhere and I wouldn't need over the counter allergy relief ever again.

So I guess you'll be endorsing Bill Frist for president. (:

Under the new regs, some states (some stores?) require you to fill out a confirmation that you are not, in fact, going to make meth. I hate the government.

Jason, you live in northern Kentucky, right? I think a statute similar to the Virginia executive order recently went into effect in Kentucky.

Come up to Ohio. We might make fun of your license plate, but we won't make you put your name on a government list to get your allergy medicine. At least not until this federal thing goes into effect, or our busybodies in Columbus come up with one of their own.

|11.19.05 @ 11:35AM|#

"The sketchier the area I'm in, the less likely I am to wear a seatbelt. Clearing a seatbelt so you can draw a weapon from a strong side holster is no fun."

Better to just put it in the center console. Drawing from a holster while sitting in a car seat sucks.

Back on topic, I would like to make a suggestion: they should stop having all of these invidual "War on..."

Just consolidate it. Instead of "The War on Drugs," "The War on Guns," "The War on Poverty," or "The War on Terror" they should just roll all of these up into a one-meme burrito. Call it "The War on Freedom."

|11.19.05 @ 4:09PM|#

mediageek,
Government: A Pyramid Scheme for Aggression.

|11.19.05 @ 7:01PM|#

Henry Rollins tells us:
Guns and drugs, and a whole lotta dope.

|11.20.05 @ 4:59PM|#

...they should just roll all of these up into a one-meme burrito. Call it "The War on Freedom."

Heh. Best idea of the day. I wonder who we should appoint as the "Freedom Czar" to prosecute this war?

|11.20.05 @ 9:22PM|#

Here is another of those "carried to its logical conclusion examples."

War on Freedom... Fuck yeah!
Is this a great country or what?

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