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 All the cold and allergy remedies that contain the drug have been replaced by merchandise cards like they have for computers at Office Depot or TV sets at Circuit City.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.