got a cold? papers, please
[cross-posted from libertarianism]
So I ran down to my neighborhood King Soopers tonight for some decongestant to battle a nagging cold. I grabbed a card from the shelf (as the real thing is now kept in the pharmacy) and went to the counter to exchange it for a box of 12-Hour Sudafed.
"I'll need your driver's license," the pharmacy tech informed me.
This was a new wrinkle, but I produced it, thinking this was no different than requiring ID for buying cigarettes or beer: in Colorado you now have to be 18 to buy cold medicine.
The tech then pushed a clipboard towards me, and asked me to fill out a log sheet with my name, address, phone number and other information, like maybe my mom's maiden name and the street I grew up on. I don't know for sure, because I left the counter without my drugs and without filling out the sheet.
So now the War on People Who Use Drugs has devolved to the War on People Who Use Legal, Over-the-Counter Drugs. If you want to treat your cold or allergy with any medication containing pseudoephedrine, be prepared to divulge a significant amount of personal information to the DEA. Giving false information on the registry can result in hefty fines and prison terms.
You can thank the PATRIOT Act for this new hassle. In January Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Jim Talent (R-MO) introduced a bill to set Federal restrictions on the sale of methamphetamine "precursor" drugs-in other words, stuff that can be used to manufacture meth. The bill was attached to the revised PATRIOT Act and became law when George W. Bush signed it in March.
Obviously the information is used to track any large purchases by a single person, and the use of a registry, which has been in place in Oregon and Oklahoma since last year, has resulted in nearly 50% fewer meth lab seizures in Oregon and a 68% drop in Oklahoma. I like the phrasing used here: a drop in meth lab seizures. No word on whether these states have experienced a corresponding drop in meth usage.
Or maybe they don't want to mention that meth cookers are simply buying their raw materials on the black market, or even stealing the stuff. Or maybe they have put the local meth labs out of business, opening up a lucrative new revenue path for Mexican gangs to export their own meth north of the border. Even the DEA admits that up to 80% of the meth now sold in the country comes from Mexico or from labs run by Mexican gangs in the U. S.
You know, I think I feel better already; the outrage appears to have cleared my sinuses.
So I ran down to my neighborhood King Soopers tonight for some decongestant to battle a nagging cold. I grabbed a card from the shelf (as the real thing is now kept in the pharmacy) and went to the counter to exchange it for a box of 12-Hour Sudafed.
"I'll need your driver's license," the pharmacy tech informed me.
This was a new wrinkle, but I produced it, thinking this was no different than requiring ID for buying cigarettes or beer: in Colorado you now have to be 18 to buy cold medicine.
The tech then pushed a clipboard towards me, and asked me to fill out a log sheet with my name, address, phone number and other information, like maybe my mom's maiden name and the street I grew up on. I don't know for sure, because I left the counter without my drugs and without filling out the sheet.
So now the War on People Who Use Drugs has devolved to the War on People Who Use Legal, Over-the-Counter Drugs. If you want to treat your cold or allergy with any medication containing pseudoephedrine, be prepared to divulge a significant amount of personal information to the DEA. Giving false information on the registry can result in hefty fines and prison terms.
You can thank the PATRIOT Act for this new hassle. In January Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Jim Talent (R-MO) introduced a bill to set Federal restrictions on the sale of methamphetamine "precursor" drugs-in other words, stuff that can be used to manufacture meth. The bill was attached to the revised PATRIOT Act and became law when George W. Bush signed it in March.
Obviously the information is used to track any large purchases by a single person, and the use of a registry, which has been in place in Oregon and Oklahoma since last year, has resulted in nearly 50% fewer meth lab seizures in Oregon and a 68% drop in Oklahoma. I like the phrasing used here: a drop in meth lab seizures. No word on whether these states have experienced a corresponding drop in meth usage.
Or maybe they don't want to mention that meth cookers are simply buying their raw materials on the black market, or even stealing the stuff. Or maybe they have put the local meth labs out of business, opening up a lucrative new revenue path for Mexican gangs to export their own meth north of the border. Even the DEA admits that up to 80% of the meth now sold in the country comes from Mexico or from labs run by Mexican gangs in the U. S.
You know, I think I feel better already; the outrage appears to have cleared my sinuses.