When sinus meds are criminalized, only criminals will be able to breathe.
Every so often, we run out of Sudafed. Before this year, this wasn't a big deal: you go to RiteAid, or Long's, or Safeway and pick up some more. As of 1 January 2006, though, California state law mandates that any OTC medications containing psuedoephedrine be kept being the pharmacy counter, so that people can't buy up tons of it to use making crystal meth. In practice, this means that if you're congested or having a sinus headache and you need fast, cheap drugs, you can either stand in line for 25 minutes at the pharmacy counter only to be told that they're out, or you can stand at the checkout counter while someone goes to get it as everyone in line glares at you--only to be told that they're out.
I understand that meth is a big problem. But the way to deal with it is not to punish people for having sinus problems, dammit! Alcohol is a problem for some people, but I can still go and get a bottle of Ketel One off the shelf at Safeway--hell, I don't even get carded anymore. Restricting access to a drug that helps sick people because a small fraction of the population is intentionally misusing it is completely ass-backwards.
Not, of course, that I'd really expected anything coming out of the State Legislature to make sense.
I understand that meth is a big problem. But the way to deal with it is not to punish people for having sinus problems, dammit! Alcohol is a problem for some people, but I can still go and get a bottle of Ketel One off the shelf at Safeway--hell, I don't even get carded anymore. Restricting access to a drug that helps sick people because a small fraction of the population is intentionally misusing it is completely ass-backwards.
Not, of course, that I'd really expected anything coming out of the State Legislature to make sense.