Yes, Meth Sucks. However...

[quasigeostrophy]

I'm thrilled at what I have to go through just to buy Sudafed in Indiana now. Not. Grab a card off the counter for what I want. Take it to the pharmacy. Wait. Give the card to the pharmacy tech. Wait some more. Show my driver's license. Give my home phone number. Sign a logbook, including my street address. Pay for the stuff. Leave.

A few years ago, when Toni and I were in London, we had to ask the pharmacist for a decongestant containing pseudoephedrine, but that was it.

Comments

[lightning-rose.livejournal.com]

But, but, think of the children!

[/sarcasm]

I know you were being sarcastic

[lesliepear.livejournal.com]

But read this from the NY Times about how meth is making some kids orphans

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/11/national/11meth.html?hp&ex=1121140800&en=96a3622163990d37&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Re: I know you were being sarcastic

[elmegil.livejournal.com]

Not to be too snide, but lots of stupid risky behaviors make kids orphans, meth doesn't really need special treatment.

If you lock up the pseudoephedrine in a cabinet, and don't let anyone buy more than 2 or 4 at a time, the chances of getting the real meth cookers in your store is pretty small. And if there is someone who comes in for 2 every day, then you can alert the cops, they can do their jobs, and check it out. No need to make the store the recordkeeper.

Re: I know you were being sarcastic

[lesliepear.livejournal.com]

and it isn't just pseudoephedrine either. I have an online friend who makes soap. She's had trouble finding LYE (Draino) because the meth cookers need that also. I guess they don't lock up LYE as that's already dangerous and most people don't buy it.

(yeah, it's weird that lye makes soap but it does).

Re: I know you were being sarcastic

[lightning-rose.livejournal.com]

Even more wierd is that you need lye to cure olives. How the ancients figured out that soaking a nasty tasting, basicly inedible fruit in a caustic poison made said fruit deliscious is beyond me.

Re: I know you were being sarcastic

[lesliepear.livejournal.com]

I had no idea olives were cured in lye (I don't eat them).

I thought they were salted like pickles.

Re: I know you were being sarcastic

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

And then there is...

Lutefisk. :-)

Re: I know you were being sarcastic

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

No need to make the store the recordkeeper.

Exactly. I don't mind if they move it behind the pharmacy. Like I said, at a Boots in London we had to ask for it, but the pharmacist asked if we'd had it before and handed it over. No third-degree or signing in blood.

Toni and I just picked up two prescriptions, one a narcotic, while we were out to lunch, at the same pharmacy, and that was less hassle.

[lesliepear.livejournal.com]

Lovely. I haven't seen this coming to NJ yet.

Actually, we take Actifed (which contains pseudoephedrine), I wonder if that's restricted also. And we usually try to get the cheaper store brand.

At least the supermarket pharmacy knows us, so this would be quick.

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

Coming to a Federal Law near you. (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/29/MNG3FDG93Q1.DTL&hw=pseudoephedrine&sn=001&sc=1000)

What isn't mentioned here is that as law enforcement cracks down on meth labs here in California, Mexico is picking up the slack.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

It would figure someone/somewhere would. That's just to be expected.

And I'm not surprised about any forthcoming federal law, either.

[geminigirl]

You haven't? I was in a CVS in Cedar Grove or Verona or something (in between West Orange, where we live and Little Falls where my husband works) and anything with pseudoephedrine you had to ask at the counter for...the stuff containing PPE was available right off the shelf though.

[lesliepear.livejournal.com]

Not yet at Shoprite or Walmart...then again Actifed (which is pseudofed + something else) so maybe they can't use it.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I have no idea how the meth makers do their thing, and I don't know about the laws in NJ, but here in Indiana it doesn't matter if it's a combo or not. If it contains ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, it counts for the behind-the-counter-and-get-personal-info law. What I got this morning contains both pseudoephedrine and chlorpheneramine (Chlortrimeton).

[gasslight.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I'm understanding this. For me (here in NY) I just buy Sudafed OTC in the grocery store or in the drugstore.

[elmegil.livejournal.com]

The issue is that pseudoephedrine is a precursor for Meth. As bathtub meth labs have sprung up around the country, there have been runs on buying cold medicines with pseudoephedrine in them, or simply stealing them outright. Various localities have put in different measures to restrict this behavior; sounds like Indy is one of the most strict I've heard of, but it's common throughout the midwest (which is where a lot of the Meth activity is going on).

[gasslight.livejournal.com]

Ah. Thanks for the information!

[kightp.livejournal.com]

The entire state of Oregon has psuedoephedrine under lock and key now, with ID requirements.

And, yeah, it's a pain - but living in a town where meth cookers and meth-related crimes have become the No. 1 law enforcement problem and a huge threat to neighborhood stability, I can live with it.

[ame-chan.livejournal.com]

Yep. Same here.

Really, I just want some fucking ALLERGY MEDICATION. I don't want to make meth. Please. Mr. Pharmacist. Hand over the Claritin. Or this roofing nail that's being driven into my sinus via my right eye? I will remove it and drive it up your pharmaceutically challenged nose.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

I'm going to bring you to the pharmacy with me when I have my next serious sinus headache. :-)

[lightning-rose.livejournal.com]

Claritin is ok.

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

Unless it's Claritin-D, which adds pseudophed.