Drug warriors in Colorado pushing to make pseudoephedrine prescription only.

[backscatter712]

LAME!!!

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_17816604

Colorado bill further targeting medications associated with meth manufacture

People with runny noses and congestion may find it harder to get relief if Colorado lawmakers decide some common- cold medications should be available by prescription only.

A bill pending before the state Senate would make drugs that contain pseudo ephedrine unavailable over the counter.

Proponents of the measure, including police, believe it would further restrict the ability of methamphetamine cooks to make the illegal drug using the ingredients they obtain over the counter.

Pseudoephedrine, which helps ease congestion in colds and flu, is a precursor ingredient used to cook methamphetamine, a highly addictive illegal drug. Its sale is already restricted, with purchasers required to show an ID and have it handed to them from behind the counter.

:eyes:

It's not enough that I have to go the the pharmacy counter, show my drivers license and sign my name onto the Federal List of People With Head Colds in order to get cold medicine that actually works. Noooooo, I'll have to fork over a copay and waste hours of my day to get a doctor's appointment because the Drug Warriors want pseudoephedrine available only by prescription. And no doubt, the pharmcos are already wringing their hands with glee, because they'll be able to charge $500/bottle for a drug that used to cost $5.

You know what I think? I think they should make meth available over the counter. Make sure kids can't buy it, and put the meth in a box with a big red warning label with a skull & crossbones, saying "WARNING! THIS SHIT WILL KILL YOU!!!" But let the tweakers have all the meth they want. That way, they don't blow up houses and hotel rooms or turn them into Superfund sites, they don't have to buy the stuff from violent Mexican gangsters, and they can get it for cheap enough that they don't have to be breaking in and stealing my shit just to get a fix. And most of all, the people who just want some fucking cold medicine can get as much of it as they want in peace, because the tweakers have easier ways to get meth. Just so long as the tweakers understand that if they get so badly hooked that they OD and make their hearts explode, the rest of society will not help them.

Why should the rest of us suffer because a few shitheads want to take cold pills, mix them with drain cleaner, kerosene and watch batteries, and make controlled substances?

[Newsjock]

1. K&R for righteous rant

Indeed, this has almost nothing to do with cracking down on meth. It has almost everything to do with increasing the price you and I must pay for health care, because Big Pharma is pissed that I can buy 48 store-brand generic Sudafed for only $2.99. That's not how American health care is supposed to work.

[Canuckistanian]

2. Will this really stop meth cookers?

Or is this really just a knee-jerk reaction to get votes from Fox-terrified dunderheads?

I can't decide.

[backscatter712]

3. These days, the meth production has moved to Mexico.

Instead of Beavis-and-Butthead meth labs, we have Mexican gangsters cooking meth on an industrial scale, and kicking up their profits with a bit of the old ultra-violence.

So I'm calling it a knee-jerk reaction to get votes from people with FOX-News-induced brain damage.

[aquart]

4. Or they could legalize and tax marijuana.

[ellie]

5. Agreed!

I currently have a cold and am almost through one box of pseudoephedrine. I have to ask my mom to buy some for me because I don't want the DEA to come knocking on my door. The drug war is ridiculous.

[Honeycombe8]

6. That's ridiculous. They're getting absolutely over the top with that stuff. Giveaway to pharma.

Psuedoephedrine? Really? My Nyquil being Rx only?

That gets my blood boiling!

[dkf]

7. That really sucks.

I'm in the middle of a cold and that stuff works! Last time I tried to stay away from drugs and it turned into bronchial spasms and shortness of breath.