Which means it's not available outside of the pharmacist counter's more-limited hours. And there's often an additional line to wait in before acquiring. And, as another thread points out, extra ID requirements.
So how exactly do the costs/benefits on this "public policy" sum out?
Benefits:
• some grandstanding politicians enjoy the superficial appearance of being "tough on meth"
Costs:
• Americans waste $billions on an ineffective placebo decongestant
• Legitimate manufacturers of a working medicine, pseudoephedrine hcl, lose sales due to extra cost/effort/stigma associated with the purchase. They shift real productive resources – inputs & worker hours – to making & marketing placebos instead.
• Larger cross-border criminal organizations – of the kind that regularly murder politicians south-of-the-border – grow in market-share, sophistication, & power.
• Meth continues to be available at high volume, & low costs, unaffected by the pseudoephedrine limits.
If we don't listen to 'grad students having a laugh' who are pointing out the wasteful absurdities of 'public policy', we'll keep such nonsense destructive rules indefinitely.
The 'serious folks' among politicians & suited 'public-policy' types are derelict in their duties.
> Larger cross-border criminal organizations – of the kind that regularly murder politicians south-of-the-border – grow in market-share, sophistication, & power.
Are you suggesting my neighborhood friendly drug dealer could hook me up with some real sudafed? Might be nicer than trying to get it from the pharmacy when I need it.
Not sure if you're joking, but he's suggesting that if bulk pseudoephedrine were still available, cartel meth wouldn't have 99% of the market like it does today.
Because yeah, your neighborhood dealer would make his own meth and would probably have lots of Sudafed.
Around here, you pick up a card from the shelf with a picture of the product you want, then wait in line for the pharmacist. Then they say "Sorry, we're out of that one, what else do you want", "I don't know, what do you have", "sigh... here's what we have left...".
Then you show your drivers license and the pharmacist records it and you pay and finally walk out with your sudafed. If you want to buy several boxes because it's allergy season, well too bad, you can't buy 2 boxes today, you have to come back tomorrow for the second one.
It's actually easier to buy as a prescription, then the Dr can write you a prescription for any amount you need/want.
My state attempted to make pseudoephedrine require a prescription. One of the state lawmakers that was opposed was a doctor and he cited studies where phenylephrine was less effective than placebo. I wrote to my representative, who called me after voting for the bill to tell me that some sheriff told him phenylephrine is equally effective.
Every time you buy the stuff from the pharmacist, they're logging the purchase in a national DB and you're signing an acknowledgement that it's a huge felony to go beyond the limit. But they never tell you where you are vs the limit, and the limits aren't clearly stated. End result: chilling effect.
My mom timed her purchases incorrectly (family of 5 with mom shopping for all at the time) and went past the limit. After that she was flagged and had to have an actual doctor's prescription in order to purchase pseudoephedrine for 6-12 months. That is a HUGE hurdle for most people, and doctors don't want to see people who have cold symptoms. Heck, I was turned away from a CVS Minute Clinic recently because I had COVID like symptoms in the last 7 days. As in refused to see me, even though I had recently tested negative for COVID and had a fever + persistent cough.
Good to see your representative was getting his information on the effectiveness of medicine from a cop and ignoring the doctor. Emblematic of modern America.
“I asked a cop about how effective an OTC medicine is” is an absolutely insane thing for anyone to say, let alone a legislator. Sadly it does not seem like such behavior receives the social opprobrium it deserves.
You don't just ask the pharmacist for it. You have to produce an acceptable form of identification that can be used to record the transaction in the universal database. It's unavailable to anyone who doesn't have one of those.
He’s definitely wrong. Sometime last year I had a cold and I know pseudoephedrine helps me.
I ran out and wanted to buy some at the local cvs. Now, I’m not a US citizen but I’ve been here a few years already and am a permanent resident. I do not have a US state ID or a US driving license, and in my many years it has _never_ been a problem. Everyone was always happy with my green card as my ID - bars, domestic flights, international flights back to USA, bank account openings etc. But not for purchasing pseudoephedrine at CVS…
I literally stood there with my green card and my European passport and was begging the cvs clerk to sell it to me, but the told me it’s impossible, system doesn’t accept those IDs (and they tried, even showed me their computer screen). And so I had to leave empty handed and with a runny nose, and came back later with an American friend to buy it…
In my state, I'm able to walk down the road to a 24/7 chain pharmacy and buy pseudoephedrine whenever I want. The pharmacy, in combination with the state, uses ID to regulate how much an individual may purchase over some time frame(s).
Most doctors will just write you a prescription and you can get it delivered to your home. Super easy.
Same here. But I think the edge cases are worth listening to as well. Green card residents, for instance. Sudafed is kind of a lifesaver for me at times and I feel fortunate to be able to buy it relatively easily.
So how exactly do the costs/benefits on this "public policy" sum out?
Benefits:
• some grandstanding politicians enjoy the superficial appearance of being "tough on meth"
Costs:
• Americans waste $billions on an ineffective placebo decongestant
• Legitimate manufacturers of a working medicine, pseudoephedrine hcl, lose sales due to extra cost/effort/stigma associated with the purchase. They shift real productive resources – inputs & worker hours – to making & marketing placebos instead.
• Larger cross-border criminal organizations – of the kind that regularly murder politicians south-of-the-border – grow in market-share, sophistication, & power.
• Meth continues to be available at high volume, & low costs, unaffected by the pseudoephedrine limits.
• Recent meth formulations – likely prompted by the limits on the pseudoephedrine-process – seem to create a stronger & more-destructive addiction among abusers: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/11/the-new...
If we don't listen to 'grad students having a laugh' who are pointing out the wasteful absurdities of 'public policy', we'll keep such nonsense destructive rules indefinitely.
The 'serious folks' among politicians & suited 'public-policy' types are derelict in their duties.