| 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. • 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. |
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.