NEWS: Oregon Makes Cold Pills Prescription Only

CULTURE: Oregon Makes Cold Pills Prescription Only

One of the main ingredients in methamphetamine is readily available at any store: pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient of many cold and allergy pills. In many areas of the country, production of meth has become a plague, leading to massive increases of violence, and dangerous situations as police have to deal with toxic and highly flammable meth labs, often set up in houses by people who really shouldn't be dealing with such heavy-duty chemicals. As a reaction to this, the Oregon state legislature has passed a law that would require drugs containing pseudoephedrine to be sold by prescription only. Many states have already passed laws that put cold medicines behind the counter and impose limits on how much can be purchased in a certain period of time, but Oregon's law goes much further, and it has its detractors.

To me, the failure of the law is that it's a harsh burden on those who want to get these drugs legally, but it probably won't stop anyone who really wants to make meth. They'll just go to other states to get it. I can accept laws that do put pseudoephedrine behind the counter so that you have to ask a pharmacist to get it for you, but making me go to my doctor to get a prescription for some Sudafed seems ridiculous.

But if we're going to wage war on any drug, meth seems like a good one. This drug is an utter destroyer of life, and leaves only misery in its wake. This might be going too far, but something needs to be done.

You mean that meth makers are going to have to break the law now? Wait, weren't they doing that all along?




[Edited on Aug 01, 2005 by dem_z]

so why not let the drug kill off all the people stupid enough to use it?

Because people aren't nearly as strong as they're made out to be, and sometimes good people do stupid things and need help.

On the one hand, here in MN the Claritin I use has become ridiculously difficult to get. It's behind the counter; to get it I need to give my name, address, driver's license number, and sign for it. We are also limited to 6 mg a month, which works out to be 20 capsules. However, there are usually 30 or 31 days in a month. So I can't get a months' supply without having an accomplice to buy some for me. If it were a prescription drug again I could just go to the doctor, get a prescription, and have it filled at the pharmacy with no problems.

On the other hand, going to the doctor and getting the prescription isn't that easy for many people, so a law like this would prevent people without access to a doctor from obtaining the drug for legitimate purposes.

So, basically, the cookers are making things difficult for everyone.

[Edited on Aug 01, 2005 by Sick]

Time to start my Sudafed smuggling business, I guess. I'll make a fortune as a Drixoral runner!

Seriously, were I an Oregonian, I would be fucking livid.

It kind of struck me as a weird state when I passed though. This just confirms it for me.

Claritin is behind the counter? Seriously?
I'm pretty sure I could walk to the drug store and grab a case if I wanted to...

Why not spend the money that's going to go on enforcing a 'script-for-cold-remedy law on treatment for meth addicts?

Probably because meth production and meth addicts are dangerous to more than just themselves.

There was a meth lab not far from where I used to live. The police raided it and it said on the news that if it had gone up (which is far from unheard of) it could have taken out a two block radius.

This one of the dumber things I've heard lately. . .
I'm sure that the rise in price of meth that is going to come of this isn't going to increase crime rates, instead of lower them, between pharmacies getting ripped off for sudafed, and general robbery for the addicts to get more money for the now more expensive meth. Hooray.

[Edited on Aug 01, 2005 by MrStitches]

Missy, I'm surprised at you. That's like saying, "Let's repeal the drunk driving laws to kill off all of the people who're stupid enough to drink and drive."

I figured Missy was being sarcastic, and does agree that drug abuse is too important to not do something about it.

Which is true. Something must be done, but the approach being used is extremely counter-productive.

Claritin became a non-prescription drug in the U.S. only recently. Other allergy medicine, like Allegra, is still prescription-only. That's why I used to cross the border to Windsor so often.

This is certainly the wrong approach for the government to take, but I wonder what alternative they have. They want to take action, so they can tell the scared voters that they're "doing something" about the problem. What action can they take to actually curb meth production?

The only thing that could would be to reduce demand, but is that something a state government (or any government) can possibly accomplish? I'm thinking "no".

Hey Stormy, you should go to meth dealers for them now and then tell legislators how much the law backfired.

yeah. I've been following this one for a while.

I don't suppose meth cures cold symptoms does it?

Guess I'm the first to agree with this.
I just spent 3 years working at a convenience store in a bad neighborhood. I've seen what meth does to people. How it makes them irritable and even violent. How it destroys their body. Most of the people look like the walking dead. Their brains are so fried that they usually don't know where or even who they are.
This may not solve the problem, but at least it's a step in that direction. Just because we don't have a total solution, should we do nothing?

This is so goddamned aggravating.

They will drive ten minutes to get to Vancouver, WA, and buy their shit there.
So will all the people who legitimately use sinus aids and stuff like that.

All this is gonna do is waste everyone's gas money.

!

It's the oil companies! They're behind this!

Well I live in Salem Oregon supposedly the Meth capitol of the world. I know what the Fucking problem is and it certainly isnt allergy Meds.

Every SINGLE time people try to start something entertaining the city FLATTENS IT.

There is NO fun allowed in Salem. PERIOD! In fact if you live here and your not a Parent and not Elderly you might as well be a Jew in 1940s Germany!

Yes yes I am livid. I dont have allergys but guess what? Not only is Salem the Meth capitol but its also the states ALLERGY capitol. Do you know what they do in the country side around this hole? FARM GRASS SEED!

Also Unemploment is Rampent around here. Hardly anyone can afford to go to the doctor to get their meds.


[Edited on Aug 02, 2005 12:05AM]

Meth has stretched so far across North America, it's frightening. Even though it's a relatively cheap drug (comparing it to coke and whatnot), oilfield workers up here seem to be making it their drug of choice. I've personally seen healthy, fit, and well-off rig-hands go broke and sickly frail after only a few months of being on it. It's even in my family - my aunt and her husband went through an intervention for her son to get him out of the city he was living in and get him off meth.

what are the alternatives to using the pseudoephedrine in cold medicine? Are they difficult or expensive enough to discourage meth production?