Stupid drug decisions: allergy medication and the Feds

It's official - if it's got pseudoephedrine in it, it now requires a photo ID, a 31 dose per adult per month limit, and it has to be kept behind the counter.

Let's just leave aside the privacy issues. Let's just drop the fact that handing my SSN, address, and DL number to the pharmacy tech making $7 an hour at Target is just making identity theft far more likely and easy. That registry is a boon to anyone who wants to steal info or rob houses. But that's not the issue I have.

Let's not mention the fact that I can buy two weeks' of drugs at Costco on Monday, another two weeks' at Target on Tuesday, Walgreens on Wednesday, etc. It's not like this data is really getting checked hard, after all. But that's not the issue I have either.

And I'm not going to mention what a give-away this is for big pharma. People like me who have seasonal allergies might be willing to put up with this kind of invasion of privacy and hassle for a couple months out of the year, but people like my husband, who need allergy meds as maintenance medication? His next doctor's visit, he'll be looking for a scrip, hopefully one that's on our tier one medication list, but definitely one that he only needs to take once a day and that doesn't require jumping a billion hoops to get. The meds that have worked best for him are now nearly impossible to get, so he'll move on. Hopefully, his next set will work for him as well as claritin-d has. (He was on scrip claritin D until it went OTC, when it became cheaper and easier to get it OTC.)

I'm not even mad about how families are supposed to cope with this law... though I feel really bad for the parents with allergies with teenagers with allergies. If a single adult person can only buy 31 doses a month, how is a parent supposed to get meds for her kids? I can't even buy enough in one trip to keep both my husband and I stocked for a month. This means I have to make two or four trips to the pharmacy, meaning that the pharmacy gets the benefit of any impulse purchases I make (and things like sunscreen and carmex are oft needed items in this house.) Teenagers can't buy their own. Parents can't go to Costco anymore and buy six boxes of 20 tablets for the household. Instead, they have to buy eight boxes of 15 tablets (and at a much higher price now - up 40% from the old price) on EIGHT SEPARATE TRIPS. Claritin D is approved for adolescent use, but someone in the house is going to have to give up their meds.

And the fact that making something hard to get just means that smugglers, thieves and producers have all the more incentive to use criminal means to get their product cheaper (including smuggling it across borders, stealing it out of shipping containers and off trucks and shoplifting) and easier than this rigamorale doesn't bother me in the least.

What's pissing me off about this is intellectual: Sulphates don't hydrolyze, which is the chemical process that is used to turn pseudoephedrine HYDROCHLORIDE into methamphetamine. The chemical called pseudoephedrine sulphate, which is in Claritin-D and the clones, has been on the market for nearly as long as the HCL version, but is nearly impossible to transform into meth. Anyone who remembers reducing equations from high school chem can see that. The molecules aren't similar enough to be interchangeable. Idiots who spend 3x the money on pseudo Sulphate will basically spend a lot of time and chemicals making an unusable mess (that is incidentally less hazardous than meth residue, because it's the hydrolyzation that leaves most of the toxic waste.)

But the feds can't be bothered to consult a high school chem teacher, or even a bright AP chem student. Instead, they react out of fear and a tough on crime stance. And they make every pollen asthmatic and hay fever sufferer in the country feel like a complete drug dealer every time they need meds while giving huge incentives to retail and pharma companies and to criminals and producers.

I'm not saying meth isn't a problem -- it is, and I've seen it ruin too many lives. I've lived in apartment complexes with labs, had them across the street, and seen loved ones descend into meth like Don Juan into hell. But I don't see a point in equating a chemical that is useless for production with one that is essential for production. It doesn't help anyone and doesn't stop a damn bit of crime.

I mean, it's not like the flag-burning amendment that's going to be scrutinized by the Senate (again) soon, and it's not like Frist's 100 dollar rebate plan.

But, hey, these guys have HARD WERK to do, and we certainly can't have meth makers obtaining their materials with ease, now can we?

It's not like our country's gone broke, people are being murdered in Iraq, gas is beyond the reach of many who can no longer afford to drive to work, or that 42,000,000 Americans are uninsured.

What the hell is wrong with you? Don't you understand PRIORITIES?

And, while I'm at it, why do you hate America?
:toast:

Okay, that's the other thing that pisses me off. Why the !@#$%^& did they have to waste their @#$%^&**&^%$#@#$%^& time making this a law when they have other things to do?????

Criminy, I missed that. I'm a seasonal pseudoephedrine user and 31 doses isn't enough for those times I've got my allergies on. Fucking moronic...

We were stocked up, so I didn't have to buy meds until now, and Costco's been out (apparently re-tooling for this.)

Good luck.

Like I say, it's seasonal with me. The few pills I've used these past couple of days are leftovers from last year, so I haven't been in a store to notice. This is really gonna suck if my allergies kick up into a raging case, which happens more often than not.

aren't open on Sundays and close at 6 on other days.
It requires planning to get your allergy meds.
Lately we have just been doing without.:(

insurance, we have to go over-the-counter. Not only do we have to get several different types (to figure out what doesn't fall asleep in class) I have to put my name on a list like I'm a god-damn criminal!

I'll do it, for my boy... but the meth-heads in my neighbor hood are still getting high, on the good stuff from Mexico.

Yeah... this was a good idea. :eyes:

I use Bromelain 500mg twice per day and it stop my allergy real fast!!! It's all natural too! I have real bad allergies and allergy to anything and everything, however, I don't suffer no more! Bromelain is extract from Pineapple and I have no idea how it work. Google it and you'll find lots of info.

Fuck the Pharma! I will never try giving them my money!

We're 30 and 35, have had everything from no insurance to covers anything insurance, and spent several years trying to use natural remedies. We finally had to give up and go with chemical formulations because that's what we require to be functional. I hate doing it, but I can't live at low altitudes, and my husband can't live in wet climates, so this is the place we have to live.

I have something of a chem background, and I know how bromelain is supposed to work (it bridges "the gap" between cell walls, allowing water to pass between cells or from a cell to the intercellular space or the reverse until homeostasis is achieved. This is why pineapple juice makes such a good marinade - it allows liquid to get from a place of high concentration to a place of low concentration through equalization.) This is great if congestion is the major problem, but not so great if there are other issues, like hives or eye irritation. And hives and eye irritation are major issues round here. (Damn the cottonwoods.)