Prescription-only cold and allergy medicines are a bad idea - it would create hardship for uninsured

it would create a hardship for the insured also. Imagine having to make doctor' appt. for every little sniffle.

09.13.2009 9:01 pm
Prescription-only cold and allergy medicines are a bad idea.
By Editorial Board

No Missouri politician can afford to appear soft on drug use. But what if the drug use includes people seeking relief from colds and allergies?

Last week, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster vowed to support a misguided proposal that would make cold and allergy medicines such as Sudafed available only with a doctor’s prescription.

It’s a bad idea that has been gathering steam among civic and law enforcement leaders in
rural communities hard hit by methamphetamine abuse.

Most cold and allergy medications contain a drug called pseudoephedrine, which dries up runny noses. By all accounts, that’s exactly why most people use them. But a small number of people use them to make meth. That’s why some politicians and law enforcement officials want to make them available only by prescription.

If doing so would eliminate — or even greatly reduce — the toll of meth use, if might be worth considering. But it won’t. It won’t even come close.

Instead, it would create hardships for millions of law-abiding citizens and further strain an overstressed health care system.

You have to get them behind the pharmacy window. I don't think a prescription is required, but either way they take your name if you by something with pseudoephedrine in it. Your name goes on a list. Lovely.

So next time a meth lab is busted in the county, now the cops have a nice list of everyone in the area who bought a pseudoephedrine product, giving them grounds to poke around your business or even get a search warrant to search your home.

Well forget it. I won't be a part of that. I'd rather just ride the cold/allergy out.

So it's not just your local grocery store.

Unfortunately, some of us have severe enough allergies that riding it out isn't an option - my daughter is one of those with ragweed allergies. My state law only requires pure pseudoephedrine to be kept behind the counter - the federal law supercedes that and requires pure pseudoephedrine to be kept there, as well.

The really bad thing, aside from being treated like a criminal, is that it actually makes you a criminal if all the adults and children in the house need it. Only those over 18 can purchase it - and the quantity you can purchase is limited to enough to supply one person. Fortunately, I don't need it so I used my allotment to purchase it until my daughter turned 18. If I'd needed any, we'd have had to juggle pharmacies and hope they never compared records.

I'm not sure the cost would be any different (more) for people without insurance than it is as an OTC medication - but it would likely benefit those with prescription coverage and, personally, I would be happier handing over a prescription than dragging out my ID and signing a form that (if I needed to buy for both me and one or more kids) would put me in violation of an additional law (buying more than is permitted, and lying on the form about how much I have purchased).

If I have a minor infection here, I don't always go to the doctor... Often, I would simply go to the pharmacy and purchase the anti-biotics on my own.

Only the AMA is too strong in the U.S. to allow such common sense to prevail...

or someone who has the ability to determine whether what is being treated is viral or bacterial.

Using antibiotics on a virus (like a cold, flu, some forms of bronchitis and pneumonia, to name a few), or using them improperly (taking lower than recommended dosages, not taking then for the full time prescribed) creates drug resistant bacteria. People are dying because our antibiotics no longer work because (in part) they have been given out like candy. MRSA - which I hope you've heard of - is one type of this bacteria, but it is not the only one.

This is not the AMA being strong - it is a real life-threatening issue.

Obviously they're not going to ban pseudophedrine, and now only small amounts are required to make a significant amount of meth. All this measure will do is decentralize the supply of meth, not reduce it or reduce the demand for meth.

I was forced to get official state ID in New York to be able to buy it. These people are fucking insane.