Oregon Anti-Meth Bill Aimed at Cold Meds

The Washington Post
By Brad Cain

SALEM, Ore. -- The Senate on Saturday approved a plan to make Oregon the first state in the nation to require a prescription for many cold and allergy medicines, an attempt by lawmakers to shut down methamphetamine labs.
The Senate voted 26-4 to approve the measure, which now returns to the House. Soon the bill is expected to reach the desk of Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who supports it.surprise
The bill was endorsed despite complaints that it would unfairly burden law-abiding citizens who cannot afford doctor visits.
"It's a no-brainer," said Republican Sen. Jeff Kruse. "If we can save one meth baby, it will be worth it."
Oregon is among more than a dozen states that restrict the sale of pseudoephedrine tablets to pharmacies and require that the medications be kept behind the counter.
Customers must also show identification.

it's two o'clock in the morning, I caught the flu. I would normally go to my local Albertson's or Safeway or some other 24-hour store and buy some cold medicine so that I could go to work the next day and keep functioning.

From my experience already from this new law, I was unable to obtain a normally over-the-counter drug that is available over-the-counter in every state in the union except Oregon.
in my opinion, this new law is very ridiculous not only in the fact that a small percentage of meth cooks use the ingredients from cold medicine (most get it from other sources in larger quantities) but it penalizes the law-abiding citizen in the process.

History has shown that by limiting a substance from the public is not the answer. Prohibition is an excellent example of this and the only thing it accomplished was making some people rich.

"If we can save one meth baby, it will be worth it." Although I agree with that statement, there is no proof that this law will accomplish that.

Take a minute to look at the larger issue and think about all the people that are going to work with a cold or flu and spread it to their coworkers simply because they could not get easy access to medication.

Think about the increased price for what is now a seven dollar cold remedy will cost after it becomes a prescription.

Also ask yourself, what is next? Are we going to outlaw Advil or Tylenol because it might have an ingredient that might be used in some sort of the illegal drug also?