Posted on 06/02/2006 1:15:20 PM PDT by John Jorsett
Get ready to give up a little bit of your privacy in exchange for certain allergy or cold medicines.
Starting in late September, just in time for cold season, consumers will be required to fork over photo IDs and list their home addresses in logbooks before buying Sudafed, Contac or other remedies containing the nasal-decongestant pseudoephedrine or similar substances.
Some retailers already are asking for the information, which law-enforcement officials hope will help them fight the illegal production of methamphetamine, a highly addictive drug that can be made, in part, by "cooking" pseudoephedrine.
Consumers in Florida and many other states have grown used to sales restrictions on pseudoephedrine-containing drugs -- including their placement behind pharmacy counters instead of on store shelves.
But the latest rules, which also call for limits on purchases of up to 120 pills a day, are part of a federal effort to combat meth addiction.
Methamphetamine abuse is an increasing problem in the United States, with a recent report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration saying the number of users admitted to substance-abuse clinics more than quadrupled from 1993 to 2003. The problem is particularly acute in rural America, though the Orlando area also has seen a rise in meth labs.
For instance, last year the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration seized 115 meth labs in Central Florida. In 2000, it seized two.
Tracking sales is critical to stopping the spread of meth labs in Central Florida, said Stephen Collins, who heads the Orlando office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Collins said it was "very common" for meth makers to comb the region's stores for cold medicine needed to make the illicit drug.
"We had individuals that would canvass up and down Central Florida and the East Coast and hit numerous stores, buying as much as they could get their hands on," he said. "By limiting this, we hope to see the decrease in the number of labs."
The new regulations, passed in March as part of the USA Patriot Act, are being phased in over the next several months. They are stricter than Florida law and will override it, the Florida Retail Federation said.
Dawn Townsend, a pharmacist at Maitland Rexall Drug Store, said she just recently learned about the logbook rule and is in the process of teaching her staff what to do.
"I don't see it as a hassle," she added.
Industry groups say they expect sales of medicines that contain pseudoephedrine to decline as a result of the law. Already, drug makers are selling reformulated cold medicines that don't need to be placed behind the counter, such as Sudafed PE.
"Most big retailers saw this coming," Walgreen Co. (NYSE:WAG) spokeswoman Carol Hively said.
The rise of meth labs prompted several states, including Florida last summer, to pass laws restricting sales of pseudoephedrine-containing medicine. But while consumers may not mind limits on how much cold medicine they can purchase at one time, they may bristle at giving up personal information to buy it.
"The question here is, is it the job of pharmacies and pharmacists to be a policeman on these products [and] what are the privacy protections for people who legitimately buy these products and have their name recorded somewhere?" said Arthur Levin, director of the New York-based Center for Medical Consumers, a nonprofit advocacy group.
Drugstores say measures are in place to prohibit the disclosure of consumers' private information, which retailers must keep for up to two years after a sale. The federal law, for instance, prohibits retailers from disclosing private information except when a legal request is made by local, state or federal authorities.
"We don't have any intention to use it in any way except to make it available to the authorities," Walgreen's Hively said.
And helping those authorities fight illegal meth production is why Lydia McNeil, 60, of Orlando is willing to give up personal information to buy the Sudafed she uses to treat her colds.
"I wouldn't mind signing anything to keep it out of the hands of the people who are using it for the wrong reason," she said, after shopping at a Walgreens on Michigan Avenue in Orlando.
Though the federal law does not provide for a clearinghouse, so purchases could be tracked from store to store, some retailers are working on that approach themselves within their chains. Walgreens and CVS (NYSE:CVS) -- two of the nation's biggest drugstore chains -- said they are developing systems to monitor sales. Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) says it already uses an electronic logbook that can track purchases at individual outlets but not from store to store.
Marianne Myers, 45, who was shopping at an Albertsons (NYSE:ABS) on South Orange Avenue in Orlando, said she understood the motive behind the new measures but lamented the implications.
"It's probably a hassle for us," the Orlando resident said. "It's sad that things have to be like that."
If you are allergic to antihistimines what do you take when you have an allergic reaction?
Wrong. I can't legally buy enough medicine to treat myself, my 17 year old daughter and my 15 year old son. Anyone who knowingly buys more than 9 grams of the controlled substance per month is guilty of a crime. 9 grams will not treat three people for one month and they will not sell it to a 17 year old or a 15 year old. What am I supposed to do??????
For some reason that made me laugh. Its like the "bubble- boy" that was alergic to plastic.
With all due respect, it most certainly IS a BFD! When we get to a point in this country where we are not free to conduct our own lives as we choose as long as it harms no other, it is definitely a BFD. The sad thing is that those who think it's no BFD, will be the first to complain when there's nothing we can do about it because the criminalization of ordinary citizens has gone too far to turn it around.
Just like most people here, I put in my time working for the government under the premise that I was working to preserve our freedom. I, for one, have no desire to live in Cuba! I don't want to have to "show my papers" every time I go to do something or travel somewhere. If someone suspects me of illegal activity, go through the normal investigative process, determine probable cause and arrest me. Otherwise, leave me and mine alone! If I'm supposedly smart enough to do the work I did, I'm danged well smart enough to determine my own limits when it comes to cold medication!
ROTFL
Steroids.
All the yahoos who will have access to the data base make this a bad idea. All privacy is given up for what really is a small problem.
Yeah! What in the hell does this have to do with the "War on Terror"?!?! This whole thing stinks to high heaven. Now it's probably easier to go out and buy the dammed crystal meth than it is to get treatment for the common cold from your local drug store.
That's not as bad as buying yeast infection medication (or condoms!) from behind a locked cabinet. (Although the razor blades p*ss me off, too!) I like having to go track down some 17 year old boy to unlock the case for me at a store I shop at all the time. I try to go to the stores that don't lock that stuff up!
Sounds like more political window dressing to cover for massive failures elsewhere. Makes it look like they are doing something and are earnestly serious about it.
we should call it what it is.
The IRS does not refund money, they are forced to return OVERPAYMENTS.
The REQUIRE we OVERPAY then we have to grovel and nipick to justify a return of the OVERPAYMENT.
Oh yeah, I forgot to add to my post at #36:
They demanded my social security number too, as that isn't on my driver's license.
now have to buy my Gillette Fusion blades behind the supermarket counter. I can't fathom why. I'm an adult.
Do you by any chance look really, really depressed?
I agree dcostu. I don't know much about how meth is made but are the other ingredients used in its manufacture subject to the same restrictions as the cold meds are?
There are a lot of different ways to make speed, including using some common household spices as the start. The drug makers got fond of the cold medicine because it's the easiest way, it's a lot easier to make psuedo-ephedrine (fake speed) into real speed than it is to cook it up all the way from scratch, and people deciding to make their money on the wrong side of the law do tend to take the lazy way out. To the best of my knowledge the key ingredients for doing it the hard way aren't regulated. It's all for show really, it's easy to get around these laws and still make speed the lazy way, or get the other ingredients and do it the hard way.
Ah yeah, I do. I am immediately a person of interest, having to give my address out, which can be used by who knows, for who knows what and kept on record for who knows how long. In fact, there were quite a few names and addresses on the sheet. It 's nice to know that some jerkoff could follow me around, see me sign up for medicine for the kiddos, during the cold and flu season, buy some for himself and get my address off of the page. Well, I for one, feel much safer thanks politicians...
By the way, how many times in your life has your social security number been used for identification other than how it was specifically created to be used?!?! We cannot even get garbage pick up here without it.
Well, ya better hope you never use batteries, as I know they are on the list of things you need to make meth. I replace all of ours when the time changes. My kids always manage to be sick, and since they are small, we use lots of batteries in their toys. Between the light show machines (8 D batteries a month, the kasey the kinderbot robot (3 or 4, I forget, D batteries) and their Leaptser toys, the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors and flashlights, on top of the cold medicine...it's a wonder a police officer wasn't waiting for me when I pulled in the driveway.
There was an article about outdoor meth labs and how to recognize them (and definitely stay away, I think they have a tendency to blow) in one of my hubby's hunting magazines. (Outdoor Life?)
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