I took a trip to Oregon recently, developed a cold and went to the store for some cold medicine only to discover that it can only be obtained with a prescription. I can imagine some of the arguments for this and so can you. They (Oregonians) think that the chemicals in many common cold remedies are used to make Meth. I think this is very noble but it doesn’t stop or even slow down meth producers. I don’t think state regulators give these laws a lot of thought. What about the working poor that have no access to medical care? How are they supposed to get a prescription? Everyone else is forced to spend more than they need to to in order to see a doctor just to stop their sniffles. This makes it more difficult to see a doctor even if you have medical care and makes insurance more expensive for the rest of us.
Show me that these laws do ANYTHING in the fight against meth besides giving politicians something to crow about at election time and I will reconsider. Until then I think Oregon is making life very hard for the poor and responsible, law abiding citizens looking for relief when they’re sick.
