I went to buy a 96-pack of Sudafed today but Walgreens had only 48-packs. The pharmacist couldn't sell me two 48-packs instead as the Federal Government limits purchases to only one item per vist, regardless of the quantity of Sudafed in the item.
Even if the general policy of putting these drugs behind the counter and limiting the amount purchased has reduced meth production (which is questionable at best), this implementation is obviously pretty flawed. But apparently things are going to get even worse. The pharmacist told me that in a couple of months, Sudafed will classified as a controlled substance and will be prescription-only. I asked him how well the new version of Sudafed that doesn't containpseudoephedrine works - he said it isn't anywhere near as good.
It's really incredible that policymakers are willing to take such a good OTC drug, that benefits so many people, off the market in pursuit of what will undoubtedly be an illusiory victory in the War on Drugs. I saw a quote from a politician somewhere saying that "anything that makes it harder for meth labs to acquire pseudoephedrine is a step in the right direction." So much for cost/benefit analysis - with this logic one could argue that shutting down the interstate highway system or closing the US-Mexican border to all traffic would be worth it in the name of cutting down on illicit drug trafficking or manufacturing. Come on people.