Senate Moves to Include Cold Medicine in the War On Drugs

According to the article in the title link, it's going to get a little harder to buy cold medicine. Here are some excerpts:

The bill would require stores to sell Sudafed, Nyquil and other medicines only from behind the pharmacy counter.

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Consumers would have to show a photo ID, sign a log, and be limited to 7.5 grams — or about 250 30-milligram pills — in a 30-day period. Computer tracking would prevent customers from exceeding the limit at other stores, according to the bipartisan bill.

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The Senate voted by unanimous consent to add the anti-meth measure to the massive Commerce, Justice and Science appropriations bill, which is expected to pass the Senate next week.

This is yet another example of the government passing new laws to combat criminal acts that are already forbidden by law. Say goodbye to stocking up on cold and allergy medicines to take advantage of sale prices. Remember those quick trips to the drug store in the middle of the night to grab some Nyquil so you can finally fall asleep? Now you'll have to find a clerk to go to the pharmacy counter, find your medicine and give you paperwork to fill out. If your store's pharmacy counter closes before the rest of the store, you might even have to wait until the next day. I suspect conveniences stores and other low volume sellers might quit selling these medicines rather than worry about complying with selling procedures.

Who will enforce this? Will there be people tasked with going into stores and issuing citations if the cold medicine isn't secured? Will there be sting operations in which cops try to buy medicine without ID or without signing for it so they can bust the store if they don't follow the procedure? Will there be a system to verify that the buyer has valid ID and isn't a meth cooker using fake ID? It is infuriating that our tax dollars are going to be used to make it more difficult to buy common cold and allergy medicine than it is to buy alcohol, tobacco and pornography.

This is so typical. Someone commits a crime with a gun, so they pass laws to make it harder for everyone to buy guns. Vandals illegally spray paint on a wall, and people pass laws requiring that stores keep spray cans under lock and key. Drug pushers commit the crime of stealing cold medicine, another crime of making illegal drugs and a third crime of selling illegal drugs, and rather than concentrate on busting them, they make it harder for sick people to buy medicine. According to this logic, toilet paper and shaving cream should become controlled substances in order to prevent childhood pranks.