Grandmother Arrested for Buying Pseudoephedrine / Sudafed in Indiana

October 4th, 2009


As reported this morning on Fox Cable News Network (approx. 0800 EST), grandmother Sally Harpold was arrested in the State of Indiana for buying a larger amount than the monthly ration allowed by law of the over-the-counter allergy product Sudafed / Pseudoephedrine. She exceeded the legal amount of the allergy product by fractions of a gram; which probably means she bought two units of the twenty-count container of the product for her multiple family members. As an allergy sufferer who also often depends on pseudoephedrine for easier breathing, I have to blog that the recent/current national laws concerning pseudoephedrine are absolutely absurd and surely represent another example of the ineffectuality of any government intervention into the lives of Americans.

Of course, the law that rations pseudoephedrine maintains the reported good intentions of preventing easy access to amphetamine products from those that can’t seem to control themselves without feeding their addictions for these substances. Regardless of my libertarian leanings and any stance I may have concerning the exercise of one’s free will, I can hereby blog to you that these laws are ridiculous regarding pseudoephedrine – similar to most laws passed in the modern era with the government intent to protect any individual from one’s own stupidity or vices. As the matter has clearly shown us, the laws restricting pseudoephedrine are totally ineffectual because the number of ‘speed-freaks’ in the nation has not appeared to decrease since the invocation of these laws, these laws have merely forced those individuals improperly seeking this product to become more creative in gathering the product for subsequent processing into the desired compound [or whatever].

Anyway, as a first-hand regular user of the pseudoephedrine products for relief of my sinusitis / allergy symptoms, I can tell you that this law has apparently only negatively affected and restricted the law-abiding retailers and citizens – as do most laws of this genre. As an example, since these laws have been enacted, the pseudoephedrine products have rarely or never been on sale at any reduced price and often difficult to obtain because of demand/low inventory levels. Since these pseudoephedrine laws have been enacted, the average cost of these products has increased twenty-five to fifty percent. And, when legally buying these pseudoephedrine products, one has to show their state-government-issued identification and the merchant has to enter the user’s driver’s license/identification card number in the pharmacy’s computer system (so much for medical-related privacy). In addition to extending the wait for any individuals in the line behind the pseudoephedrine purchaser while all the information is entered in the computer, the purchaser can be denied sale of this product and denied access to the legal, over-the-counter medicine because of a driver’s license being from another state [than the state which the pharmacy is located – which has personally happened to me]. Furthermore, if the purchaser of pseudoephedrine were to be going overseas / away from home for an extended excursion, that person probably would not be allowed to buy enough pseudoephedrine to ensure oneself the ability to easily breathe without sinus congestion throughout any extended trip without becoming a criminal for such a single purchase.

So the point that I am trying to make with this diatribe, again, is that these laws have apparently inconvenienced no one other than those that abide by the laws of our nation. Those individuals that purchase this product for any ‘improper’ usage care not of any national pseudoephedrine laws. These pseudoephedrine laws should be repealed so that law-abiding citizens can buy reasonable amounts of this product without becoming a criminal. Furthermore, any law that seeks to prohibit access to pseudoephedrine products without an unjust total ban of the product, appears as barely worth the paper on which such a law is written; as is evidenced by the continued and reported levels of improper pseudoephedrine-related amphetamine usage within our nation.

Regardless, however, bravo, kudos, and a ‘job well done’ to Fox News for broaching the subject of the absurdity of these pseudoephedrine laws as they currently exist within the United States.
AVT