Let the cold and allergy sufferers have Sudafed!

So you know how states have made it really annoying now to get sudafed? You can't just buy it OTC, but instead have to give your license over to the pharmacy and have your purchase registered. Which means if you're suffering at midnight and don't live near a 24 hour pharmacy, you're screwed?

Yeah, turns out those laws have done bupkis to combat methamphetamine use. For a while, Mexican manufacturers filled in the void, but eventually American makers just figured out new ways to make meth with less psuedoephedrine and more crazy chemicals. People are still making and doing meth. But these laws have sure inconvenienced cold and allergy sufferers. Like me. Since 1992, I've been under doctor's orders to take sudafed daily. No one wants to share a bedroom with me if I don't have my sudafed. On my really good, clear-breathing days, people still always think I've got a cold. Well, I don't. I just have really crappy sinuses that require daily doses of antihistamines, nasal spray, and sudafed. I've tried that other decongestant, the one you can still get OTC, but know what it does for my sinus issues? Bupkis.

So can we maybe rethink these laws now? Put pseudoephedrine products back on the shelf of things a sad sack like me can run out to the store for at any time of the day? Allow us to buy it in bulk again? (The biggest package is 96 pills. I take 2 at a time. I often take more than one dose per day. I go through that stuff fast.)

I'm probably dreaming that we'll loosen up on the pseudoephedrine laws. And it's not really that big a deal, I know. (Though I am always wondering in the back of my mind if anyone's ever going to think I buy too much of the stuff.) It's just annoying. I don't like having my purchases recorded and monitored like that when all I want is to breathe through my nose.