Anyone else having trouble buying cold medicine in

[Sanny]

So first off......my sister in law and mother in law are visiting from New Jersey. My sister in law has been sick all week with a horrible cold and twice went out to buy cold medication (Tylenal Cold and Flu - I think) and found out it is now kept behind the pharmacy counter and you have to show ID and they take your personal info and you can only buy one box.

She was surprised, because she had never heard of this. She was told MN had passed a law due to abuse of cold meds and they can be used to make illegal drugs. OK....that is fine.....

Today we are out shopping and now I have an entire family that is sick. We go to Walmart and I load up on a variety of things for the family.

Sudafed Extra Strength Cold (for me - yes - I now have the cold)

Kids all have colds in varying degrees so I pick up a variety things like Vicks Vapo Rub, several brands of cough drops, some things for the kids for sore throats that they can suck on and some new thing that melts on their tongue to ease congestion.

I also buy three versions of childrens liquid cold medicine - a night time formula, a day time formula and another day time in a different flavor from the other.

I start checking out and suddenly am flagged by the register of all things (the clerk wasn't even paying attention as she scanned items) it started beeping and basically locked itself down. Had to get a manager who came over and looked through all that I had and said I had to choose two cold med items, that I couldn't buy them all. My sister in law is says but she has five sick kids at home! Does she look like an addict or a dealer??

Because of the state laws the manager wouldn't/couldn't budge even though they probably knew it was sort of silly. Right in front of them we split everything up and I had them check out separately and buy what I couldn't buy because of my legal limit.

I had heard basic sudafed is an ingredient used in I think to produce meth on the street but I think you need really large quantities of it.

It was just really weird and I am wondering if it is just our state or if others have gone this route for drugs that are over the counter that need to be tracked or limited.

 

[Aggravation Acres]

It has been on the news here since last winter. "north western PA." We have a big problem with meth labs all over the place and that is the main ingreedent that they need to produce it.

Sorry you had so much trouble getting your cold meds.

But I would rather have problems picking it up in the stores than finding the coolers with the toxic leftovers left out in the woods for kids and hunters to find. They don't care where they dump it as long as they can not be traced back.

Deb

 

[minimomNC]

Funny you should be posting this, I went to Sam's Club the other day and because Samantha can't seem to get to a show and back home without getting sick, I bought Nyquil for her, or their version. When I got to the register and she scanned it, it also beeped. She had to stop and ask me if I was over 18, well my first thought was, she was the most wonderful person on the planet, but we started talking about it, my daughter and myself. Seems she had the same thing happen a few weeks ago just forgot to mention it to me. But while we were in Tulsa, Samantha got sick, told you she does, but I bought Nyquil there and had no problems at all. Well guess every thing is going to be regulated now. I better go stock up since we have two more shows this year before it takes an act of congress to get medicine.

 

[Steph_D]

It's been like that here in SW Missouri for a while, especially with Sudafed and Actifed. I don't know about at Wal mart, but at Dollar General Sudafed has been behind the counter and regulated for several years.

And to think, when I was a kid, I was buying cigarettes for my mom. Now kids can't even buy cold medicine. This world is getting so crazy

 

[Shari]

Think that is bad. In Oregon, that is if they haven't passed it all ready. They are going to make it so you need a Doc's prescription to even get cold Meds.

That is going to make it hard for the honest people with colds and allergies to get meds. Bloomin spendy to go to the Doc's first.

Meth is that bad in this state.

But Honestly think it is bad everywhere. Find it really sad, so many people think it is ok to make this Toxic stuff. Sigh ~ ~ Makes me wonder what is wrong with the USA??

 

[Minimor]

It hasn't come to that here yet, but it's being talked about & there's going to come a time when anything containing pseudoephedrine (Sudafed & such) is going to be behind the counter.

It is because of crystal meth. Unfortunately, I believe this is like anything else. We have gun control here; if you're a law abiding citizen that wants a gun just in case you've got to shoot a problem coyote that's killing your sheep, you have to jump through hoops to get one. The criminals....still seem to have guns. When it comes to pseudoephedrine, it's going to be a major hassle to buy meds for a sick family, but the meth cooks will most likely still be able to get whatever ingredients they need, no matter how many regulations there are.

 

[chandab]

Yep, jumping through hoops and bending over backwards to get cold/allergy meds here, too. It's such a pain, thank god, I live in a small community; I still have to sign the paperwork, but I don't have to show ID and such. I believe liquid cold meds are still available on the shelf, but the pills/tablets are behind the counter. Some places around here have quit carrying the cold meds with pseudophedrine HCL altogether, so they don't have to deal with the paperwork.

 

[minimule]

It's like that here in NM too. All cold remedies have to be picked up at the pharmacy. We have a LOT of meth labs in our city too. Hubby, being a firefighter/paramedic, has found 5 in the last 6 months. It's awful.

Here they have even gone so far as to steal the "DeathEZ" from animal control and have broken into several vets offices trying to get the drugs they need to make it.

 

[RainSong]

I believe it was Target that announced awhile ago that they were having a US-wide policy put in their stores for storing cold meds like Sudafed behind the counter.

The county I live in is the #1 Meth producing county in Ohio. It's alarming, too- I've seen the cold meds sections in Wal-Mart and Giant Eagle pretty much decimated more then once, during non-cold season. I don't think Ohio has passed a law about it yet, but alot of places are voluntarily switching over to a behind the counter method.

Oregon had one before I left in '03, I remember...

 

[Miniv]

It is because of  crystal meth.  Unfortunately, I believe this is like anything else.  We have gun control here; if you're a law abiding citizen that wants a gun just in case you've got to shoot a problem coyote that's killing your sheep, you have to jump through hoops to get one.  The criminals....still seem to have guns.  When it comes to pseudoephedrine, it's going to be a major hassle to buy meds for a sick family, but the meth cooks will most likely still be able to get whatever ingredients they need, no matter how many regulations there are.

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I agree!

MA

 

[susanne]

Hey, the meth problem is so bad -- even in supposedly nice neighborhoods, you can assume someone is cooking. The fanciest suite in Portland's poshest hotel was used as a meth lab. It is everywhere...a cancer.

I have no problem putting up with a bit of hassle, even if it only slows them down a bit. I doubt the meth heads have their ____ together enough to get it through others means -- their houses aren't the only things that have been poisoned...their brains are fried.

These are the home-style cooks, who are the ones turning houses and the surrounding neighborhoods into toxic waste dumps, who think nothing of poisoning their own children by exposing them to the chemicals. Limiting access to pseudo ephedrine won't stop the big time distributors (who are in Mexico), but it will make our neighborhoods and many children much safer.

(And don't think it isn't going on right next door to you...if it isn't there now, it will be soon)

 

[Shari]

At the Old Farm the Grandparent aged couple,, anti social nasty people, were making Meth on the place right next to us.

Stunk up the farm something bad.

Am lucky here, I have no near neighbors and I like it that way.

Hey Susanne, DH found a program called Google Earth.. and found out there are miles and miles of trails in the tree farms behind us. DH, is going to put a gate out the back part of the property, most likely next spring.

We could go riding without having to go on any roads cars are on!

 

[Narrow Way Farm]

Okay, sure glad it happened to someone else.. I went to the local walmart and did the same thing. I have 4 kids and all had a messed up version of a flu bug going around. None had same symptoms... of course I couldn't buy what I needed because it was going crazy due to me buying so much.. Guess I will have to make seperate purchases when we don't need it for just incase huh? Sad when the bad makes it hard for us good parents to buy meds for our kids. We heard meth is gettin bad here in east tennessee as well.. worried we might have it just down the road and we live in a farming community...

scary

 

[susanne]

Shari, what a cool discovery, and right out your back door...or gate, that is...I'd love tag along as you explore the back trails!

 

[CyndiM]

We have the same kind of laws here in Iowa because of meth.

I wish there was a way to stop ALL of the drug use and dealing. So many have messed up their lives with that cr-p!

Just last week I heard on the news that because they have made it more difficult for the meth "cookers" Hawaii is seeing a huge influx of ice meth. I don't know how that is different but I guess it is.