So the infamous prescription Sudafed bill passed both the House and the Senate. My Senator voted for it. I’m sure it was one of those “who pray who will think of the children” knee jerk reflex yes votes, and it was really kind of irritating to me that it passed at all. Anyway.
I’m most aggravated by the-oh who am I kidding? I got an email from my Senator and it pissed me off. I’m not stupid, Senator Gordly. Why would you (I know it wasn’t you, it was your lackey) send me an email full of such condescending twaddle? Here are the parts that really torked me:
A number of constituents have contacted Senator Gordlyís office expressing concern about prescription access to pseudoephedrine. Fortunately, there are many other effective remedies for allergy and cold sufferers that do not pose the threat of creating a toxic meth site in your neighborhood. Please find attached to this message a list of those alternative medications.
OK, so my Chronic Sinusitis is going to cause a meth lab up the street? Since I don’t like blowing my nose every morning until it bleeds, I am responsible for an epidemic? Odd…all this time I thought I was just into breathing and not feeling like a giant hand was squeezing my face. And don’t you think I tried everything else already? If you’ve ever stood in the cough/cold medication aisle you know the pseudoephedrine boxes aren’t the cheap way to go. None of that other crap put a dent in my symptoms. But thank you Senator for the next bit:
It is also important to point out that psuedoephedrine does not cure anything. It is among a large class of medications that provide temporary relief from minor colds and allergies, but cures nothing. It is the only compound in that large class of medications that can be manufactured into methamphetamine. Without psuedoephedrine, there would be no meth lab problem in Oregon.
Yeah. Thank you for talking down to me, I really thought taking Tylenol Allergy would cure my allergies. Of course. Because a chronic condition can be cured forever with some of that stuff in the green box. I’m SO glad you cleared that up for me.
I have one thing to say about the last sentence of her paragraph: Vancouver. (Or Vantucky or Vancompton or Vanabama if you prefer.) Even if they keep it behind the counter, unless they pass a similar law in Washington then this is all for naught. Not to mention the folks in Southern Oregon who are but a tank of gas from California.
Why do I care? Because I’m newly unemployed which means my insurance runs out Sunday. Let’s pretend I get a killer sinus attack end of next week. Once I get an appointment (won’t that be a trick come say, the peak of cold and flu season?), I need to get to the appointment, get the doctor to believe I do in fact have a sinus infection, get the doctor to issue the prescription, go to the pharmacy of my choice and wait, eventually pick up my prescription, and then, as an added bonus, pay for the whole thing. Not having a job, my budget is a bit tight. It’s been a week, so I’m not to Tylenol-Sinus-means-ramen-for-two-weeks tight, but an uninsured doctor’s visit is probably going to strain me. In a couple of months I could be past the former and the latter would be unthinkable. (I know this to be true, I once had a sinus infection for six months because I had no insurance and couldn’t afford a doctor to write me a prescription to beat the infection.)
I was IMing a friend of mine about it who said “People are gonna be buying meth to render it down to sudafed.” Then we discussed the drug policies in this country and said a lot of stuff that Russ already said. There comes a point where common sense apparently flies right out the window. I hate to bring politics into it, but really, they started it. Lewis Black said it best: The Democratic party is a party of no ideas, while the Republican party is a party of bad ideas. Congress works by a Republican standing up and saying ìI have a really bad idea!î And then a Democrat stands up and says: ìAnd I can make it even shittier!î
