Don't take my Actifed away!

The war on methamphetamine abuse may just affect your allergies. Lewis Fein has an excellent piece on this looming problem here.

Meth has become quite popular, apparently, and can be cooked up using many ingredients found in most households. Apparently a component necessary to the production of meth can be found in many allergy, cold and cough remedies. Like my precious Actifed.

For those of you blessed enough not to suffer from allergies, you might not be aware that all allergy medicine is not interchangeable. So, while, let's say, Sudafed works for you, I may as well be eating M&M's. Just flat doesn't work for me.

So if a grand majority of allergy medicines with this evil meth component in it is placed under lock and key behind the pharmacy walls, the medicines left on the over the counter shelves might not do the trick. And as Fein correctly points out, the room behind the counter just might limit options that are available to a consumer.

Regulating the heck out of those of us who follow the rules is getting a bit tiresome. The idea that I would be bound to pharmacist's hours and not allowed to run into a drug store at 2 AM when an allergy attack strikes is annoying.

And have you been to a pharmacy lately? Lines are not getting shorter. By adding to a pharmacist's "to do" list, pharmacies are going to start looking like the toilet paper lines in Moscow in the 60s and 70s.

Don't get me wrong here. Those who create, use, and traffic meth should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. But howsabout starting with the users -- making sure that penalties for using are swift and sure, thereby increasing the risk for the user.

And leave me and my Actifed alone.