But I still have to wait in line at the pharmacy when my sinuses get clogged up, just to answer a dozen questions, show ID, sign a legal document, and promise my first-born son, just to buy sinus meds that include Pseudoephedrine... The current group of substitutes do little or nothing for most sinus problems I run into. Thus, if I don't keep plenty of meds that DO work on hand (careful - buying too much will get you on a list of suspected meth makers), or I might very well end up with an actual sinus infection... and more medical costs...
I have to admit that I like those laws. I was a public defender when it passed in my state. We were getting meth lab case after meth lab case. We'd get a few every month. They were a major pain in the butt, so much evidence to catalog, usually several meth addicts involved. We'd get meth lab cases, overpossession of pseudoephedrine cases, possession of paraphernalia with intent to manufacture cases, etc. When the law went into effect in no time it all just stopped. And, we stopped getting a lot of the cases we used to get where people did crazy things after having been up tweaking for several days at a time without sleep and they'd get all paranoid and start hallucinating. They couldn't afford to do it so much when they weren't making it. And the sad cases in juvenile court stopped where kids where living in homes where parents were operating meth labs.
Those laws actually did stop an awful lot of problems. It didn't stop the meth, but those little tweaker labs were never supplying that much of the meth on the market. They'd produce a few grams at a time and there were always a whole bunch of people involved collecting pseudoephedrine, scraping red phosphorous off of matchbook strike pads and on and on and on who were were doing most all of the dope they were producing. Most of the stuff on the market was coming from “superlabs” in Mexico or out west somewhere that would produce 10 pounds or more per batch compared to the less than 10 gram batches being produced in most kitchen meth labs. Personally, I don't mind signing for the pseudoephidrine.
I never have any problems or long waits to get pseudoephedrine.