Wabash Valley woman didn’t realize second cold medicine purchase violated drug laws (Indiana)

The (Terra Haute) Tribune-Star ^ | September 03, 2009 | Lisa Trigg

[bamahead]

CLINTON — When Sally Harpold bought cold medicine for her family back in March, she never dreamed that four months later she would end up in handcuffs.

Now, Harpold is trying to clear her name of criminal charges, and she is speaking out in hopes that a law will change so others won’t endure the same embarrassment she still is facing.

“This is a very traumatic experience,” Harpold said.

Harpold is a grandmother of triplets who bought one box of Zyrtec-D cold medicine for her husband at a Rockville pharmacy. Less than seven days later, she bought a box of Mucinex-D cold medicine for her adult daughter at a Clinton pharmacy, thereby purchasing 3.6 grams total of pseudoephedrine in a week’s time.

Those two purchases put her in violation of Indiana law 35-48-4-14.7, which restricts the sale of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, or PSE, products to no more than 3.0 grams within any seven-day period.

When the police came knocking at the door of Harpold’s Parke County residence on July 30, she was arrested on a Vermillion County warrant for a class-C misdemeanor, which carries a sentence of up to 60 days in jail and up to a $500 fine. But through a deferral program offered by Vermillion County Prosecutor Nina Alexander, the charge could be wiped from Harpold’s record by mid-September.

Harpold’s story is one that concerns some law-abiding citizens who fear that innocent people will get mistakenly caught in the net of meth abuse roundups.

While the law was written with the intent of stopping people from purchasing large quantities of drugs to make methamphetamine, the law does not say the purchase must be made with the intent to make meth.

“The law does not make this distinction...I’m simply enforcing the law as it was written,” Alexander said.

[Conservative Vermont Vet]

“The law does not make this distinction...I’m simply enforcing the law as it was written,” Alexander said.

Nina Alexander is full (of more) sh*t than a Christmas Goose!

EVERY single day throughout the country, both States' Attorneys, Prosecutors and US Attorneys, ROUTINELY make unilateral and "PERSONAL" decisions as to who to charge for what offense(s) and conversely (unless indicted by a Grand Jury, instructed by the Justice Department or States' Attorneys Generals) NOT to charge.

Yes there are laws and there is common sense. Apparently Alexander is sadly lacking in the latter category!

[rednesss]

"alternative of course is having tweakers everywhere."

Yeah, because the Mexican cartels don't move tons of the stuff up the I-5 corridor every day. The obvious reaction is to inconvenience millions of law abiding citizens and arrest and prosecute the occasional grandmother. Sounds perfect.

[Trailerpark Badass]

If the cashier entered any of her personal info incorrectly in the terminal, and then she signed off on it as being accurate, she could have been looking at Fed time.

I asked the cashier at the CVS, jokingly, if I could see the screen to check the accuracy of her data entry, since I was facing 10 years and $100,000 fine if it was incorrect. She said, "No."

[VRWCmember]

Man oh Man! I just purchased several cold medicines here in Florida at different stores.

Those two purchases put her in violation of Indiana law 35-48-4-14.7, which restricts the sale of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, or PSE, products to no more than 3.0 grams within any seven-day period.

Unless the state of Indiana has been given unprecedented power to enforce its laws regarding over-the-counter medication extraterritorially, I don't think you have anything to worry about.

[atomic_dog]

I suppose Alexander never considered Letter of the Law vs Spirit of the Law.

I have to come down on the side of the Letter of the Law. Thanks to inept wording in the law banning them, we have been able to import around 350,000 so called "assault rifles" into California over the last several years despite the ban.

[Notary Sojac]

"They attacked us because of our freedom."

So we got rid of it.

[maryz]

I can't buy 2 pkgs to save a trip, because it would put me over the allowance.

You don't have a friend who doesn't need to use it? I've bought it when a friend of mine couldn't buy enough for her and her husband until the next shopping trip . . . not to encourage you to break the law, even in spirit, of course . . . ;-)

[BJClinton]

“The law does not make this distinction...I’m simply enforcing the law as it was written,” Alexander said.

I wonder if she'd enforce a law that required all Jews to be rounded up.

[rahbert]

so they can adjust the law so granny can buy an extra box.

I have no problem signing for all the claritin I need.
I’m also not buying it by the gross and grinding it up into
a retort a la Breaking Bad.

the war on drugs does have some legit targets, and those
would be ther tweakers and their suppliers. they are scary
dangerous and unpredictable and I’d just as soon not have them around.

[Scythian]

I’m pretty sure she is guilty. I remember seeing her in a Walmart parking lot selling it out of the back of her van in these 1oz Niquil like plastic cups for a hit. I did one, woke up in Idaho 27 days later in a side ditch in only my underware and left sock, but it was all worth it. Ya, Granny, she don’t mess around ...

[NonValueAdded]

And of course she missed the sign that pointed out that fact. Most likely in bold type right in front of her. /s off.

??? a sign that advised her about the 3 gram rule (I doubt any do) when you are talking about cough SYRUP and it just one of the ingredients? "Your honor, how is a citizen supposed to determine the gram weight content of an ingredient in a mixed product when the product packaging is not even accessible to the customer prior to purchase? I move for immediate dismissal with prejudice and the record expunged."

I'm looking at a cough syrup bottle right now - the useless "PE" kind. It lists "active ingredients in each 5mL tsp ... Phenylephrine HCL, USP 5 mg." On the front of the bottle it says "4 fl oz (118 mL)." Quick, before the customers behind you in line lynch you while the clerk is slowly filling out the paperwork, before the bottle is even in your hand, tell me how many grams of PE are in that bottle?

Let's see ... 118/5 is 23.6 or do I divide teaspoons into ounces ... how many are there ... HEY, does someone have a calculator? Ah, let's say 24 doses times 5 milligrams. Is that one or two zeroes in front of the 5? is that 23.6 * .005 = .118g? LUNACY! I say the ONLY person who could know that is the cooker who has the need to know how many bottles are needed for their recipe. THIS IS OBSCENE.

[TigersEye]

...during the months of April and May, this causes a hardship for my friend because all five members of her family suffer from seasonal hay fever... it’s stupid!

If your friend lives in NM, AZ or southern UT they can find some Mormon Tea bushes (Google it for other common names and its botanical name, pics etc.). They can make a tea with it and drink some daily starting about a month before they usually experience their hay fever.

It isn't as strong as the Chinese Ephedra plant, which they use for the same thing, but it works and no one can stop you from growing it or collecting it. Yet.

The FDA banned Chinese Ephedra because one idiot had heart problems from it for overusing it and combining it with an asthma inhaler.

[Still Thinking]

I asked the cashier at the CVS, jokingly, if I could see the screen to check the accuracy of her data entry, since I was facing 10 years and $100,000 fine if it was incorrect. She said, "No."

Are you required to sign off on the data? If so, and if you couldn't see it, I'd refuse to sign. Make her call a manager.

[grame]

It really is a hassle. You have to show ID, sign a waiver, wait for approval. They probably don’t have as much hassle at the methadone clinic!

[classified]

Hey Yes! I’m aware that it was in Indiana, but I do not know the laws in Florida!

[WhirlwindAttack]

If we gave the lab rat and test monkey junkies their Meth, Crack & Smack in a sufficient quantity. They would reduce their numbers and also reduce the welfare payments, food stamps, health insurance, prison upkeep and storage. Not to mention the crime they create to feed these habits.

[rawhide]

Sudafed for one.

[ArmstedFragg]

I spent a considerable amount of effort fighting this particular kind of law in California, because it promised to be more harmful than useful. At the price of considerable hassle for the consumer, it does have a slight impact on home-grown meth manufacturers, but they're the easiest ones to catch. In the meantime, the Mexican meth labs buy their ingredients in bulk. So, essentially, what we've done is transfer market share from the people who are easiest to nab to the people who are the most violent and difficult to catch.

That argument was made in the state legislature, but a bunch of Demo politicians had their hearts set on being able to claim they were ‘tough on drugs’, so they passed it. California's no doubt now seeing prosecutions similar to the Indiana case.

But... hey... at least we made it harder for people with a cold to get medicine.

[Right Wing Assault]

Here are some good local sources, granny:

http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/DrugIssue/MethResources/faces/index.html

[Zeppo]

Those two purchases put her in violation of Indiana law 35-48-4-14.7, which restricts the sale of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, or PSE, products to no more than 3.0 grams within any seven-day period.

From Indiana law 35-48-4-14.7:

(d) A person may not purchase drugs containing more than three (3) grams of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or both in one (1) week.

IANAL, but unless there is a section of Indiana law that equates the language stating "in one (1) week" with the definition of "within any seven-day period", then I'd say that the defendant should be able to get the charge dismissed, either because the statute in question is unconstitutionally vague (for example, one week could be interpreted as meaning a calendar week running from Sunday through the following Saturday, or it could mean within a seven-contiguous-day period which appears to be the interpetation being used by the crap-for-brains prosecutor - they mean very different things), or because her purchases spanned a weekend, thereby putting the first purchase into one "week" and the second purchase into a different "week"...