Speaking of our national kindergarten, it's almost comical to see the "War on Drugs" degenerate into a War on Sudafed -- soon to be a "War On All Substances That Even Though They Can't Get You High Might Be Used In Theory By Someone To Make Something That Could Get Someone High."

Uncle Sam is pushing safe and effective medications behind the pharmacy counter while Food and Drug Administration regulation discourages pharmaceutical companies from developing new medicines to satisfy sick consumers and drug warriors alike.

Over-the-counter cold pills like Sudafed contain pseudoephedrine, which can be used to make meth. So politicians increasingly are declaring war on common remedies. (Next may be campaigns against other products, such as brake fluid and rubbing alcohol, also used in meth production.)

States increasingly penalize anyone with the sniffles. At least 30 states limit the amount of over-the-counter medicine consumers can purchase, restrict the number of pills per package, mandate that allergy and cold remedies be kept in locked cabinets, limit sales to pharmacies, and require sellers to maintain a registry of buyers.

The Precursor Ingredient Czar?

We can't be too careful, folks.

I said this was almost comical, because it really would be funny if it wasn't happening. The current anti-sudafed legislation links cold remedy restrictions to the War On Terror, by attaching the bill to the Patriot Act:

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 - A bipartisan group of lawmakers announced an agreement on Wednesday to restrict the sales of cold medicines that can be used to manufacture the illegal and highly addictive drug methamphetamine.

Under the proposal, Sudafed and similar medicines would have to be under lock and key in stores. Buyers would have to sign a sheet and show a driver's license. Purchases would be limited to one box a day and three boxes a month.

The legislation is attached to the renewal of the USA Patriot Act, which passed in the House on Wednesday but whose prospects in the Senate are uncertain.

Easily available cold medicine is the direst threat we face, and it must be stopped by any means necessary.

Unless something is done quickly the sinister sudafedayeen will gain a toehold through the well-known propensity of Americans to develop cold symptoms during the winter months. This might cause some of the runny-nosed, sniffling sissies in our midst to question the need for these restrictions, and we can't give up now -- not when there are signs that we're winning. The more laws there are, the more laws we need, because clever criminals will always try to figure out a way to do things legally.

I think this is a little bit like the loopholes that allow non-criminals to buy guns. Pretty soon, we'll be seeing straw sudafed purchasers -- lots of people buying their three box per month limit in order to resell them for a hefty markup. I think pharmacists should be required to conduct additional background checks to see whether these buyers have criminal records, plus make them show some actual evidence of sniffles. The least we can do is make it harder for law abiding people to get this stuff, because as we know in the case of guns, when we take guns away from honest people, then the criminals won't have them either.

Besides, didn't Benjamin Franklin say that we might need to give up a little essential sudafed in order to be safe from the people who use it to make the stuff that might get you high?

Something like that.

UPDATE: My thanks to Billy Beck for linking this post! Perhaps it's time to sudafederalgovernment.