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I've got chronic allergies (I believe i'm allergic to dust or something stupid like that), and sometimes they're more severe, sometimes less. When they get VERY severe, I do what any other normal person would do: take medications.

This happens to be one of those days where i needed some medication (took it about an hour ago), but I didn't have any. I also needed to pick up some milk, so i went to the local Kroger, which, conveniently, has the kroger pharmacy attached. the first aisle i went to was the cold/allergy med aisle.

There were 2 particular items of interest in this aisle. One was this small section of meds... they didn't have them in boxes, instead, they had tickets. You have to take these things up to the counter, show them your ID, which they have to put through their system, then the information that you bought this particular medication goes straight to the federal government. The common ingredient ingredient: Pseudoephedrine. Pseudoephedrine is a decongestant, and a very effective one at that. It can also be used to produce methamphetamine. My response to this: SO WHAT!? I don't CARE if a substance can be used to create Meth, Crack Cocaine, or even Heroin. We, the citizens of the united states, benefit from these medications. They make us more effective workers, and if little Jimmy found a way to make Meth out of it and now runs a meth lab in his basement, I say LET HIM. All the money he's making off selling what he makes is going right back into the United States economy when he purchases more pseudoephedrine and batteries (yes, the other ingredient is batteries. Lithium Batteries. There's more info on Wikipedia)

The Second Item of interest is the section of meds that have become "mainstream" in the wake of the restriction of pseudoephedrine. The one i bought, which is the Kroger equivalent of NyQuil, i suppose, is pseudoephedrine-free, and thus less effective... and also cheaper, especially given its associated 2 for 1 deal, so i picked up 2 bottles of it, grabbed my Vitamin D WHOLE MILK (it tastes better than 2%), and went up to the counter, and, here's the second part that irks me: the lady asked to see my ID for the meds... It was no real problem for me, given the amount of beer i buy there, i've sort of gotten used to it, but let me throw this scenario at you: Mike is 17 years old, his parents are divorced, His father lives on the other side of the nation, and he lives with his mother, who recently got remarried. they decide to go to Hawaii, figuring that Mike is responsible enough to fend for himself. Two days after they left, Mike starts having WICKED allergic reactions to the tree pollens and stuff. he decides that, before he leaves for school, he's going to take some allergy meds... he checks the medicine cabinet: Alka-Seltzer... Motrin... Advil... where the hell is the... Rubber ducky? how the hell did that get in there? ...but no allergy meds. thinking fast, he jumps in his car and heads to school anyways, sneezing his head off all the way there. He makes a quick stop by the pharmacy, which, as luck would have it, is right across the street from his school. he grabs the medication, goes to the counter, slaps down a $5 bill... and the cashier asks him for his ID. He rolls his eyes, thinking not much of it, after all, he drove there, so he has his license with him. He shows his license to the cashier, who then says he can't buy the meds because he's too young.

Its obvious from these examples that our government needs to scrap its regulations on non-prescription drugs, however, elimination of regulation on ALL drugs would be preferable.

well, not only are they the same war on our rights, they're the same war altogether. The "War on Terror" is merely an extension in concept of the "War on Drugs" to an even LARGER scope that we can't handle. Officials now see foreign drug production and smuggling as "Funding for Terrorism" which is a logical fallacy in itself, because now we are cracking down on drug production by people within our borders. Marijuana grow operations, meth labs (as i mentioned), people who make their own drugs within our borders, who are NOT funding terrorism, are also being discriminated against with these laws. and under the Bush regime, we have lost more of our personal freedoms than ever, to the point where they don't even need to notify you if they're spying on you. They don't even need a warrant anymore.