Legislating Against Stupidity

Crank

I notice that the Kentucky General Assembly is taking another run at making the purchase of pseudoephedrine, a common ingredient in over the counter cold medicines and methamphetamine, a drug that requires a prescription. It is possible that the drug could require a prescription but it has been sold over the counter for years and it is a recent phenomenon that it has been used for the manufacture of methamphetamine. The only purpose now for requiring a prescription is to make it more difficult for miscreants to purchase. The requirement would mean that a doctor would have to write a prescription for it and a pharmacist to fill it thereby making it possible to track by Kentucky's KASPAR drug tracking system. It would also create an undue burden on consumers by exponentially increasing the cost of obtaining a medication that evidently is safe to use as directed..

It is almost impossible to legislate against stupidity and people who manufacture or use methamphetamine qualify for that description. The manufacture of it is hazardous to ones health and can explode and either hurt or maim the cooks. The use of it is extremely addictive, causes the skin to break out in sores and one's teeth to fall out. These are all benefits in addition to its making one psychotic and unable to function in a useful capacity. The ingredients are so deadly that it defies imagination to understand why someone would put that stuff in their veins. But use it people do and it has reached crisis proportions in some parts of our state and is responsible for many of the drug induced fatalities in those areas.

We certainly have an interest in putting a stop to this addiction. Our jails and prisons are full of people who are users, manufacturers or those who commit crimes to fund their addiction. It is extremely expensive to house those prisoners and states and counties are looking for ways to cut those expenses. So we have to examine the ways that we may be able to cut those costs. Stopping the use of methamphetamine has to be the goal and making it difficult to produce is one of those methods. However, we are now seeing an increase in the amount of the drug that is coming across our borders from Mexico so it is unclear just how much making it more difficult to buy the ingredients would impact usage.

During this terrible economic catastrophe it just doesn't make sense to take a drug that is safe when used as directed and that costs only a few dollars and restrict it so that acquiring it would bear the cost of an doctor's visit and pharmacy charges. The fact of the matter is that it would drive up insurance costs, Medicare and Medicaid. It would deny those who do not have insurance the potential benefit of a cheap and effective medication.

Personally, I detest the stuff. I would rather have the symptoms than feel the way pseudoephedrine makes me feel but others find the stuff useful. As I said, it is difficult to legislate against stupidity and sometimes it is just not reasonable to try to do so. Having said that it seems that there should be some methods of tracking the ingredients by using something similar to KASPAR. Already drugs with pseudoephedrine are kept behind the counter requiring one to ask for it from the pharmacist. Some pharmacies are keeping a record of purchases and limiting the amounts that a person can buy. That is being avoided by the use of fake IDs and multiple purchasers. There are just some things that one can't prevent.

As an example, look at the epidemic in our state of the abuse of oxycodone. This stuff requires a prescription, is tracked and still gets into the hands of abusers. Why would we think that requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine would be any different?

The fact of the matter is this. People are going to abuse drugs and the only thing that can stop it is providing an environment in which people do not turn to drugs for whatever reason. That approach requires a good family environment and economic opportunity, things that we are in short supply of. And even with those there will be those who take the plunge anyway. When that happens we must intervene with counseling, education and training and those things will not come cheaply. They are only cheap when compared with the long term cost of housing criminals or of bearing societies costs of dealing with addictions.

The political climate these days would just rather lock them up and forget about them. First, it costs a lot of money to lock someone up and, Secondly, we can't just forget about them. We must try to make them better.

Without exception, every person that I ask has a family member or knows someone who has fallen victim to drug addiction. Grandparents are rearing their grandchildren if the kids are fortunate. Kids are born with addictions and developmental disabilities and society is cheated out of the potential benefits of useful citizens. People can yell about cutting the costs of governments but ask a family member who has a loved one in the depths of addiction and see what they say. It looks a whole lot different from that perspective.