pseudoephedrine
The other night I had one of those nights where I could have really gone for some pseudoephedrine-infused drug medicine… NightQuil. Which is to say I could have used something that would have knocked me out cold and allowed my body’s anti-bodies to kill off the army of germs that had invaded my body for the night.
As it is, the state of Oregon has banned any medicines containing pseudoephedrine, except I believe that which is prescribed by a doctor. It is a function of the War on Meth, and an example of throwing the baby out with the bath water. To undercut a peripherial cause of the Meth Problem we throw out these drugs of once every six month or so use — because the previous solution, behind the counter, id required, limited limited limited — apparently gets us nowhere.
At the time the law was passed, my biggest complaint was in how the Oregonian was reporting it. The Oregonian seemed to have seeped itself nicely into the government line, which is to say it presented two “commoner people’s” remarks — the “Two Sides of the Story”, as it were. First, “A necessary step for the necessary good.” And the flip side, such that it is a flip side, “Well, it’s disappointing, but I suppose it’ll help.” I tend to resent this, and ponder whether I can posthumously inject a quote into the article of a stronger opinion than that which I actually held (it’s a bit difficult to have a strong opinion on a matter that’s not going to affect me or anyone I know very often).
I will note that the drug manufacturers that used to have advertisements saying that they’re “fighting the war on Meth” with a psuedo-alternative no longer advertise as such. Their substitute was found to be a placebo. Placebos work half-way reasonably well until they’re found to be placebos.