8 months ago
Three years ago the federal government started requiring pharmacies to keep a log on people who buy ephedrine and pseudoephedrine-based medications.
Now California lawmakers are considering a measure that would make products, such as, Sudafed, Zyrtec-D, Claritin-D only available to people who have a doctor's prescription.
Law enforcement supports the measure because those common allergy medications can be used to make methamphetamine.
The process is called smurfing. In January police busted a half dozen people Sacramento and San Joaquin County accused of going to 150 stores to buy ephedrine and pseudoephedrine-based products so they could make illegal drugs. Gordon Taylor of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said, "Much of pseudoephedrine that is purchased illegally is used in methamphetamine labs that we seize here in the Central Valley and other parts of the country."
"I can see how they're trying to stop that," said allergy sufferer Brie Shimada. She uses over-the-counter medications almost every day to keep sniffles and sneezes at bay.
But Shimada doesn't like the idea of having to get a prescription for common allergy medications. "It's inconvenient," Shimada said. "But for people who don't want to take the time to get a prescription, it's not fair. They should be punishing us."
Shimada believes requiring a doctor's permission for medications will raise the cost. "Everyone is trying to save as much money as they can right now," Shimada said. "And for us to have to pay more for something we need -- it's just not a good idea right now."
News10/KXTV
