Wabash Valley woman didn’t realize second cold medicine purchase violated drug laws

[Newsjock]

Source: Terre Haute Tribune-Star

CLINTON — When Sally Harpold bought cold medicine for her family back in March, she never dreamed that four months later she would end up in handcuffs.

Now, Harpold is trying to clear her name of criminal charges, and she is speaking out in hopes that a law will change so others won’t endure the same embarrassment she still is facing.

“This is a very traumatic experience,” Harpold said.

Harpold is a grandmother of triplets who bought one box of Zyrtec-D cold medicine for her husband at a Rockville pharmacy. Less than seven days later, she bought a box of Mucinex-D cold medicine for her adult daughter at a Clinton pharmacy, thereby purchasing 3.6 grams total of pseudoephedrine in a week’s time.

Those two purchases put her in violation of Indiana law 35-48-4-14.7, which restricts the sale of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, or PSE, products to no more than 3.0 grams within any seven-day period.

... Harpold’s story is one that concerns some law-abiding citizens who fear that innocent people will get mistakenly caught in the net of meth abuse roundups.

Read more: http://www.tribstar.com/local/local_story_246225916.html

[Horse with no Name]

1. Sudafed works GREAT for my families allergies

I refuse to purchase it anymore because of this very thing.
At that time, I had 4 adults in my family and we all use decongestants and my insurance company does not cover any prescription allergy drugs anymore and Sudafed was the best and cheapest option.

[Mariana]

8. Find out the price for a prescription of Sudafed

from a pharmacist and find out if you can legally buy and possess larger amounts with a scrip. I bet you can. If it's cheap enough, and legal to buy a bunch of it that way, it might be worth a visit to the doctor.

LOL, there was a thread earlier about docs who are in business only to prescribe narcotics to whoever wants them. I can envision docs opening clinics to prescribe cold and allergy meds to anyone who walks in. I can hear it now, people telling their friends, "Hey man, you want Sudafed? Go see this guy, he'll write it for you."

Free country my ass.

[vadawg]

2. someone needs to show some common sense here, i would nolle prosse this in a heartbeat

the laws are good, but each case needs to be investigated and some sense applied..

[strategery blunder]

7. Indeed. Shit like this ain't worth prosecuting.

Complete waste of police and court time and resources.

Sometimes well-meaning laws need some tweaking. I think anti-meth laws like this should be amended to require better labeling (i.e. "This box contains a total of 1.7 grams pseudo-ephedrine"), along with stores being required to display the actual cap on lawful purchases, in this particular case 3 grams a week.

Such changes would make it possible (and much easier) for law-abiding citizens to know how much pseudo-ephedrine they are purchasing and would greatly assist them in NOT getting caught up in anti-meth dragnets. Right now citizens probably don't have enough information to know how much "meth ingredients" they're really purchasing, or that information is really hard to find. In cases like this, they could keep a running total "Oh that medicine I purchased earlier in the week had 2 grams, better purchase a smaller dose than the one I'm holding...," if labeling disclosure was improved.

Pharmacies should also be involved in any such tracking. They should be able to point out purchases that will go over limit like they do drug interactions now. Give citizens the tools they need to comply with the law.

I'd think that the above would help strike a reasonable balance between legit law enforcement and not catching law-abiding citizens in the war on drugs dragnet.

A penny for your thoughts? :) (I'm not a cop, just a citizen who knows stuff like this can't be too good for community trust and such)

[aquart]

3. The sudafed laws are INSANE.

They assume guilt. Our system is NOT supposed to assume guilt.

[slay]

6. I agree. Most all laws relating to the "drug war" are insane

We need to end these wars, and treat/help the addicts. Another insane thing is pre-employment drug testing. WTF? Invasion of privacy much? Humiliating much? AND worst of all - you are presumed guilty and have to prove yourself innocent. If we didn't have a FAR-right supreme court this never would be allowed to happen. :grr: :mad:

[dmr]

4. We've been sick with bad colds all week, and have already

gone through 2 boxes of Sudafed. My son bought both, at two different times.

We are still sick, and even though I'm the sickest, I'm going to have to drag my fevered, stuffed & snotty self out to buy the next box.

In years past, I always had several boxes of Sudafed, along with cough drops/syrup, and whatever else just so we would be prepared. The only answer is to buy a box every now and then and store it away for the next cold season - the problem with this idea, is we already use Sudafed daily for sinuses.

This is insane. If the cops show up at the door, I swear I'll sneeze ...

[csziggy]

5. Just put one of these on your door

[Mariana]

9. Except that mere possession of "too much" is illegal

at least in some places. How much is "too much" varies from state to state. You'll have to bury your stash in the yard.

[davepc]

10. Just another success story form the war on drugs.

[pansypoo53219]

11. i am SO glad i don't get any hay fever meds anymore.

LOCAL HONEY PEOPLE! it's tasty and less polluting. no itchy eyes. no runny nose. nothing. because of honey!

[aroach]

12. That's worrisome.

I recently bought four different cold medicines in one trip. One for hubby, one for me, one for daughter, and one for son. Surprised I got away with it. I guess next time the 10 year old will have to buy her own medicine. I don't know what the 6 year old can do.

Granted, hubby and I could have shared the same medicine but I don't like the taste of the crap he likes. I prefer Sudafed tablets and I bought him some nasty liquid.

[zbdent]

13. but thousands of pills found in your home after laws you supported state that

numbers of that amount flag you as a dope pusher ... hey, no problem (if you're Rush Limbaugh ...)