Breathtaking Stupidity in the War On Drugs

Amy Barrilleaux of WQAD reports:

“(I was) made to feel like a criminal — Made to feel low, dirty. Just totally degraded,” recalled Tim Naveau, who says he’ll never forget the hours he spent in Rock Island County Jail — he says all because of his allergies.

Naturally, this degradation is part of the War on Drugs.

Tim takes one 24-hour Claritin-D tablet just about every day. That puts him just under the legal limit of 75-hundred milligrams of pseudo ephedrine a month. The limit is part of a new law that Quad Cities authorities are beginning to strictly enforce.

The law limits the amount of pseudo ephedrine you can buy. Pseudo ephedrine is an ingredient in medicines like Sudafed and Claritin-D, and it’s also a key ingredient in methamphetamines.

…

“I bought some for my boy because he was going away to church camp and he needed it,” he said.

That decision put Tim over the legal limit. Two months later, there was a warrant for his arrest.

In other words, the Illinois legislature set the limit so low that each family member has to buy their own medication. Pick up some allergy medicine for your wife, get charged with a crime.

This level of stupidity is breathtaking, literally, and it only gets worse.

According to a state consumer information fact sheet, the legislature also prohibits sale of pseudoephedrine to minors, so parents have to buy the drug for their children. If you and your child have allergies, you have to decide which of you gets treatment. Even if both parents forego treatment for the sake of their children, they better not have more than two children with allergies, otherwise they really will have to decide which ones they love most.

(Hat tip: Jamie Spencer)