Patriot Act and Ragweed (rant)

[Ms. Toad]

Now I'm mad. :rant:

Forget about infringing my constitutional rights, shifting the balance of power in the government, increasing the spying powers of the federal government - now they're messing with my daughter's right to breathe (and made me a criminal, in the process).

I was so fed up with having to get the allergy medication my daughter needs from behind the pharmacy counter (having the pharmacist read me each price and quantity, and punching numbers into my calculator to figure out the best buy, finding the pharmacy closed when my daughter runs out of medication at 9 at night, showing ID and signing the controlled substances log) that I decided to buy enough to last through ragweed season so I wouldn't have to go through this again this year. I called every pharmacy around. They thought I was nuts - and most only carried Claritin-D in 10 pill quantities (the most expensive brand, in the most expensive quantity). I finally found one that carried Alavert-D in a quantity of 24. Per state law, I am permitted to purchase 9 grams of pseudoephedrine a month, not quite enough to last until the hard frost sometime in November (for those of you who haven't encountered ragweed allergies - the hard freeze means the end of suffering), so my spouse purchased her monthly quantity as well which will almost get us there.

When I commented to the pharmacist that they might want to check with their attorney about the log they asked me to sign, since the state law recited in the log only restricts the sale of products which have a single active ingredient of pseudoephedrine (not the combination of loratadine and pseudoephedrine I was purchasing), he explained that the Federal law pre-empted the state law and required logging all sales of anything containing pseudoephedrine even if it was not the only active ingredient.

I dutifully signed the state log book for my purchase of 2-24 packs of Alavert-D, which carried the recitation of state law that I could only purchase 9 grams a month of a product in which pseudoephedrine was the only active ingredient. All ok, so far (except for my aggravation at the restriction in the first place).

Went home and discovered that the superseding federal law (thanks to the Patriot Act) imposed an additional restriction of 3.6 grams a day. Oops. If you've got a package of Claritin-D or Alavert-D (the 12 hour variety) you might want to do the math for two 24 pill packages - don't need to incriminate myself any more than the log book already does.

Unless I'm misreading it, the Patriot Act made it against the law to purchase more than a 15 day supply of allergy medication at a time. Guess I'm glad that they are still using the state log books, which only mention the monthly restriction, not the daily one . . . or I guess I'm glad until they show up knocking on my door.

Aside from granting the pharmacies having a monopoly which provides a disincentive to carry anything but the most expensive brand at the most expensive quantity, and limiting purchases to less than month of medication, the added state restrictions (since portions stricter than federal law are not pre-empted) prohibit sales to minors. That makes it impossible for families in which both a parent and a minor child have allergies to legally obtain the medication needed to treat allergies for a month. (A month of medication is about 7.2 grams - if the minor can't buy it, and both the minor and the parent need it, the parent can only buy 9 grams for the month - not the 14.4 grams they need to control allergies.)

:rant:

Seriously, this is nowhere near the most serious implication of the Patriot Act - but it is darn annoying. If anyone has found any great solutions, I'd love to hear them before mid-October when I may have to test to see if they have wizened up to the daily restrictions...

[Cerridwen]

1. If this is OTC - do you have a friend willing to buy in their name?

Only thing I can think of if it's not a prescription.

I see drug buying groups coming together to help purchase OTC drugs in adequate quantities in our future. *sigh*

[Ms. Toad]

2. We can buy more in October -

we are lucky that we only have to buy for two people. If we had to buy for three, we would be up a creek without a paddle. If the pharmacy had not been ignorant of the law, we would have to go through the process again in 15 days, rather than a month from now.

You may not be familiar with the issue - all products containing pseudoephedrine (the most effective decongestant) are now controlled substances because pseudoephedrine can be used to make methamphetamine.

My rant was more about the annoyance that in order to save us from ourselves, the Federal government now requires that I show picture id, and sign a log which includes my driver's license number, name, and address, that will be made accessible to the federal government for at least two years, so that my daughter can be even minimally functional from mid-August through early November.

It also has real financial consequences for people without the means to afford brand name medicines - or the time and energy to make the calls to find an alternative.

The law went into effect September 30 last year. A year ago today I could have found at least four brands of the medication on the shelf, in a variety of quantities. If I had not made tons of phone calls today to find a pharmacy that was selling something other than Claritin-D in a quantity of 10, the medicine we bought today for about $60 would have cost about $104. Most off brand companies stopped making it when the law prohibited them from competing on the shelf since customers must now speak to a pharmacist in order to buy it. How many people are going to do anything other than ask for the most advertised version: Claritin-D. No-name drug companies know this - when their products can only be sold from behind the counter - but do not require a prescription - they are pretty much doomed. The only other survivor I could find at this point was Alavert D (not a store brand or other off-brand generic), and only one store carrying it.

[Cerridwen]

3. Understood.

I was just trying to think of a short-term solution in case you needed to "stock up" or some such.

I think it's a travesty, as well. I'm not on any medications and not currently subjected to allergies so I'm not as familiar with the issue, first hand, as you are. But, that doesn't mean it's "not my problem". It is my problem and I'm trying to think of ways to subvert the system. I came to DU because of the underground in its name. ;)

Until we can get the drug war ended and the patriot act repealed, universal, single payer health care which includes meds and...oh the list goes on, I was thinking of a way to work around the systems of oppression in place. One is to start a drug-buying co-op with folks like me who don't require meds but would be willing to put my name, ID and SS# on the line (or the books) to help out those who do need the OTC meds.


edit for a comma

[deadmessengers]

4. Don't bother with Claritin-D

It's just regular pseudoephedrine and loratadine. You can buy the generic version of each, take 2 pills (one claritin, one PE) instead of one, and save a pantload of money - I think we figured that it cost less than half that way, for the exact same dose of medication. Mrs. Deadmessengers is in the same boat as your daughter - miserable allergies all summer long requires her to take Claritin and pseudoephedrine as "maintenance meds" 7 months out of the year. We each buy the maximum quantity of pseudoephedrine all 12 months, "just in case".

[Ms. Toad]

5. We've tried that.

Doesn't work for my daughter.

There's something about the extended release mechanism that really does give her a steadier blood concentration (which keeps the antihistamine/decongestant effect level throughout the school day). Overnight the separate drugs might (after all, she's sleeping - who cares if her congestion goes up and down), but during the day the effect of the separate drugs isn't level enough to be helpful (too much up and down in congestion, primarily). She's tried the 24 hours versions of the combo, as well, and they really only last 12 hours, so back to the Claritin-D or Alavert-D 12 hour.

Thanks for the suggestion. We normally do generic - and did with this drug until the Patriot Act made quick work of all of Claritin's competitors. (Since the drug can now only be sold behind the counter, the no-names know they can't compete and have all vanished.) BTW - the equivalent dosage (for 24 hours) is one loratadine + 8 pseudoephedrine (2 every 6 hours):D

Sad to have to max out the pseudoephedrine buys year round just to make sure there is enough medicine around to last through the summer. My spouse used to take double the normal dosage year round - we'd be in a heap of hurt now if she hadn't found an allergist who finally got her allergies under control, otherwise she would need about 14.4 grams a month, every month, year round.