What a PR Meth

Remember back when I said people with colds were going to start having a hard time because there would be stupid laws put on the books to restrict the purchase of cold remedies to slow meth-production? Well, here we go. All Sally Harpold wanted to do was buy some cold medication for her husband. Then her daughter got a cold the same week, so she went out and bought some decongestant for her. unbeknownst to her, this turned her into a lawbreaker of the worst kind. You see, both cold medications contain the ingredient pseudoephedrine, which can also be used to make meth. Because she bought over 3.0 grams of the stuff, she set off alarm bells, and...knock knock knock, "You're under arrest. Oh, and your face will be planted under a newspaper headline about " 17 getting caught in a drug sweep."

The thing that kills me about this article is the very thing that makes this law flawed is made plain.

As authorities and retailers have limited the sale of PSE, some meth-makers have resorted to asking their relatives and friends, who are unaware of the intended use of the product, to go buy the cold medicine. That has put some innocent people unwittingly into the cycle of meth production. And a buyer may call five or six different people to go buy the cold medicine, thereby circumventing the law.

And there ya have it, the reason this law will never catch the actual bad guys. They will always find another way to the stuff they want.

The kicker quote is spoken by Vigo County Sheriff Jon Marvel.

I feel for her, but if she could go to one of the area hospitals and see a baby born to a meth-addicted mother …

Uh, sheriff, she works in a women's correctional facility. I'm sure she knows all about the effects of meth. She never intended to make meth. Stop preaching! You got the wrong gal!

It looks like her record will be wiped clean if she doesn't break any laws for 30 days and she pays her court costs. But even that doesn't seem fair. That doesn't take back her mugshot being plastered all over the newspaper under the headline "17 caught in drug sweep". I wish there was a way she could sue the bastards, but she would probably lose. They'd just point to all the signs up in the stores saying that cold medication purchases were being monitored and say she should have known.