My medications and the legal system

When you hear about the safeguards that are in place to reduce the number of meth labs in the state or to prevent abuse of controlled substances, they make sense.

They make sense until they become the brick wall preventing you from carrying on with your day-to-day life. And when you hit two walls in one day, you're going to walk away with a headache.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have a cold. Yesterday, I visited my friendly Target store and purchased cold medicine. As my purchases were being rung up, I was asked for my ID. The clerk scans my ID, which I'm told goes into a state database to track purchases of medicines with pseudoephedrine. Since pseudoephedrine is used to make meth, it's been regulated since about 2005. And the law has had an impact. 

Today it had an impact on me. I forgot to bring my medication with me to work and if I tried to purchase more today, a red flag would have been waved or something and a black mark would have been put on a permanent record as a possible drug lord. I thought maybe I could just go over and sneeze or cough on them in order to convince them I have a legit reason to purchase said medication. 

I had two options. I could ask a friend to go and buy the medication for me or I could ask around to see if anyone had any spare Sudafed. I felt like a high school student looking for someone to buy me some Boone's Farms Easy Nights. Luckily, a co-worker had a spare dosage that he shared with me and I made it through the day. 

I ran into a second brick wall today when I was calling in to get my Concerta prescription refilled. Concerta is a controlled substance, so they make you jump through hoops to get it, never mind the price of about $2.00 a pill (that's with the discount). One of the nurses called me back to verify some details. 

Nurse: "I have the last prescription filled in January. Is that correct?"

Me: "Yes."

Nurse: "That was a thirty-day refill?"

Me: "Yes."

Nurse: "Back in January?"

Me: "Yes, I'm not very good about always taking my ADD medicine. I get easily distracted."

Nurse: "Okay."

Me: "Plus I have ADD, so I'm really bad about calling in to order a refill."

Nurse: "Okay. Well, if everything is in order, I'll have the doctor sign the script and you can pick it up tomorrow." 

If everything is in order? I've been taking the darn medication for years and the one thing that I find absolutely ironic is a medication for people with ADD requires them to remember to call in for refills. Seriously.