Editor:
Not long ago, when I felt a cold or a sinus infection coming on I would go to the store, pay $6-$7 for a two weeks supply for some Sudafed, and be done with it.
Now I have to make an appointment with my doctor for $150, which is covered by my insurance except for a co-pay of $15 to get a prescription that cost me $22, which is not covered by my insurance, because it is still ruled an “over-the-counter drug.”
So now, for $172, I can get Sudafed but it cost $165 more than it used to. Not only does it cost more but I get fewer pills. Granted, I only have to pay $37 plus $8 in gas money for what used to cost me $6-$7 to buy over the counter. It cost my insurance $150 where it use to cost them nothing. So it’s no wonder my insurance rates have gone up.
The reason why I have to go through all this rigamarole is because someone figured out how to make some illegal drug, called crack, by buying or stealing so much cold medicine that the Oregon Legislature, in 2006, made a law that all cold medicine containing pseudoephedrine had to be sold through the pharmacy. Now I have to pay $38 extra for cold medicine for the druggies to figure out another way to make the same illegal drug using caustic battery acid.
Did it decrease the number of crack labs in the area? The police say yes, but if you talk to a crack addict they say no, and it has not made it any harder to get crack but the crack is now more caustic than ever and more addictive.
I can’t wait to have to go to a doctor to get a prescription for my hearing aid batteries.
Jeani West
Sweet Home