The Southpaw Spot

3 Comments:

At 4:48 PM,  Andrew Langer said...

Wow - that completely stunned me. First of all, congrats on the interview, Kess. You did a good job - you were lucid and concise, and got your point across.

What surprises me is that your stance is completely removed from what I would have expected - I'd thought you and I would agree on the measures (given your progressive, and what I thought would be a support of expansive views of personal privacy rights), and was taken aback at your endorsement of the measures.

To sum up for those who haven't had a chance to download and listen, Andrew was asked to comment on one of the renewed Patriot Act's provisions that purports to limit the manufacture of methamphetamines by placing certain requirements at the point of sale for a category of cold medicines.

The provisions will move these non-prescription drugs from the shelf to behind the counter, would require ID and the signing of a logbook.

The idea is that this would both discourage likely meth-makers from buying their Sudafed at the local drug store, and make it easier for cops to track down who's buying prodigious quantities (the operative phrase here being "prodigious".

Now, I'm happy to make the lives of police easier, within reason. And I'm happy to frustrate the illegal manufacture, sale, and use of methampetamines.

But on the other hand, and now speaking from personal experience, I find it annoying, and personally offensive that I now have to go to a drug store, wait in line at the pharmacy counter, ask if they have Brand X cold medicine, wait to see if they have it, then sign a log book, show I'd, certify my age, and _then_ pay for my purchase.

What if I have to go to X drug store after hours to purchase children's cold medicine, and there's no pharmacist on duty? I live in a small town with one pharmacy, but one 24-hour grocery with no 24-hour pharmacist on staff, that does sell the appropriate children's medicine.

Am I supposed to drive back across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge at 1AM to get these meds, so that I and my child can get relief?

True story here: I was over in Northern Virginia a little over a month ago, staying at my in-laws' house before my wife and I were going to be staying downtown in DC for a conference she was attending.

Both of my little ones were under the weather, and I stoppped at Target in Herndon to pick up some meds, meds that they really did need. I searched high and low on the cold medicine aisle, hunting for about five minutes before I discovered that the class of drugs I was looking for had been replaced by cards directing me to go and find the pharmacist.

I then went and waited in line for 20 minutes (one pharmacist on duty at this particular moment on the weekend), and when I got up there, he had to hunt high and low for the appropriate product.

He handed it to me, and I went up to the main check-out counter, only to find up as the rest of my purchases were rung-up (assorted baby-care products), that they couldn't ring up my kids' cold meds.

So I brought them back to the pharmacist. Waited another 10 minutes, and then went through this rigamarole of paying. First came the logbook. Then came an ID check - with entries made into a computer. A verificiation of my age, which went along with the ID check (my being from MD made me particularly suspicious, I'm sure). Then a receipt I had to sign, with a copy being kept at the pharmacy.

Then I paid. Then I went back to my in-laws to my not-too-happy little ones. In the interim, incidentally, I called someone I knew over at Phrma, to find out just who had advocated for such inanity.

I'm surprised that you'd endorse such an expansive incursion into the rights of an individual to buy over-the-counter medicine with some measure of privacy, Andrew. This is a part of the Patriot Act you actually support?

Prodigious sums, I can understand. Placing limits at the point of sale on cold medicine, I can understand.

But this? This new policy is the epitome of what's wrong with one-size fits all approaches to regulation: identify a problem, don't compare that problem to risks of other problems, don't measure the regulatory responses to that problem for their their costs and benefits, sweep everyone into the same regime, and then wait for the next opportunity to ratchet down on the lawful activities of law-abiding citizens.

Good regulation compares the risks of a problem to other risks and determines if the problem is a priority. Good regulations have benefits that far outweigh their costs. Good regulations take flexible approaches to address a variety of different stakeholders and their concerns.

As I said, I thought you did a great job and ought to be congratulated. I just figured we'd be more on the same page on this, given your progressive views.

 

At 9:33 AM,  The leftist southpaw said...

Here is an analogy that may shed more light on my thought process:

When I worked for the gun control lobby, it infuriated me that many of my opponents would argue that if handguns were made illegal, criminals would find a way to get them anyway. While this may be true, it does not mean that we as a society should make it EASIER for them to obtain this dangerous product.

I supported this legislation because I hope it is a step in the right direction. Maybe once we have effective prevention and treatment programs in place, the restrictions can be eased.

As you know, I am a devout civil libertarian. But I also believe that it is the role of government to protect its people. Those two forces often clash, causing intellectuals as you and me to struggle with our beliefs and make what can be a very trough, emotional decision.

 

At 4:11 PM,  Andrew Langer said...

I guess the fundamental difference between our views of civil liberties is that I want to err on the side of more freedoms, while you want to err on the side of more restrictions (in the name of safety).

As I said, I find this surprising. Maybe I shouldn't.

I was going to offer up another example - my wife's recent trip to a major midwestern city for a military medical conference and the quest she and a colleague went on for cold medicine one evening, but I figure there's no real point to raising it.

 

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