Methods

Today, I spent over $50 on drugs, and I charged it all.

It's "that time of the month," the time when payday is tomorrow, but the Ortho-Tricyclen is due in my bloodstream two days ago. . . .

Last time I saw him, my doctor thought it was more convenient to just tell me to have the pharmacy call his office to recharge my refill, rather than scribble out a new, tangible presecription, the kind that, say, can be faxed up to a northern connection for the utter joy that is getting pills at half-off American retail.

American retail right now is $45.69, and, no, for the last time, it's not covered by my insurance.

But that wasn't my main point. I said I spent 50 bucks, and I did. The rest of the charge came from my first-ever post-anti-meth legislation Sudafed purchase.

Since last June, when you buy pseudoephedrine pills, you have to prove you're 18, and your name goes in a book, just like in Oklahoma and Texas.

The point is to "make sure" that meth-makers can't get their hands on enough raw speed-material to cook up their stuff.

However, as this AP story points out, it's not like anyone really is watching.

Pharmacists have until September 13 to begin maintaining a log book of consumers who purchase the medicines, reports the Associated Press. The new law does not require the log book information collected by pharmacies to flow into a centralized database.

The pharmacist who gave me all my pills said herself that no one was collecting the data.

"On the Avenue alone, there are four places someone could go."

The so-called limits of what you can buy are silly, too. I can buy 7,000 mg of pure pseudoephedrine a week.

Can that be right? When a box is only 720 mg and they tell you to stick to four doses (240 mg) per day, lest your heart explode?