Pseudoephedrine - I'm not an addict*

I consider myself to be fairly 'up' on what's happenin in the news. Not so much the politics or the economics, but lil pieces on smh that catch my eye. Which is why I was so suprised to learn of the current Pseudoephedrine thang goin on.

I dropped down to the local chemist on Monday afternoon with a bit of a headache, sore throat and drippy nose, and was promptly given some Sudafed*PE sinus and pain relief. The lil lady explained to me that Pseudoephedrine is only available from behind the counter and that a drivers licence must be provided, and that after April 1 2006, you must have a script to obtain the goods. In my state of desent into illness, I 'fair enough'ed and took to the counter.

That shit is useless.

I took it that night, and four times yesterday, completing my round at 7pm - there is a limit to how many you can have in a 24 hour period. This means that the next 12 hours are spent 'drug' free, resulting in me waking up every 2 hours choking on phlegm, blowing my nose, clearing my throat and taking water in an effort to get an airhole in my throat.

Needless to say, this is not impressing The Hun very much (tho he is soldiering on, lil trooper) and the fact that I'm at home today feeling my worst yet, I have uni tomorrow (with the prospect of my presentation again), work on Friday and we are hosting a combined birthday party on the weekend, I need to get fixed, stat.

I zombie-d my way into the local again this morning and explained to another lil lady my scenario and showed her my crap tablets. She was starting to show me another packet of the same Sudefaed but with an extra tab for the night when she got a lil glint in her eye and started to talk about the ban on Pseudoephedrine. "It doesn't sound like it's dried you up at all - let me speak to the chemist and we may be able to get you some with Pseudoephedrine - maybe your body doesn't respond to the Phenylephrine" (Phenylephrine being the substitute that can't be broken down and turned into drugs). It was at this point I became aware that I had to look like I wasn't going to use it to bake me up some drugs (and I only become more noticable when I'm trying not to be noticeable) and that if I wanted the Pseudoephedrine I had to make sure my nose stayed drippy. "Are you from Canberra?" "Yeah, I'm jus round the corner in Conder" and I handed over my licence, THEN realised my licence address is still in Gowrie. No probs tho, and I left the place with some Echinacea for the The Hun and a bulk 48 pack because "you'll probably go right through those or you'll have some more for next time" - so while the prospect of being on these tabs for 12 days was not promising, it was good of her to stock me up before the laws change. Ooh, and the Coldral also has something to help me sleep. THANKGAWD.

I'm not so sure how I feel about the change in law. For some people, like dadsy and middle bro who get hallucinations from Pseudoephedrine, it's no prob. They can only take the substitutes and it works for them. Seemingly, this is going to be an issue for me, because the substitutes don't work. Similarly for the most senior of the HR ladies, where the only thing that stops her annual crazy barking cough is tabs cotaining Pseudoephedrine.

I'm no druggie, but how much do ppl pay for 'rec' drugs with Pseudoephedrine in it? Like, $50 a pop? Now for each actually sick person, it's going to cost $50 jus to get into the doctor, PLUS the cost of the tabs. I reckon there'll be a rise in absenteeism - more ppl taking longer to get healthy on the substitutes AND more people getting doctors certificates for paid leave whilst in the office to get their script - this is going to cost the government more. And people don't just get the the flu once. AND I got the flu shot this year already!

What was wrong with the system of taking addresses? Why can't they keep a database?

I have a friend who worked in a chemist that was part of a chain that kept in contact and kept details - they managed to track down someone who was hitting up chemists along a set route to get the tabs, presumably for drugs. Why couln't there be a firming up of this process rather then such a setback for the sick peeps?

I don't know how long this has been in place - I escaped last year flu free - Did anyone else aleady know about this?

And it could just be all in my head, but I feel like I'm starting to dry up a little - FINALLY.

*Anyone else got the K's choice single?