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I've got a cold. No big deal, annoying, but it's even a mild one. I run out of Comtrex, my preferred cold pill, and fall back on Drixoral, my preferred allergy pill. I even run out of Nyquil, which helps me sleep better when I have a cold. So, I break down and go to the grocery store to restock. A couple Comtrex, one even has a "free sample" of some other sort of stuff, a couple Drixorals and a couple Nyquils. Normally, I like to have two, so that when one runs out I've got a backup until I can get more (obviously I didn't get back to the store soon enough last time).
I get up to the checkstand and make sure I'm getting paper bags so stuff doesn't fall out as soon as you set them down and start to point out that I'd gotten the last of a couple of things I had in the cart when I was interrupted: the cash register had decided I was a drug manufacturer. No shit: right there on the screen it said "Restricted access; exceeded DEA limit" or something close to that. It specifically mentioned the DEA. It seems that you are only allowed to buy 3 cold remedies at a time now, because they contain stuff meth labs use to make drugs. Also under scrutiny, and presumably under limits are Drano, some chimney cleaner, kitty litter and ice (actually, they didn't think ice was restricted, but apparently it's used in the process too). Even more, Sudafed is now required to be locked up and can't be out in the aisles.
Where is the insanity going to end?
We're not allowed to have anything remotely sharp on airplanes, we're not allowed to have our medicine to deal with colds, we have to wear seat belts even if they are likely to do more harm than good (on some people, like my mother). I've got a message to the government: get the fuck out of my life. Stop trying to protect people from themselves. Freedom means the freedom to do stupid things. It's their choice. If you want to fry your brains on drugs, fine. If I want to gamble that I won't be in an accident, or that if I am, I'll be better off without a seat belt, that's my choice. If insurance companies think otherwise, let them cut your medical coverage if you're in an accident and found to have not been wearing your seatbelt. And use some common sense in terrorist defenses: a fork or a pocket knife is no more of a threat to a plane full of passengers than a trained fighter with his bare hands is.
If we're not careful, we'll have to ask a bureaucrat for permission to leave the house.
This is NOT the America I grew up in. Get it back now before it's too late.
Posted by abatie at August 22, 2003 03:46 PM