This is apparently old news to most people living in NYC, but it was brand new news to me. I am once again sick with a cold - my third since moving back to NYC, which is a topic for another post - and so I stopped at the pharmacy on my way to work this morning.

I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get the same type of drugs over-the-counter that I was getting in Europe, but I thought I would be able to find something and make a simple transaction resulting in me leaving the pharmacy with medicine that would make me feel better.

Not really. Sure, I sit here at work with a box of pills that hopefully will do something to stop this illness from completely knocking me on my ass, but the experience I just had was… bizarre.

After looking over the rows of cold medicines I noticed that several were missing with placeholder cards describing what used to be found in that spot. At first I thought they were just out of the particular meds, which is kind of weird as there were quite a few missing! I picked up a card for one that sounded like it might be good for me and asked the pharmacist about it.

Turns out that they have these medicines, they just keep them behind the counter. I didn’t ask why at this point ecause I figured it was an attempt at reducing theft. It wasn’t until he asked me for my identification that I asked him, “why?”

Apparently people make amphetamines out of cold medicines that contain pseudo ephedrine. OK, congrats to them on their chemistry skills, but how the hell does keeping the medicine in the back of the pharmacist’s area and requiring ID help to stop this?

He wrote down my name, driver’s license state & number, and what I bought along with the date. What do they do with this information? Is it used in court if someone is charged with making meth?

I’m so confused. It seemed like a rather blatant invasion of privacy. Sure, the fact that I bought “MucinexD Extended Release” cold medicine is innocent enough (although I admit the name sounds a bit gross!) but this is a slippery slope. I was reminded of the first time in California that I was asked for my driver’s license when buying cigarettes and the cashier swiped it in a machine. I was alarmed and asked her, “why did you do that?” She insisted that it only calculated my DOB for her - and really, since when is it that hard to figure out if someone is over 18 - but honestly, I don’t buy it.

I’m not that paranoid, but I would bet that the cigarette sale records are saved somewhere. Now I am known for smoking and having a cold; maybe they’ll draw the obvious conclusion that smoking isn’t so good for your health?

:)

I’ll make a post about technology and ruby on rails soon, I promise. Life’s been busy. Take care.