Step Away from the Cold Medicine - Government's Drug War Fuels Meth Problem

""When law enforcement officials began reporting that meth producers were extracting pseudoephedrine from over-the-counter medication to make methamphetamine, lawmakers in meth-plagued states like Oklahoma and Oregon rushed to make cold medicine more difficult to purchase ? putting it behind the counter, requiring consumers to show ID and sign a registry to get it. Critics like me complained that the laws wouldn't solve the meth problem, they would only invite new suppliers into these communities ? all while inconveniencing consumers. These measures might dry up homemade labs ? and admittedly, they did ? but they would create a market for purer, more potent meth from Mexico , along with the attendant crime that comes with an international, black market drug trade.""