# Buying Sudafed...The "good stuff". **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 1, 2011, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980 "2011-08-01T00:16:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/21 "2011-08-01T15:12:17Z")
Pseudoephedrine is one of the few drugs I buy, because it works. And every time they have to treat me like a meth addict begging for one more hit. The last place told me that my driver’s license expiration was incorrect in the national database so they can’t sell to me until I correct that - but they don’t know how that is done. Since I can only get 24 pills at a time it is hardly worth the trouble of being treated like a meth addict. Why don’t they just make the stuff illegal? I am curious how these rules are made? What is the government agency that just gets to make up rules about what drugs are legal? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/22 "2011-08-01T15:39:39Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > I am curious how these rules are made? What is the government agency that just gets to make up rules about what drugs are legal? I believe that’s the FDA, but when it involves Scheduled drugs the DEA comes into play. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/23 "2011-08-01T15:59:15Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > When I was in college in the early 90s, for a while there I went crazy trying to lose weight. As part of that, I was taking a “triple stack” four times a day: 300mg of aspirin, 100mg of caffeine, and 30mg of ephedrine. None of this “pseudo” stuff, actual ephedrine. I bought it from an online [nutrition store](http://www.dpsnutrition.net/) that would also sell vitamins and protein supplements. As I recall, I’d buy three 90-count bottles at a time. It was cheap. Of course, they don’t sell it anymore. > > I stopped taking the stack when I realized it was causing some personality changes, such as the time I threw a couch at my brother. But did you lose any weight? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/24 "2011-08-01T16:36:16Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > But did you lose any weight? 🙂 Oh yeah. I wasn’t skinny by any means, I’m too large-framed for that, but I shed bad pounds and put on some rock-hard muscle. Considering the long-term damage I may have done to myself, it wasn’t worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Plumbkrazy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Plumbkrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plumbkrazy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/25 "2011-08-01T16:40:11Z")
> [@jamiemcgarry](#): > > I went to the drug store today to buy Sudafed and the pharmacist treated me like a shady teenager trying to buy booze or something. When I initially asked for the sudafed, the pharmicist replied back, “Sudafed 12hr is not available after 6pm. We’ve had a lot of trouble with it lately.” I didn’t even know what he meant at first by “sudafed 12hr” and I just kind of stared blankly at him and repeated “I just need Sudafed”. “Oh, yes, we have the regular Sudafed.” And he glared at me the whole time he was ringing up my purchase. I would’ve called him on it then and there. You’re the customer, you’re not breaking the law, and he’s some putz pharmacist making 40 grand a year. Who the hell is he to judge you? ---
**Author:** ![randomface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@randomface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randomface)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/26 "2011-08-01T16:53:48Z")
When I worked at a Walgreens in northwest Arkansas, we had issues with coordinated groups of people getting others to buy Sudafed. They would send in two or three people to buy Sudafed, then one or two other people would come in and steal instant cold compresses, iodine, and lithium batteries, along with whatever else was in their path. I’m not sure why they wanted the batteries, the cold compresses, or the iodine, but I was told you could use them to make drugs. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/27 "2011-08-01T16:55:10Z")
I suppose there’s one advantage to being a big guy: I don’t look much like a druggie. I’ve never had a real problem with buying pseudoephedrine. The stores I go to have little plastic placards stocked in the aisle. Grab one, take it to the pharmacy, they retrieve the box, you fill out the form and get it rung up. It’s a pain, but not very intimidating, and the pharmacist has never treated me as anything more than a fellow person being inconvenienced by the process. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/28 "2011-08-01T16:59:23Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > I’ll look into the sudafed part, you’re right in the Claritin part: 300 for $12 at Costco…it’s the decongestant part where they’re screwing ya. Yeah, I usually get the two drugs separately as well. I can’t find the prices of generic pseudephedrine online (:rolleyes:), but off the top of my head I think it’s $5-$10 for a 20-pack of 12-hour pills. You might easily cut you medications costs in half by getting generics. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/29 "2011-08-01T17:19:37Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > I’ve never had a real problem with buying pseudoephedrine. The stores I go to have little plastic placards stocked in the aisle. Grab one, take it to the pharmacy, they retrieve the box, you fill out the form and get it rung up. It’s a pain, but not very intimidating, and the pharmacist has never treated me as anything more than a fellow person being inconvenienced by the process. That’s generally true for me also, but one time I went in to my local CVS (where I’ve been a customer for about 8 years) near closing time and tried to get a pack… the pharmacist exchanged glances with the manager and said “We’re all out.” ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/30 "2011-08-01T18:05:10Z")
I’ve never had a problem buying it. Once had to sign a paper register, and more recently a credit-card type signature screen. I rarely buy it, though. I have sinus issues and it does work fairly well for congestion (unlike oral phenylephrine a.k.a. “new formula” Sudafed, which did precisely nothing), but it makes me feel edgy as hell, and— well, let’s just say sinus tissue is not the only thing that shrinks when I take it. I’m aware of the rationale for all the record-keeping now, but I don’t understand why the purchase of a single box would invite so much scrutiny and suspicion. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/31 "2011-08-01T18:10:54Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I’m aware of the rationale for all the record-keeping now, but I don’t understand why the purchase of a single box would invite so much scrutiny and suspicion. I don’t get it either. The reason it continues to be sold at all is, hey, it’s an effective drug with a legitimate use. I mean, if someone wants to buy out the store’s entire stock, that’s an eyebrow raiser at the very least. But if someone wants a single box, don’t make the poor bastard dealing with a cold go through any more trouble than he has to. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/32 "2011-08-01T18:23:20Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > When I was in college in the early 90s, for a while there I went crazy trying to lose weight. As part of that, I was taking a “triple stack” four times a day: 300mg of aspirin, 100mg of caffeine, and 30mg of ephedrine. None of this “pseudo” stuff, actual ephedrine. I bought it from an online [nutrition store](http://www.dpsnutrition.net/) that would also sell vitamins and protein supplements. As I recall, I’d buy three 90-count bottles at a time. It was cheap. Of course, they don’t sell it anymore. > > I stopped taking the stack when I realized it was causing some personality changes, such as the time I threw a couch at my brother. Aspirin for weight loss? I’ve never heard that one before. ---
**Author:** ![Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/33 "2011-08-01T18:35:11Z")
> [@Plumbkrazy](#): > > I would’ve called him on it then and there. You’re the customer, you’re not breaking the law, and he’s some putz pharmacist making 40 grand a year. Who the hell is he to judge you? $40k? I don’t think there are any pharmacists that have made that little since the 80’s. We are making like 3 times that nowadays. > [@cjepson](#): > > That’s generally true for me also, but one time I went in to my local CVS (where I’ve been a customer for about 8 years) near closing time and tried to get a pack… the pharmacist exchanged glances with the manager and said “We’re all out.” I don’t know if they were telling the truth, since that is the classic line when we don’t want to sell something or fill a script… However, CVS got into some trouble due to their psudoephedrine selling practices a while back, resulted in a BIG fine, and the loss of all the profits from psudoephedrine sells. Since then, CVS corporate has been much more strict, and has actually limited the amount of psudoephedrine products shipped to their stores. So.. It is possible they actually were out. > [@shiftless](#): > > I am curious how these rules are made? What is the government agency that just gets to make up rules about what drugs are legal? Nationally? Congress is the ones who set up all the rules and regulations on psuedoephedrine sales, as part of the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005. However, the various states have made a lot of their own rules, which might be stricter then the national requirements. Personally, I have no problem selling psudoephedrine, it is my nasal decongestant of choice, and I recommend it to all my patients. In my experience it works much better then phenylephrine. However, I have seen some shady people try to buy the maximum amount they can, and they always seem to ask for Sudefed 24hr or 12hr. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/34 "2011-08-01T18:39:23Z")
I go in, say, “I want to buy as much as I can buy legally” and sign the stuff. Either I am immune to the stinkeye or I just look so much like a suburban housewife that they can’t imagine me doing drugs. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/35 "2011-08-01T18:46:01Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > [Phenylpropanolamine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylpropanolamine). Yep, banned because of the stroke risk, specifically in young women. Gods, I miss that stuff! > > ETA: PPE was also the stuff in Coricidin D. That was what was in the original Dimetapp, back when Dimetapp was the good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/36 "2011-08-01T19:09:22Z")
> [@OpalCat](#): > > That was what was in the original Dimetapp, back when Dimetapp was the good stuff. Yep. Except for that embarrassing typo I made. Should be PPA, of course. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![markm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de053/32.png) [@markm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markm)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/37 "2011-08-01T19:16:06Z")
You should come to MO (we are, or were, meth-producing capital of the US). They’re seriously considering making all OTC drugs that are behind-the-counter currently prescription only. Because I really want to go to the doctor every time I need some Claritin-D. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/38 "2011-08-01T19:29:49Z")
> [@jamiemcgarry](#): > > Aspirin for weight loss? I’ve never heard that one before. [Wiki on the ECA Stack](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECA_stack). I’m not clear on the exact role of the aspirin, but from what I’ve read, it enhances the effects of the other two. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/39 "2011-08-01T22:14:55Z")
You have to show your ID to get canned air to clean your electronics around here. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Marconi\_N.Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Marconi\_N.Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marconi_N.Cheese)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980/40 "2011-08-01T22:32:47Z")
> [@GythaOgg](#): > > Sudafed is fast turning into a prescription-only item in Missouri. This hasn’t happened in St. Louis City or County yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did shortly. The more rural communities are all putting laws in place, one after another. There is quite a large meth making problem in Missouri and they see this as an effort to bring it under control. Supposedly, this helps, more than just putting it behind the counter and making people sign for it; I have no idea if that’s true or not It’s not a St Louis county thing yet but most of the little burgs in the county are prescription only. I don’t understand how they can do that but they are. I wonder if that includes possession? And if I have a script, doesn’t that give me some protection from the prying eyes of the man? \<- iffy? I hate being punished because of a few assholes. Meth labs, puppy mills and buck toothed hillbillies. And that’s just our elected officials. MOSux [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buying-sudafed-the-good-stuff/590980.md?page=3)