In article , "DGDevin" wrote:
"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...

You're apparently one of the fortunate ones who's never had a major -- and
sudden -- allergy attack.

If it's that serious a condition for you I'm surprised you don't carry a
couple of doses of the effective medication with you all the time, that you
rely on being able to dash into a store when the allergies strike. I get
three-month supplies of my prescriptions send to me in the mail so there is
never any danger of running out, and all it takes is a phone call to my
doctor to get them renewed annually, I haven't stood in line at a drugstore
in years. I appreciate the severity of your condition, my wife suffers from
allergies in the spring. It just seems to me that a little foresight would
make right-this-minute purchases unnecessary.

It's not just a convenience issue. OTC, store brand equivalents of Sudafed are
about five bucks for a box of two dozen doses. Adding a visit to a physician
to get a prescription raises the cost by a factor of eight.

More than that, though, is the utter impossibility of ever stopping the drug
problem by attacking the supply side. As long as demand exists, someone will
produce a supply to satisfy that demand. The demand may shift to other
intoxicants, but as long as there is a demand, there will always be a supply.
Treating the demand as a criminal issue doesn't work. The only apparent way to
reduce the demand is by treating it as a public health problem: education
regarding the dangers, and working to reduce the social conditions that make
drug use seem a desirable way of dealing with life's misfortunes.