“Sometimes mistakes happen,” Marvel said. “It’s unfortunate. But for the good of everyone, the law was put into effect.

“I feel for her, but if she could go to one of the area hospitals and see a baby born to a meth-addicted mother …”

The “mistake” in this particular case is a grandmother buying one box of cold medicine for her household at one pharmacy and less than seven days later buying a box of cold medicine from another pharmacy for her adult daughter’s household. Thanks to laws currently on the books in most states, buying two products containing pseudoephedrine within 7 days leads to arrest.

But, of course, “for the good of everyone” we have to arrest people who buy too much cold medicine, especially grandmothers who work at correctional facilities and have, up until this point in time, been completely law-abiding citizens.

I realize that meth is a problem in some areas, but criminalizing the purchasing of some small quantity of cold medicine with no proof whatsoever said cold medicine is being used in the production of meth is, in a nutshell, bullshit.

I don’t buy anything with pseudoephedrine in it. Sure, the stuff works on colds, flu and allergies. Works almost as well as ephedrine used to before they completely removed it from over-the-counter medications, but I refuse to sign papers and show identification to buy legal, over-the-counter, non-prescription medications. It feels like a violation of my rights. If they want to make pseudoephedrine a controlled substance, then make it a controlled substance by requiring a prescription for it. This quasi-controlled method of dispensing it is as ridiculous as arresting and charging grandmothers with crimes for buying cold medications.