Here are some of the places where I am confused. I am not making any specific statement about these events, but they make me go, "hmmmm?"
I have a daughter with ADHD. She takes medication for her ADHD. She needs this medication and she wants to be on this medication because she likes her brain better when it is medicated and she can focus. I see a doctor every 3 months in order to be able to keep her on this medication. In addition, I can not get a prescription for more than 1 month at a time. I have to contact the doctor each month to get a new prescription. I have to go to the pharmacy in person with a paper prescription because you are not permitted to order this prescription over the phone. I also have to show a photo ID TWICE to get this prescription. I have to show it when I drop off the prescription and I have to show it when I pick up the prescription. All of this annoyance is due to REGULATIONS placed on the purchase of this medication because some people have chosen to misuse ADHD drugs. It is annoying and it makes things difficult for me, but I accept that this is the reality.
Here is where it gets even more confusing for me...I was in Walmart the other day. I had requested a new prescription for my daughter's meds early because of the holidays. I do NOT want to get caught without my daughter's meds and holiday office/store hours can get tricky, so I called for a new prescription. I tried to fill it at Walmart the other day because I was there picking up other holiday necessities and I wanted to get all of my errands out of the way. The pharmacist refused to fill my prescription because it was a week too early for me to be permitted to have these pills that are prescribed by a doctor. I was sent away because of the regulations that were placed on access to this drug. That same morning, I was chatting with a woman and her family in the fabric isle. She was angry because she had to call a manager and yell at him in order to be able to buy her ammunition that morning. It seems she did not know what type of ammo her gun needs, so she had her teenage son request the ammo and she was going to buy it. When the counter clerk told them she could not sell the ammunition to them because you can't sell ammo to a minor, the woman explained that the ammunition was for her. Regulations prohibit the clerk from selling to the mom either because it was the son who requested the ammo and he is a minor. As a result, the woman I was chatting with had requested to see the manager and yelled at him (her words). She got her ammo but I did not get my meds. To be fair, I did not try yelling at the pharmacist. Although, I did jokingly say that the people who make these rules should have to spend a week with my kid unmedicated. :-)
Here is where it gets even more confusing for me...I was in Walmart the other day. I had requested a new prescription for my daughter's meds early because of the holidays. I do NOT want to get caught without my daughter's meds and holiday office/store hours can get tricky, so I called for a new prescription. I tried to fill it at Walmart the other day because I was there picking up other holiday necessities and I wanted to get all of my errands out of the way. The pharmacist refused to fill my prescription because it was a week too early for me to be permitted to have these pills that are prescribed by a doctor. I was sent away because of the regulations that were placed on access to this drug. That same morning, I was chatting with a woman and her family in the fabric isle. She was angry because she had to call a manager and yell at him in order to be able to buy her ammunition that morning. It seems she did not know what type of ammo her gun needs, so she had her teenage son request the ammo and she was going to buy it. When the counter clerk told them she could not sell the ammunition to them because you can't sell ammo to a minor, the woman explained that the ammunition was for her. Regulations prohibit the clerk from selling to the mom either because it was the son who requested the ammo and he is a minor. As a result, the woman I was chatting with had requested to see the manager and yelled at him (her words). She got her ammo but I did not get my meds. To be fair, I did not try yelling at the pharmacist. Although, I did jokingly say that the people who make these rules should have to spend a week with my kid unmedicated. :-)
Now, regulations are put in place because of people who have done things that are wrong. I am sure the woman with the ammo is telling the truth and is actually buying the ammo for her gun and not giving it so some random minor who asked her to buy him ammo. I am also not going to sell my daughter's ADHD meds to college kids who want to use it to study for exams. We both are forced to live with regulations.
Why does she get to have her ammo but I do not get to have my meds? Well, the ammo is sold by a retail store that wants to please its customers. My meds are dispensed by a licensed pharmacist who wants to please customers, but must adhere to the regulations in order to keep that license. Even if I had yelled at the pharmacist, I am pretty sure I would not have been able to get those meds. I have to go back in a week.
Why is having a minor with you a problem? I am not sure why, but I do know that I have been sent away from the state run liquor store without a bottle of alcohol because I was in the store with a friend who did not have his wallet. I was buying the alcohol, we were both in our late 20s, and he was actually older than I was. I had to leave and come back later to get the bottle of alcohol. Because the liquor store is state run, the regulations were enforced. Because Walmart is a retail store, the regulations were not enforced.
While we are on the topic of alcohol, let's look at that. Sometimes people do bad things when drinking alcohol like driving. A majority of us do not drink and drive, but when people do the results can be catastrophic. As a result, there are REGULATIONS on alcohol. These regulations are not only because of drunk driving, but because alcohol can be addictive and because minors are not permitted to buy alcohol and many other reasons. In North Carolina, where I live, I can only purchase liquor at a state operated store. Also, I can not purchase any beer or wine on Sunday before noon. That makes NO sense to me. I am a working mom and I have to do my grocery shopping on the weekend because of my busy schedule. Because I hate being in a crowded store, I try to go first thing in the morning. If I happen to need to shop on Sunday morning, I can not pick up a bottle of wine. What? What on earth does buying wine on Sunday have to do with anything? If I buy it on Sunday morning will I be more likely to drive drunk and kill people? Is Sunday when minors are are out trying to buy alcohol so they lock it down to protect the kids?
Look, regulations are a fact of our life. We all have to share this space and we have to find a way to live that looks out for all of us. Many of our laws and regulations are put in place to prevent bad things from happening. So yes, we all are subject to regulations because of a need to look out for the "greater good." I don't have the answers but I do have a lot of questions and I would like them to be answered in a respectful and reasonable way.
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