Mother Arrested for Buying One Too Many Sudafed

Ever since it was discovered that the active ingredient in Sudafed can be used as a precursor for making methamphetamines, innocents have been arrested for buying a little too much allowed under the law. According to police, ignorance of the law is no excuse.

So here's two cautionary tales...

On July 19, 2010, a mom bought two boxes of 24-hour Sudafed to alleviate her allergy symptoms in a Florida pharmacy.

On July 30, 2009, a grandmother in Indiana bought Zyrtec-D for her husband followed by Mucinex-D a week later for her daughter.

Both were later hand-cuffed, arrested, and had their homes searched for meth paraphernalia. Both were also completely innocent of any illegal activity other than buying too much pseudoephedrine.

According to the law, their crime was buying more than the legal limit of pseudoephedrine which is the active ingredient found in Sudafed, Zyrtec-D, and Mucinex-D.

For the mom, 2 packages of 24-hour Sudafed contain 4.8 grams of pseudoephedrine which is 1.2 grams more than the daily limit imposed by Florida law (3.6 grams).

For the grandma, she purchased six-tenths of a gram over the legal limit in Indiana which is 3 grams within a week (of note, the maximum allowed by federal law is 3.6 grams a day or 9 grams in a month).

Of course, you can try plenty of other types of allergy medications that do not contain pseudoephedrine to stay clear of any potentially illegal activities.

Sources:
Put Down the Cold Pills, Grandma, and Come Out With Your Hands Up. Reason.com 9/30/09

One Box of Sudafed Over the Line: Florida Woman Arrested for Trying to Relieve Allergy Symptoms. Reason.com 7/28/14