The Liberty Papers

A while back, Chris pointed out all the daddy-state stupidity of the new sudafed ban. In the effort to win the War on (Some) Drugs, our federal overlords have declared that you have a choice between buying enough decongestant to get the job done and risk jail time, or live with the congestion because they say so. And now we have our first victim of the law.

First Arrest In The Nation For Violating The Combat Methamphetamine Act

John P. Gilbride, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration and United States Attorney Terry Flynn, Western District of New York announced the arrest of William FOUSSE for violating the Combat Methamphetamine Act by purchasing over 9 grams of pseudoephedrine in a month’s time.

SAC Gilbride stated, “This is a first for DEA. DEA’s focus is to dismantle clandestine methamphetamine labs and trafficking organizations and to also monitor the products that are illegally used to produce methamphetamine. DEA is commited to keeping our communites safe from the dangers of methamphetamine production and abuse. Today’s arrest is a warning to those who violate the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act.”

…

This investigation revealed that William FOUSSE had purchased 406 Bronkaid caplets which contain 25 mg of ephedrine sulfate per tablet over a two week period, which resulted in purchasing over 29 grams of ephedrine. Further investigation revealed that FOUSSE had also purchased similar products over the same time period from three other pharmacies. The combined amount of ephedrine purchased was over 29 grams which is three times over what is allowed by law.

What’s missing from the whole deal is any evidence that he was actually producing meth, or even selling the drug to meth producers. From stopthedrugwar.org:

DEA agents visited Fousse at his home on February 13. According to a police affidavit, Fousse said he was unaware of the law, was not selling the pills to meth cooks, and was using the stuff himself. That was not good enough for the DEA and federal prosecutors. He faces a May 1 court date.

Now, I’m not going to definitively state that Fousse wasn’t involved in drug production in some manner. However, another story that I’ve seen mentions that they didn’t find a meth lab in his house, although police found “individual items used in meth labs” in his home. I’d love to see a list of those items, though, because I’m sure most of them are probably things that would be used to cook dinner, not meth.

I can say, though, that as a result of the CMEA law, I don’t feel one bit safer. I highly doubt that it’s made it appreciably harder for a user to find his meth. Even if it turns out that this guy was selling these tabs to meth producers (which sounds unlikely, since someone who actually knew meth dealers would be stupid to risk himself to go buy these tabs for them), it doesn’t change the fact that the law does basically nothing to stop the meth supply. What it does is further causes ordinary citizens to feel like they’re under watch of the feds, which does little more but prepare us for future— worse— infringements on our liberty.