Depends on where you live. I live in Indiana, and you can buy Sudafed in limited quantites, but you are reported to law enforcement. Most people don't want law enforcement even knowing they bought Sudafed, so they go without. I had a chance to sit in a policy briefing where they shed a little light on what's going on in rural Indiana with mortality rates:
* Opioid epidemic really hit rural communities hard and high suicide rates are pretty common among addicts. This led to an increase in suicide in older people.
* Meth epidemic was fueled by cooking meth in the country, and it hit younger people.
There's a lot that has to go wrong before those two things become a major risk, though. Happy people don't generally decide that doing meth is a great idea. So what's driving the high rates?
Is it high rates of bad overall health? Bad economic prospects and high expenses leading to hopelessness? Something else?
* Opioid epidemic really hit rural communities hard and high suicide rates are pretty common among addicts. This led to an increase in suicide in older people.
* Meth epidemic was fueled by cooking meth in the country, and it hit younger people.