> Although I'm usually a more or less rational person
For what it's worth, we are nowhere near that sort of real-time reporting for things like pseudoephedrine. At the pharmacy near me they are still having you sign a giant 3 ring binder when you buy pseudoephedrine.
Just wait for the next "Meth Prevention Act." Seriously. Do you really think that real-time reporting won't be imposed eventually?
The powers-that-be already require prepaid debit cards (so you cannot make anonymous purchases on-line) and cell phones (no more anonymous calling) to be registered in this way.
Government is pushing ePrescribing pretty hard. It will happen some time after ePrescribing is universal. Some politician will wake up one day and say to themself, "Why we already have the ability to track this real time. We just need to force all e-prescribing systems to register whenever someone buys whatever-needs-monitoring."
If they already have the system in place to track drugs prescribed by providers then it will be easier to require the pharmacys to tie your purchase to you on your OTC purchases. The pharmacys will already have the software and hardware in place. All it will take is a law to require all of the software vendors to comply.
My guess is that pharmacies will simply be barred from accepting cash. The credit card processors are already set up for bureaucrats to monitor at their leisure.
i think if someone decided to lobby the issue such legislation would have a decent chance of making it into law, but you can't legislate engineering. real-time monitoring of all retail sales in the united states is quite an undertaking. and as smart as it may be to be concerned about government intervention into our lives, i think there are better outlets for that energy.
[edit, thought better about some "no need to put words into my mouth" type stuff]
For what it's worth, we are nowhere near that sort of real-time reporting for things like pseudoephedrine. At the pharmacy near me they are still having you sign a giant 3 ring binder when you buy pseudoephedrine.