Cheronis & Parente LLC

Criminal Defense Blog

ON BEHALF OF CHERONIS & PARENTE LLC   /   December 11, 2015

Allergy sufferers might face criminal charges for medications

Allergy season in Chicago is a force to be reckoned with. Many people who suffer from allergies turn to over-the-counter medications to combat the effects. Interestingly, some of the OTC medications are used to manufacture drugs. That means that there are some cases in which a person who is only trying to combat allergies might face charges for possession of items used to make drugs.

The OTC ingredient pseudoephedrine has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for almost 40 years. These affordable drugs are the first line of defense against allergies for some 18 million households across the country. Because some people are using PSE to make crystal meth, there has been a move to make this ingredient available by prescription only.

Illinois has gone on the same course as other states in an effort to combat the usage of PSE to make meth. Over-the-counter medications that contain this ingredient are regulated. People are only allowed to purchase a specific number of these medications within a specified period of time. This means that over-purchasing or having too much of the specific medications in your possession can lead to criminal troubles.

Anyone who is caught with a large amount of medications containing PSE might end up facing criminal charges. If that happens to you, it is critical that you get to work on your defense right away. It is completely unacceptable that allergy sufferers run the risk of facing criminal charges simply because they want to be prepared to fight off the horrible allergies that are plaguing the Chicagoland area.

Source: Chicago Sun-Times, “Opinion: Drug restriction would needlessly hurt allergy, cold sufferers,” Dec. 09, 2015

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