I Can’t Be Sick without Big Brother Watching!

Ok, I’m sure some of you may have experienced this degradation already, but my first encounter was on Sunday. I went to the local Walgreen’s to get some OTC cold medicine to try and finally rid myself of this cold that has been lingering since January. After standing in front of the area marked COLD/FLU and having no luck finding Advil Cold & Sinus or something along those lines I march back to the Pharmacy only to see what I’m looking for on full display. There were a number of choices so I had to ask the clerk to hand them to me so that I could decide which package represented my symptoms.

Decision made, the Clerk now requests my photo identification and then begins to input my name, address and driver’s license number into the computer. I couldn’t believe it! I asked where the information was going and she said she didn’t know, but she would inquire. The Pharmacist came over to explain that it was input into an internal database because by law I can only purchase a certain amount of this OTC per day, week etc.

I thanked her for her response, but left the store fuming – the Drug Addicts have now prevented me from being ill in private! This is ridiculous, nothing is sacred anymore! I truly believe that there is some list down state listing how many times you purchase these medications; it is not just housed in Walgreen’s database. What will they monitor next?