Methamphetamine spread like crazy in the late 1990s and early 2000s with people cooking up the drug in home labs. One part of the recipe: pseudoephedrine. You could go down to the drugstore, buy up a bunch of cold or allergy medication and with other ingredients and a dose of stupidity start brewing.

Legislators in Oregon put the sale of drugs with pseudoephedrine behind the counter. They required a prescription. Home cooking of meth became more difficult.

It also made it more difficult and more expensive for some patients to get relief.

Well, illegal drug makers found other ways to make meth. Cold and allergy sufferers still face more hassle and cost to get what can be for some more effective relief. Oregon is now the only state “that requires a prescription to purchase common cold and allergy medicines containing pseudoephedrine, which are available over-the-counter in every other state, “ according to Sam Barber of the Oregon Academy of Family Physicians.

House Bill 2648 would sort of reverse the law. It would limit the purchase of such products to people over 18 and would require people to show a photo ID. No prescription required. State Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, and state Rep. Jack Zika, R-Redmond, back the bill. Should it become law?