Woman arrested for buying cold medicine (actual headline!)

All the drug war apologists who say that folks who buy cold medicine for its proper purpose have nothing to fear from new laws can kindly pipe down now.

Last week, a woman in Rockville, Indiana, awoke to police pounding on her door, carrying an arrest warrant. She was promptly cuffed.

Her "crime"? It turned out that way back in March, she had purchased more than 3 grams of sinus medicine.

And yes, "Woman arrested for buying cold medicine" is the actual headline from WISH-TV in Indianapolis. They got that right, didn't they?

After the arrest, her picture was splashed on the front page of a local newspaper and on the website of WTHI-TV in Terre Haute - as if she was some sort of drug kingpin.

In fact, she wasn't aware the recent law against buying too much cold medicine existed until she was arrested.

The woman is being offered a deferral, under which she'll only have to pay court costs and stay out of trouble for 30 days. But my question is: Why aren't the charges being dropped immediately?

Drug war backers are always harping about how charges are dropped once it's clear that a person had a legitimate reason to buy sinus medicine. Did the drug warriors lie about that too?

Not only that, but for the police to check the pharmacy's logs without probable cause is unconstitutional.

If this happened to me, you'd see me in court for certain - as a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the sheriff's department.

(Source: http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/news/indiana/news_wthi_rockville_meth_medicine_arrests_2009831810_2721309)