https://pharmacy.ufl.edu/2015/10/14/uf-researchers-ask-fda-t...
The restrictions on pseudoephedrine were mandated by Congress through the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 (passed as part of the patriot act) which followed various state legislatures’ passages of similar laws.
The main driving force behind the law was Bush’s White House drug task force and several members of Congress.
Federal agencies very, very, rarely solicit or propose legislation like this. And Congress rarely asks for their input.
Don't forget principa-agent problems.
Yes, the FDA often does what it's told by pharma companies.
This change was passed under special anti-terrorist powers? (Not US so possible misunderstood)
https://www.aclu.org/other/myths-and-realities-about-patriot...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_Methamphetamine_Epidemi...
It was added as a part of a reauthorization of the original Patriot Act.
US Federal policy making and legislation is a bit like calvinball. And for misc reasons, Congress tends to pass large (omnibus) bills, instead of more reasonable units of work.
As an outsider looking in, I collect and read stuff about "the sausage factory".
Here's one study that looks past the folk theories, to illuminate how some example laws came to be. Similarly comprehensive books could be written about most all major legislation.
SYMPOSIUM: UNORTHODOX LAWMAKING, UNORTHODOX RULEMAKING
https://www.columbialawreview.org/content/unorthodox-lawmaki...
"The Schoolhouse Rock! cartoon version of the conventional legislative process is dead, if it was ever an accurate description in the first place. Major policy today is often the product of “unorthodox lawmaking” and “unorthodox rulemaking”—deviations from traditional process marked by frequent use of omnibus bills and multiple agency implementation; emergency statutes and regulations issued without prior comment; outsourcing to lawmaking commissions and unconventional delegates; process shortcuts outside of emergencies; presidential policymaking; and outside drafters, some nonpartisan and others hyperpartisan. These unorthodoxies are everywhere, and they have shifted the balance in the elected branches and beyond, often centralizing power in actors—like party leadership and the White House—not traditionally part of the core lawmaking and rulemaking processes. These unorthodoxies are the new textbook process."
BOOK: Unorthodox Lawmaking: New Legislative Processes in the U.S. Congress [2017]
FDA having different priorities than you is not the same as them being stupid.
But it's also wrong to arrest grandmothers on drug charges and send them through the system for a violation of some legislator's arbitrary limit. Turns out it didn't solve the meth problem, but it did make the world a little worse to live in.
Also, I think describing the article as "outrage-bait" is in poor taste for this site. A different implication might be that when criminal charges are tied to an action with the intent of limiting an activity, those charges will inevitably be applied to "the wrong people" (maybe you?) for a different activity, and that we should be skeptical of problem-solving-through-force.
So, congrats to you for looking like a fine upstanding person and not like a clandestine drugs manufacturer.
I am sorry, what? Maybe I have just been lucky my entire life, but that has never been my experience. I used to have long hair for many years, and I haven't had a clean-shaven face in years. Dark circles under my eyes is a common thing. I also have ear piercings, and I dress in baggy non-assuming casual clothing most of the time. Not once was I ever questioned about or refused any behind the counter drugs at any of the pharmacies I've been to across multiple states. They do ask for an ID to purchase those behind the counter drugs, but I am pretty sure they are legally obligated to do it for everyone, due to the regulations that the thread is talking about.
Also, I believe you meant to say "methamphetamines". There is no illegal amphetamine manufacturing epidemic (and I am not aware of there ever being one), but there was a methamphetamine one.