North Carolina continues down the path of violating the privacy rights of innocent people who want to take care of their health.
The state government, including law enforcement, already has access to prescription data on painkillers and controlled substances. As I wrote last year:
There are more than 53 million prescriptions in the state database, yet the state has identified patterns of abuse, based on an informal estimate, in 50-60 situations since 2007. To take such intrusive action to find a small number of "abuses" is a gross violation of privacy rights.
There’s a reason why slippery slope arguments are made, especially when it comes to the government wanting more and more private information: the government proves over and over it doesn’t know when to say "when."
Now the state legislature wants to strengthen its fight against methamphetamine abuse. This certainly is a worthy cause. However, to do this, the legislature just passed legislation that would violate the privacy rights of innocent cold sufferers.
Many cold medications contain the drug pseudoephedrine. This drug is used in making methamphetamine. As a result, if an individual purchases cold medicine that contains this drug, their personal information would be placed into a national database.
This is certainly a shotgun approach to a narrow problem and again disregards the liberty interests of North Carolinians. Don’t be surprised when the state government wants even more personal data in the years to come for law enforcement purposes.
If there was ever chicken soup abuse, maybe we would need a state database of individuals who buy chicken soup or any ingredients necessary for making chicken soup. It could happen. After all, if I told you 10 years ago we’d have a cold medicine database, you’d laugh at me.
Rights and Regulations Headlines
NC Lawmakers Weigh Earlier Morning Alcohol Sales
"The state Legislature is considering permitting alcohol to be sold earlier in the day and on some state university properties."
Final Voter ID Mandate Appears Headed for Veto
"Republican-backed legislation requiring North Carolina voters to show picture identification before casting a ballot they know will count is headed Thursday to the desk of Gov. Beverly Perdue, who sounds ready to veto the measure that fellow Democrats have called purely partisan."
Supreme Court: individuals may challenge federal law for violating states’ rights
The United States Supreme Court in Bond v. United States held "Bond [the plaintiff] has standing to challenge the federal statute on grounds that the measure interferes with the powers reserved to States." According to the Court, in this 9-0 opinion:
To argue that the National Government has interfered with state sovereignty in violation of the Tenth Amendment is to assert the legal rights and interests of States and States alone. That, however, is not so. Bond seeks to vindicate her own constitutional interests. The individual, in a proper case, can assert injury from governmental action taken in excess of the authority that federalism defines. Her rights in this regard do not belong to a State.
