Sorry redhill but your argument doesn't fly very well. First of all you cannot make the Claritin-Prilosec and the narcotic-drugs-you-mention comparison because nacotics are ADDITIVE and have a track record of being ABUSED. Narcotics would also be an open door to easy and painless suicide-by-overdose, especially by the young who are fragile and vulnderable. And can you imagine a world with narco's behind the wheel of an automobile or even worse, alcoholic-benzo-narcs. Also, narcotics, like alcohol, can destroy not just yourself but families as well. Quite frankly, over-the-counter narcotics NEVER happen. I'm very glad that they ARE controlled substances.

On the flip side of the coin, you would be correct about about the DEA having too much control over the dispensing of certain controlled drugs by doctors. Today doctors ARE afraid to prescribe narcotics for fear of going before a judge, losing their licenses or even being put in jail.They (the DEA) have, in essence, taken the doctor out of the doctor when it comes to pain control. But, I think tHe DEA had to do what they had to do because of too many bad doctors over-prescribing.. Should I remind you of Elvis Presleys' physician, Dr. George Nichopoulos?? Did he not turn his patient into a drug abuser?? Did he, in fact, KILL the King of Rock by over-prescribing numerous addictive meds?? You bet he did) Well there are many doctors just like him out there and that's just one of the reasons why the DEA decided to step in and take control of abused medications and the dispensing thereof. In fact, I have noticed something different on my doctors prescription that I never had noticed before, it has a DEA # on it. So I guess this is good for the patient as well as the doctor. It'll also keep law suits against doctors at bay which is a big time problem today.