> You're not being told "no". You can just go buy some Sudafed right now if you want to.
You effectively are in many cases, just as predicted by most when these laws were put into place.
First, it became far less of a relatively benign "after the fact" logbook as it was when first implemented. It is now networked and real-time. Many chain stores implement their own interpretation of what they feel a rate limit should be. This tends to err drastically on the side of conservative, and might look back much further than you assume.
Second, it's added risk - many independents simply don't want to bother with such a risk, and thus don't bother stocking it. It also adds handling costs.
And third and most importantly - it completely and irrevocably ruined the supply chain. It is now legitimately difficult to find it in stock reliably - and if you run out of it at 2am, it's no longer just a minor inconvenience to run to literally any convenience store.
Most stores simply no longer carry it, and only a handful of 24 hour pharmacy options exist compared to 20 years ago. Those pharmacies also have consistent supply issues, so you better not have strong brand or dosing preference.
Prices went up, and availability plummeted. It's out of stock roughly a third of the time I've needed to go run out to get some, and is no longer just an afterthought item to stock up on at Costco. Typically you're settling on buying the smallest boxes they make since all other sizes are out of stock, and paying even more per dose.
And it absolutely is a slippery slope. Loperamide has now met the same fate in many states, and has become multiples of the expense it used to be and a very much pain in the butt to get. No more qty 120 bottles from Costco at 2 cents a pill - entire market killed because people got used to this new norm.
It's just one more chip away at the American quality of life. Not a huge one, but one that adds expense and friction for what amounts to a questionable amount of gain.
Edit: That is all to say - it's far more than "just a rate limit". Ruining the OTC market for cold medication might be worth it, but that's more or less what happened here. It wasn't like the top 5% of buyers got scraped off the top and sent to jail and everyone else carried on per usual. The cold aisle of your local supermarket took a giant step backwards from 20 years ago in price, availability, convenience, and effectiveness. That was the cost of these creeping regulations. Some may even say the chilling effect was the entire point.