I could do it with less effort and cost than OTC. Online message my PCP, prescription sent to pharmacy, mailed to me at my house, cost $0 since it's just a generic. And I have a cheap as shit high deductible plan with a steep out of pocket maximum, not some cadillac plan.

OTC would be faster, but if I have a chronic need for large amounts of pseudoephedrine I'm not waiting until it hurts before I run to the store. I'm getting my doc to make sure I have a hell of a good stash (and I checked, just to be sure -- the limits don't exist if it's prescription; at least not in Oregon, which is famously restrictive on pseudoephedrine).

Would it be better to relax the restrictions that now seem pointless on the OTC version? Yep. But if someone is bitching on HN about how they can barely get what they desperately need, I'd say it's time to stop being idealistic and go get the damn drugs already.