I Took the Red Pill

I woke up this morning, rather earlier than I would have liked, with my nose all itchy and runny and stuffy and immediately began fumbling around groggily for some pharmaceutical relief. I found it, too, but it wasn't exactly what I wanted... See, I meant to take a decongestant. Not terribly effective against allergies, but at least it would help unstuff my nose a bit. What I somehow ended up swallowing was an antihistamine: wonderfully effective on the allergies, but as a bonus side effect also knocks me completely on my ass. So, at the moment, I'm feeling really, really out of it. I just went out for some lunch, and it was all I could do not to slump face-first into my plate of food. I'm just glad it wasn't one of those 12-hour pills; with any luck, maybe it'll start to wear off by the time I have to go in to work.

What I want to know, though, is this: Why is it that I can walk into the grocery store and buy stuff like this that sends me into a drug-induced semi-stupor and doubtless makes me a major hazard on the highway, but I have to get a prescription for allergy medicine that doesn't have any stupid side effects? Does this make any sense to anyone?