Will Arizona Pass a Law that Requires ID to Buy Baking Soda?

They're For My Gramma

I remember when you could walk into a store with two bucks and change and a note from your gramma. The quickly scrawled note read something like this:

"Hi, Pam, This is Gladys Smith. Please let my granddaughter buy me a pack of Virginny Slims. They're for me. She got the money. Thanks, Gladys

PS. How's your mama doin'? Tell her I said hi."

Okay. Times have changed. Gramma lived in a tiny town and the clerk not only knew Gramma, but they knew her handwriting and our whole family.

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Times Have Changed

This would never fly nowadays. These days store policy is to card everyone for alcohol and cigarettes, and I think it's a good system.

The onus is no longer on someone to play guess the consumer's age.

That 22-and-a-half-year-old checkout clerk doesn't have to try to figure out if the person buying beer or wine is over 35. Guess too high and it's embarrassing. Guess wrong and you and the store could get a huge fine.

Showing ID for Seemingly Benign Items

Most people fish out their IDs before they're even asked for them when they're buying alcohol or cigarettes. What might have seemed crazy to our parents or great-grandparents has become part of life.

But now we're beginning to show ID for other products, even things that seem benign.

Items like spray paint are restricted to reduce graffiti or to prevent minors from abusing inhalants. In 2006, the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act (CMEA) was passed requiring consumers to show a photo ID to buy Sudafed or any product containing pseudoephedrine.

I saw Breaking Bad. Just because I have bad sinuses, doesn't mean my crazy cousin Jack won't come up with some other "off-label" use for the product.

Will We Be Showing ID to Bake a Cake in Arizona?

The alcohol and tobacco restrictions made sense since they are intended to keep minors from making bad decisions. The paint and cold medicine restrictions seem to punish everyone. I'm pretty sure most of us have no ill intentions and just want to be able to breathe freely.

But is this going too far?

Will we soon have to show ID when we want to bake a cake?

There are already stores on the East Coast asking consumers to show ID when purchasing BAKING SODA!

So, It's Now Illegal to Buy Baking Soda Without ID?

Well, no. There is not yet any law on the books in Arizona requiring you to show ID in order to buy baking soda. Yet.

Some stores in the US are now asking shoppers to show ID because baking soda is used to produce certain illegal drugs, like crack cocaine.

Oh, and you can blame those crazy TikTok challenges for this, too. Certain viral videos have encouraged kids to partake in dangerous behaviors related to ingesting baking soda. The stores may be trying to get ahead of possible liability issues.