AP: Laws restricting cold medicine purchases have failed, create unintended consequences

[jct74]

What a suprise!

Electronic systems that track sales of the cold medicine used to make methamphetamine have failed to curb the drug trade and instead created a vast, highly lucrative market for profiteers to buy over-the-counter pills and sell them to meth producers at a huge markup.

An Associated Press review of federal data shows that the lure of such easy money has drawn thousands of new people into the methamphetamine underworld over the last few years.

Read more:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_drug_war_tracking_meth

[tangent4ronpaul]

More than a dozen other states are adopting their own tracking laws or considering doing so. One benefit is the cost, which amounts to virtually nothing for cash-strapped state governments.

last time I bought a box of sudafed I had to show ID and a pharmacy tech had to log in all sorts of info in a log book by hand. Wasted about 5 minutes of each of our time. There were 20 entries per page and over an inch of pages had been filled out. Now for that info to be useful, our tax dollars go to work and someone has to type all that info into a computer... So the customer and the store get taxed by an unfunded mandate for our time, and then we are taxed again so they can track us.

Oregon began requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine products in 2006. Mississippi became the second state to do so in July, and Missouri's governor is asking lawmakers to follow suit in 2011.

If more states do the same, it could be devastating for makers of cold and sinus pills. The pseudoephedrine market is estimated at more than $550 million annually.

Opponents of prescription laws say they punish mostly law-abiding consumers for the crimes of a relative few.

mmmm - shell out $70 for the "privileged" of buying a $4 box of sniffle medicine... WONDERFUL!

This is sure to be a cash cow for the Mexican Drug Cartels, where sales are not limited or tracked. Oh, and you can buy it from online pharmacies, including overseas ones.

Speaking of which, Drano disappeared from store shelves for a while and was replaced with something that just didn't to the job. It was listed as a "precursor" chemical for Meth. It's job in the synthesis? - adjusting the pH... like nothing else would do the same. Fortunately, it's back.

F'ing MORONS!

-t

[dannno]

Because of booming demand created in large part by the tracking systems, they can buy a box of pills for $7 to $8 and sell it for $40 or $50.

The tracking systems "invite more people into the criminal activity because the black market price of the product becomes so much more profitable," said Jason Grellner, a detective in hard-hit Franklin County, Mo., about 40 miles west of St. Louis.

"Where else can you make a 750 percent profit in 45 minutes?" asked Grellner, former president of the Missouri Narcotics Officers Association.

Since tracking laws were enacted beginning in 2006, the number of meth busts nationwide has started climbing again. Some experts say the black market for cold pills contributed to that spike.

I'm sick of the morons running our police state.

[Corydoras]

I think it should just go back to being a prescription drug. I remember when it was a prescription drug, thirty-some years ago, and you got it only when you had such a bad cold that you had to go to the doctor. Not a big deal. Strong medicine for really bad colds.

[tangent4ronpaul]

I think it should just go back to being a prescription drug. I remember when it was a prescription drug, thirty-some years ago, and you got it only when you had such a bad cold that you had to go to the doctor. Not a big deal. Strong medicine for really bad colds.

You do know you are on a Libertarian forum, right? Or did you get lost on your way to Daily Kos?

Also, it was OTC in 1980. I don't think it's ever been Rx, except perhaps in a much stronger dosage form. I've taken it as long as I can remember, whenever I had a cold. It was in an OTC container in my parents med cabinet and not in a Rx pill vial

-t

[dannno]

I think it should just go back to being a prescription drug. I remember when it was a prescription drug, thirty-some years ago, and you got it only when you had such a bad cold that you had to go to the doctor. Not a big deal. Strong medicine for really bad colds.

Sudafed is an allergy medication, somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the fact that the media continually says "cold medicine" is just to confuse people.. or it could be for both..

[Corydoras]

It may have been OTC in 1980, but not around 1978.

Assuming that the prescription system itself is going to continue, there are a LOT of medications that have a much better argument for being OTC than pseudephedrine.

Save a lot of bureaucratic time, money, and, frankly, patient privacy if it were prescription.

This is not yet a country where everything is available over the counter.

[torchbearer]

Sudafed is an allergy medication, somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the fact that the media continually says "cold medicine" is just to confuse people.. or it could be for both..

Sudafed is a sympathomimetic amine.
It is used in combination with antihistamines which are allergy medicines.

Basically, it does the same thing as meth or the original mini-thins.
It expands blood vessels, bronchial expanders making it easier to breath.

[Corydoras]

Sudafed is an allergy medication, somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the fact that the media continually says "cold medicine" is just to confuse people.. or it could be for both..

Sudafed is a nasal decongestant. That means it fights the nasal symptoms of allergies and colds.

It only treats the symptom of runny stuffy nose.

[Anti Federalist]

In 1983, laws were passed in the United States prohibiting possession of precursors and equipment for methamphetamine production. This was followed a month later by a bill passed in Canada enacting similar laws. In 1986, the U.S. government passed the Federal Controlled Substance Analogue Enforcement Act in an attempt to curb the growing use of designer drugs. Despite this, use of methamphetamine expanded throughout rural United States, especially through the Midwest and South.[17]

Since 1989, five U.S. federal laws and dozens of state laws have been imposed in an attempt to curb the production of methamphetamine. Methamphetamine can be produced in home laboratories using pseudoephedrine or ephedrine, which, at the time, were the active ingredients in over-the-counter drugs such as Sudafed and Contac. Preventive legal strategies of the past 17 years have steadily increased restrictions to the distribution of pseudoephedrine/ephedrine-containing products.[18]

As a result of the U.S. Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005, a subsection of the USA PATRIOT Act, there are restrictions on the amount of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine one may purchase in a specified time period and further requirements that these products must be stored in order to prevent theft.[18] Increasingly strict restrictions have resulted in the reformulation of many over-the-counter drugs, and some, such as Actifed, have been discontinued entirely in the United States.

[tangent4ronpaul]

Any idea how much you can purchase in what time period?

-t

[Eryxis]

About 2 of the biggest boxes for each product per 30 days. Some of these vary depending on your state, but that's the "average" for most states.

[specsaregood]

vasically, it does the same thing as meth or the original mini-thins.

Mini-thins, those things were awesome. Can you even get those anymore?

[torchbearer]

Mini-thins, those things were awesome. Can you even get those anymore?

not with ephedra in them, i think they are caffiene pills now.

[guitarlifter]

If the government wasn't in the medical industry, drugs would cost pennies on the dollar, and we'd have our natural right back to whatever the hell we want with out bodies.

[dealerjim]

My wife has been taking Claritin-D for years for allergy attacks. Last year MS enacted legislation that has made it a prescription only drug. Now she just suffers through the attacks because we can't afford to pay a $30 copay for monthly doctor visits, just for a prescription, on top of the ridiculous price for the medication. She gets to suffer through allergy attacks while the meth problem gets bigger and more profitable...

[tangent4ronpaul]

My wife has been taking Claritin-D for years for allergy attacks. Last year MS enacted legislation that has made it a prescription only drug. Now she just suffers through the attacks because we can't afford to pay a $30 copay for monthly doctor visits, just for a prescription, on top of the ridiculous price for the medication. She gets to suffer through allergy attacks while the meth problem gets bigger and more profitable...

1) Get a different doctor or try a walk in clinic. Rx's tend to be one refil, 2 refills ... or unlimited for up to a year. You want the latter.

2) Find an overseas pharmacy - maybe Canadian. Some require a phone consult with their doc, others do not.

Sounds like your problem is your HMO / Insurance company.

-t

[Brooklyn Red Leg]

Save a lot of bureaucratic time, money, and, frankly, patient privacy if it were prescription.

This has got to be, without a doubt, one of the most misinformed things I've read on this site in a while.

This is not yet a country where everything is available over the counter.

You're $#@!ting me, right? Prescription for $#@!ing SNIFFLE medicine?

[ExPatPaki]

I
This is not yet a country where everything is available over the counter.

Not true. In Pakistan, you can pretty much get every medicinal drug you want at local pharmacies as OTC.

[mczerone]

AP: Laws restricting cold medicine purchases have failed, create unintended consequences

Newsflash: Laws restricting anything beyond the use of aggression have failed, create unintended consequences.

[dannno]

My wife has been taking Claritin-D for years for allergy attacks. Last year MS enacted legislation that has made it a prescription only drug. Now she just suffers through the attacks because we can't afford to pay a $30 copay for monthly doctor visits, just for a prescription, on top of the ridiculous price for the medication. She gets to suffer through allergy attacks while the meth problem gets bigger and more profitable...

I used to take claritin, sudafed, I've tried pretty much everything that was invented for allergies up until a few years ago...

Now I take an herbal combination of stingy nettle and quercetin.. It takes about a week or two to build up in your system, so I'd take at least 4 a day for a couple weeks, then take as needed but try and take at least one every other day to keep it in your system so when she has an attack she can take a couple and be good to go. It works way better, and there are ZERO side effects.. I always thought allergy medicine made me feel kinda drugged up.

[dealerjim]

I used to take claritin, sudafed, I've tried pretty much everything that was invented for allergies up until a few years ago...

Now I take an herbal combination of stingy nettle and quercetin.. It takes about a week or two to build up in your system, so I'd take at least 4 a day for a couple weeks, then take as needed but try and take at least one every other day to keep it in your system so when she has an attack she can take a couple and be good to go. It works way better, and there are ZERO side effects.. I always thought allergy medicine made me feel kinda drugged up.

Thanks. We'll give it a shot and see if it works.

[dealerjim]

1) Get a different doctor or try a walk in clinic. Rx's tend to be one refil, 2 refills ... or unlimited for up to a year. You want the latter.

2) Find an overseas pharmacy - maybe Canadian. Some require a phone consult with their doc, others do not.

Sounds like your problem is your HMO / Insurance company.

-t

We actually tried the walk in clinic at the local Walgreens only to find out they refuse to prescribe anything with psuedophedrine. That was a waste of a co-pay. lol

[oyarde]

What the sudafed retrictions have actually done is create an inflated black market for it .

[tangent4ronpaul]

We actually tried the walk in clinic at the local Walgreens only to find out they refuse to prescribe anything with psuedophedrine. That was a waste of a co-pay. lol

Call first and ask if they have such a policy.

You ideally want an independent clinic - one owned by the doc. They exist. Large chains are likely to pull that BS.

-t

[YumYum]

I was told by a meth cook that he got ephedrine from deer licks during hunting season. He also could get ephedrine from canned green beans. It goes to show that these guys can get ephedrine from anything. According to my uncle, who is now dead, most of the ephedrine was coming up from Mexico in 55 gallon drums and going to the high desert in Southern California (Hesperia, Victorville, Apple Valley). From there it was going out all over the country. The woman who ran the Boys and Girls club on the Arapaho rez was getting 55 gallon shipments and using the club as a cover. The cooks also cook meth in the trailers of big semi-trucks as they go down the Interstate. What has happened though, is that the police have made it so difficult to cook meth, meth is now being cooked in Mexico and delivered, ready to slam. The drug war has failed miserably.

[oyarde]

I was told by a meth cook that he got ephedrine from deer licks during hunting season. He also could get ephedrine from canned green beans. It goes to show that these guys can get ephedrine from anything. According to my uncle, who is now dead, most of the ephedrine was coming up from Mexico in 55 gallon drums and going to the high desert in Southern California (Hesperia, Victorville, Apple Valley). From there it was going out all over the country. The woman who ran the Boys and Girls club on the Arapaho rez was getting 55 gallon shipments and using the club as a cover. The cooks also cook meth in the trailers of big semi-trucks as they go down the Interstate. What has happened though, is that the police have made it so difficult to cook meth, meth is now being cooked in Mexico and delivered, ready to slam. The drug war has failed miserably.

If that is true about green beans , please delete . I do not want the price to get inflated .

[YumYum]

If that is true about green beans , please delete . I do not want the price to get inflated .

Don't worry. The cooks will find other ways to get ephedrine. Is it true that there is a small amount of ephedrine in toe-nail clippings?

[oyarde]

Don't worry. The cooks will find other ways to get ephedrine. Is it true that there is a small amount of ephedrine in toe-nail clippings?

Chupacabra nails , yes : )

[Corydoras]

You're $#@!ting me, right? Prescription for $#@!ing SNIFFLE medicine?

Yeah, there are prescription drugs for zits, too. For example, there is one acne medication that can cause suicidal behavior. It is valuable in the most severe cases of acne. But you're going to call it a zit pill. No, it's a pill that can kill.

It isn't the magnitude of the symptoms that determines whether a drug is OTC, it's the magnitude of the potential problems.