Decongestants Targeted in Meth Crackdown
Makers of cold medicine are reformulating their products to make it nearly impossible to convert them into illegal methamphetamine in the crude home labs that have sprung up across the USA.
For years, meth addicts have purchased large quantities of over-the-counter decongestants, such as Sudafed, that contain pseudoephedrine. Pseudoephedrine can be cooked with household products into methamphetamine, a highly addictive illegal stimulant.
In response, many states have passed laws that make it more difficult to purchase the medicine. Some now require people who purchase it to show identification and register in a ledger. Others require drugstores to place the medicine behind the pharmacy counter.
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posted by Lee Killough @ 3:06 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Time to stock up on my Claritin-D, one box at a time (next thing you know, "store hopping" will become a federal crime just like "doctor hopping").
I live in allergy country. I take Claritin daily, and Claritin-D 12-hour whenever I have the slightest congestion.
I take pseudoephedrine sulfate, but not pseudoephedrine HCl. Pseudoephedrine HCl gives me jitters, nausea, and other bad side effects. Pseudoephedrine sulfate is just right for me, relieving my symptoms with almost no unwanted side effects.
Now I'm going to be deprived of my pseudoephedrine sulfate, or I'm going to have to start getting a prescription for it, just like I used to have to get a prescription for Claritin (or at least a USSA state doctor's visit, where the doctor handed me "free" samples).
The "reformulated" OTC drugs might have undesired side effects for me, just like pseudoephedrine HCl does. Or they might not be effective at all. The point is, you and I are not allowed to decide for ourselves.
This episode reminds me of when codeine was removed from cough syrup. Next thing you know, alcohol will be removed from mouthwash.
Of course I probably don't want to stock up on too many pills, because they have limited shelf life, and because it would draw suspicion in our drug-fearing culture, inviting warrantless searches and seizures, and so on.
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