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Hands-Off Our Runny Nose: Meth & Cold Medicine Link
CNS News ^ | March 28, 2005 | Kerri Houston

Posted on 03/28/2005 11:44:27 AM PST by weekendwarrior

Hands-Off Our Runny Noses By Kerri Houston CNSNews.com Commentary March 28, 2005

Good intentions by politicians have been known to inflict collateral damage on innocent bystanders as legislative overreach often causes problems for taxpayers, consumers or other subgroups of the citizenry.

Responding to a recent increase in methamphetamine use and production, the currently elected would like to legislate criminals out of business by passing laws that place common cold remedies out of the reach of non-criminal consumers.

Legislators, both state and federal, are fishing for the guilty in a sea of the innocent.

Meth is a highly addictive and dangerous substance whose manufacture and use places its addicts and the community in peril, and state and federal law enforcement have ramped up efforts to curtail production by successfully identifying and closing meth labs.

Approximately 80% of meth is produced by "super-labs" predominantly in California and along southern border states. Many are operated by Mexican criminal gangs whose extensive trafficking network supplies super-labs with ingredients needed to "cook" the meth.

But about 20% of meth is produced by small "Mom and Pop" labs found primarily in rural areas. Recipes are easy to find, and ingredients include common household items such as camping fuel, drain cleaner, and pseudophedrine (PSE), a decongestant in over-the-counter cold and allergy remedies. Although local and federal law enforcement and state legislatures have been aggressively targeting meth, federal legislators have now come at the problem with pencils drawn, and drafted the Senate and House Combat Meth Act of 2005.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bigbrother; wodlist
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News about efforts to stop meth production by taking away access to cold medicine. Worth a look.
1 posted on 03/28/2005 11:44:29 AM PST by weekendwarrior
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To: weekendwarrior

I cannot live without my Claritan-D. I wonder what the threshold will be before I am flagged as "maybe guilty".


2 posted on 03/28/2005 11:46:29 AM PST by Protect the Bill of Rights
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To: weekendwarrior
Yep. The government needs to make life harder for the vast majority who are innocent people in order to catch the guilty few. Its a great principle for demagogues and the power-hungry to curb the liberties of a nation while maximizing their own power.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
3 posted on 03/28/2005 11:48:11 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: weekendwarrior

More uneeded nannyism by government..


4 posted on 03/28/2005 11:48:25 AM PST by sheik yerbouty
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To: weekendwarrior

Yeah, I hear knives and guns are used in a ton of murders. Let's ban them, too. Same basic concept.


5 posted on 03/28/2005 11:48:31 AM PST by mysterio
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To: weekendwarrior
Recipes are easy to find, and ingredients include common household items such as camping fuel, drain cleaner, and pseudophedrine (PSE),

And I used to stick that crap in my arm. Geeeesh.

6 posted on 03/28/2005 11:48:48 AM PST by Skooz (Host organism for the State parasite)
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To: weekendwarrior



Camping fuel and DRAIN cleaner!!!

How hard up do you have to be to ingest that stuff.


7 posted on 03/28/2005 11:49:29 AM PST by SouthernFreebird
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To: Protect the Bill of Rights

Probably if you buy more than one box at a time. I used to use Contac as an allergy medicine a few years ago. They started giving me the hairy eyeball when I bought more than on box at a time, so I said screw it and stopped taking them.


8 posted on 03/28/2005 11:50:29 AM PST by mysterio
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To: weekendwarrior

Why don't we outlaw Red Devil drain cleaner?


9 posted on 03/28/2005 11:51:00 AM PST by jdege
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To: Protect the Bill of Rights

The only drug that is a problem is pseudoephedrine, primarily in Sudafed and its generics. I have hay fever, and that stuff is totally worthless for treating it in my case.


10 posted on 03/28/2005 11:53:06 AM PST by JustRight
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To: mysterio
I've read that clerks in our local convenience stores who sell more than one bottle of some cold medicines are subject to arrest.
11 posted on 03/28/2005 11:53:21 AM PST by Quilla
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To: Protect the Bill of Rights
"before I am flagged"

A month ago while cashing out at a large grocery store, a siren went off inside the store. People came flying out of the front offices.

Robbery?

No, an older gentleman purchased a one gallon jug of windshield washer fluid and the cashier forgot to remove the security tag for the restrictive item.

12 posted on 03/28/2005 11:54:52 AM PST by Deaf Smith
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To: weekendwarrior

Some of the local drugstores already have cold medicines with pseudephedrine in little locked cases on the shelves with the other stuff. I believe the state law is that a person can't buy more than three packages of these products in one place. Of course, that doesn't keep those stocking up for the meth labs from going from the Walgreens' to the CVS to Wal-Mart, etc. and get all they need.

There does need to be massive education about the dangers of meth use. "Idiot" doesn't even begin to describe someone who would start using this. If a person wants a long, misarable suicide, then they should start using meth.

Oh, and how about busting those Mexican gang-run "superlabs" that make 80% of the meth?


13 posted on 03/28/2005 11:56:10 AM PST by Southside_Chicago_Republican
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To: weekendwarrior
But . . but . . but if only one life could be saved . .
. . wouldn't it be worth it?
14 posted on 03/28/2005 11:56:14 AM PST by logician2u
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To: Protect the Bill of Rights

I didn't think Claritan had psuedoephedrine in it. I finally quit taking the D, I found it was too effective, it would clear up the drip so much my body wasn't eliminating anything anymore and I was getting massive sinus headaches from backed up yuck.


15 posted on 03/28/2005 11:56:55 AM PST by discostu (quis custodiet ipsos custodes)
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To: Quilla

That's big dumb government for you. Same heavy handed tactics, different party labels.


16 posted on 03/28/2005 11:57:31 AM PST by mysterio
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To: Quilla

Years and years ago, we used to buy several dozen Vicks Inhalers and cook them in a frying pan to make "bathtub crystal."

They never suspected anything, but this was 1981 or 1982.


17 posted on 03/28/2005 11:57:46 AM PST by Skooz (Host organism for the State parasite)
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To: Skooz
The camping fuel is alchohol. The drain cleaner is caustic, used as part of the reaction. Ether, acetone, or any other solvent can be used to cook off, leaving the drug behind. Alchohol base meth is the most stable and ether base tends to turn to mush as soon as it hits above 40% humidity.

When it comes to speed, you either walk away from it or die. The scary part is that under the cover of Adult Attention Disorder, physicians are acting as street dealers for drug companies by pushing their Adderall(generic version is amphetamine mix). Nothing but legal speed. If you want to see what it does to people, see "Requium For A Dream"

18 posted on 03/28/2005 11:59:33 AM PST by blackdog (Lord of Woop Woop)
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To: weekendwarrior

Last summer Schering-Plough took Chlor-Trimeton 12-hour off the market (the jerks). There was no announcement, I just couldn't find it. Great anti-histamine, worked far better for me than the "advanced" Claritin type stuff. So I drove around to various drug stores buying up the stuff so at least I'd have enough to last through the first killing frost.

At one place they had two 10-packs and two 24-packs, so I picked up all four. They said I could only buy two packages, not four, that was the new regulation. I said "so I could buy two 24-packs, but not two 10-packs and a 24-pack, even though 48 is more than 44?" "Yes, that's our rules. We are trying to combat the meth labs." Given that I was in a suit and wasn't wearing a mullet and didn't have hollow sunken eyes, I was a bit nonplussed.

So I bought the two 24-packs and came back the next day and bought the other two. I can only imagine what a hassle it will be when they make one sign their name each and every time one buys a pack of antihistamines. Geez.


19 posted on 03/28/2005 12:00:10 PM PST by Numbers Guy
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To: Protect the Bill of Rights
I wonder what the threshold will be before I am flagged as "maybe guilty".

Don't know, but maybe you could give us an update while you are trying to get your car back and your bank accounts unfrozen.

20 posted on 03/28/2005 12:00:14 PM PST by Bahbah (Something wicked this way comes)
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