Meth-proof Sudafed to hit markets

[TransitJohn]

By JENNI DILLON
Star-Tribune staff writer Saturday, January 01, 2005




A meth-proof version of Sudafed will be available nationwide starting next month.

The new drug could improve customer convenience in many states that limit sales of medicines that can be used to manufacture methamphetamine, including Wyoming, where such laws are expected to be proposed in the coming legislative session.

The original Sudafed, which can be used as a primary ingredient in meth, will not be taken off the market.

Sudafed-maker Pfizer has developed Sudafed PE, which will replace pseudoephedrine with phenylphrine as an active ingredient. On a pharmaceutical level, there have been no direct comparisons of the new decongestant ingredients. However, phenylphrine is commonly used in Europe and is distributed by some U.S. companies and cannot be used to make methamphetamine. Pseudoephedrine and ephedrine products, on the other hand, often are bought or stolen in bulk by illegal drug manufacturers to make meth.

"The diversion of over-the-counter pseudoephedrine-containing products is one of the major contributing factors to the methamphetamine situation in the United States," reads a notice from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency. "Inappropriate retail-level purchases by individuals attempting to procure pseudoephedrine for the illicit manufacture of methamphetamine have been documented as a source of much of the pseudoephedrine found in clandestine methamphetamine laboratories."

Many states have passed laws requiring Sudafed and other pseudoephedrine products to be kept behind the counter at pharmacies, and, in Oklahoma, where pseudoephedrine regulations are among the most stringent in the nation, customers also must show identification and sign a log sheet to buy the decongestant medicines.

http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/01/01/news/casper/2107eb1b797f4ff587256f7c00011245.txt

[Freebird12004]

1. I had no idea

[Moloch]

2. Well good for them.

Meth is a terrible problem in many parts of the country. It turns normal people into freepers.

[LosinIt]

3. No, don't take my sudafed!!! I gant bweeeeeve!

Sudafed is a great little decongestant. As long as they leave it on the market I agree with trying to stem the meth problem. Is it really so inconvenient to have to ask for it?

[havocmom]

7. when you live hours from a store and the store will only let you buy a few

pills at a time, and it is blowing snow with visibility down to 50 feet, yeah, it is inconvenient for some of us ;).

Let's hope the new version unplugs the sinuses as well as the old on, cuz I would really like to be able to get enough decongestant to get my household through 2-3 months, especially THIS time of year where I live. :D

Without a good decongestant, we end up with sinus infections, and that distance thing becomes a problem again when we have to break down and get to an MD for an antibiotic script (which I would just as soon avoid altogether.)

[liberalnurse]

4. I don't like Sudafed anyways......

It's Zyrtec for me!

[Stinky The Clown]

6. I usually just wipe my nose on my sleeve

[Kolesar]

5. Then it is not even Pseudoephedrine anymore

Pseudoephedrine is the best decongestant for me. If I wanted to use phenylphrine, I would buy phenylphrine.

[NMDemDist2]

8. bingo, sometimes nothing works like Sudafed and the other question

is will it make me drowsy? Some decongestants do ????

[abluegirl]

9. Sudafed is not being discontinued

It's just another option.

I live in the county that was #2 nationally in the number of meth labs busted last year. We just enacted an ordinance to limit the purchase of pseudoephedrine-containing products and are requiring retailers to have a permit to sell such products. In addition, customers will have to show ID when purchasing.

The ordinance was created with the input of law enforcement and retailers and will not prohibit people from buying reasonable amounts of Sudafed.

What it will do is allow law enforcement to track those who are going from retailer to retailer to buy the maximum amount with the intent to make meth.

Meth is an epidemic and is destroying our community on many levels, from manufacturers who are seeing a huge increase in drug test fails because of meth, to 80% of our jail population incarcerated for meth, to a 400% increase in number of children removed from homes because of meth, to the increased number of fires being cause by meth lab explosions which are very expensive to clean-up.

[DoNotRefill]

10. Thank you....

for contributing to and supporting Big Brother.

"What it will do is allow law enforcement to track those who are going from retailer to retailer to buy the maximum amount with the intent to make meth."

[TahitiNut]

12. Because, as everyone knows, people running meth labs can only shop

... at their local pharmacies. They never drive very far. They always buy retail. They have no access to false IDs like almost any high school kid. Nope. So it really makes sense to limit every person's access to any medication that might be abused. Yup.

Lesson: The best way to fight crime is to limit the civil liberties of EVERYONE - especially crimes against corporatism.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

14. What I wonder is

If they make pseudoephedrine impossible for Meth manufacturers to obtain what will they use next. They have used an array of ingredients over the past 30 years. When one becomes unavailable they find something else.

This goes to prove what you were saying. If nothing else they are resourceful.

At best this is like putting a band-aid on a severed limb. What needs to be done is to spend money on research for drugs like GVG (gamma-vinyl GABA), which has shown to have some success in helping addicts quit. While you could never remove the entire market for the drug if you could help those who want to stop using it would greatly reduce the social impact IMO.

Ahhh, but I do like to dream.

[Maat]

15. I agree.

Nothing brings out pure evil in a person than methamphetamine. As a social worker, I went to methamphetamine labs on a weekly basis for about seven years, to pick up the kids after the cops came. The cops usually came because of some disaster, such as a 'tall boy' leaking (a tank of hydrochloric gas). And, sometimes some Joe would light up a cigarette forgeting about the ether througout the place. What was left after the explosion was ... not much.

I'm no fan of Big Brother, but I'm not the one to talk to here. Just brings back too many sad memories.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

11. At least it's an alternative.

Meth is a growing problem in the US. If you haven't had it touch the area you live in give it time. It's breaking all economic and social boundaries. Picture a drug that has the potential to last for 24 hours and causes psychosis. It's not pretty.

I read that Pfizer originally had researched minus pseudoephedrine which could not be used in meth manufacturing but was essentially the same product as pseudoephedrine. It proved to be too expensive to bring to market. They then spent 12 million trying to add gumming agents to the current product. It didn't work.

I don't mind the current regulations on pseudoephedrine products and am glad they are offering an alternative.

[spotbird]

13. In general I'm against making drugs perscription only

but in this case I think it would have been a good idea.

[Jack_DeLeon]

16. God Bless the War on Drugs...

:eyes:

All these laws and restrictions that have been placed on Americans just because of the war on drugs are rediculous.

I look forward to the day when we will have a victory over the war on drugs and its all over.

Fuck the DEA and all the government agencies that profit off of this bullshit war against its own citizens.

[Babel_17]

17. The Mormons

Afaik ephedra based herbal teas are the only stimulants allowed to those of the Mormon faith. I seriously doubt the gov't will dare to take it away from them.

And push come to shove producers of meth could just grow the plant.

[Divine Discontent]

18. hmmmm...

bet they drink a lot of tea......

[daleo]

19. Every decade seems to bring a new "monster drug"

Let's see:
- LSD was the 1960's panic.
- PCP "angel dust" was the 1970's panic (or maybe 80's?).
- then came crack cocaine.
- now it is crystal meth, I guess.

I imagine they really all do have very negative consequences in some cases, but there also seems to be an urban legend quality to this demon drug of the decade phenomenon. If every law enforcement agent's fantasy came true, and this drug disappeared from the face of the earth, something else would spring up in no time to replace it.

[BrendaStarr]

22. Meth is the freepers' crack

Can't have those Republicans messing up their lives can we?

Personally, I'd let 'em do it.

[R Hickey]

23. I think I agree with you.

Glad to say I don't know very much about it.

[imenja]

20. kick

[tyedyeto]

21. kick n/t

[JCMach1]

24. Crap... Pseudoephedrine is one of the few CHEAP things

that work for my allergies.

[paulie5]

25. allergies

I must use this drug as well as 3 different others to live a normal life (serious allergies). You really have to be trying to make enough meth out of 20 little pills. I agree. Meth is evil. But these folks are sick and need to be in rehab and not in the prison system. Get them the help they need to stay out of jail and be healthy. It's cheaper in the long run for everybody who pays taxes.

P5