Step Away from the Cold Medicine - Government's drug war fuels meth problem

Fox News via Reason ^ | December 21, 2006 | Radley Balko

[neverdem]

Last month, President Bush declared Nov. 30 "National Methamphetamine Awareness Day."

The official statement from the White House implored, "I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate programs and activities."

There's no question that meth is a particularly nasty, vicious drug, both in how it's manufactured and in what it does to the people who use it. I think some skeptics have raised legitimate questions about the accuracy of some of the more hysterical media proclaiming we're in the midst of an "epidemic," but there's no question that the drug is widely available, and that it has some pretty terrible effects on users.

That said, the approaches the government is taking toward attacking meth don't make much sense.

As is often the case with policies aimed at curbing the drug supply, civil liberties were one of the first casualties of the meth hysteria. Several cities and states, for example, quickly made it illegal for businesses to sell customers combinations of ingredients that together, are used to make meth, but that are perfectly legal if bought separately.

Sell bhutane, cold medicine, and matches to the same customer, and an unknowing store clerk could well be arrested. These laws effectively deputized private business to begin policing the shopping habits of their customers – never a good idea.

The idea has led to some horrific outcomes.

In Northwest Georgia, for example, a meth sting ended with the arrest of 49 convenience store clerks for violating the odd new law. The problem is that 47 of the clerks were of Indian decent, and spoke only broken English. When undercover police officers tossed out drug lingo like "cooking up a hit," the clerks had no idea what they were talking about.

More troubling,...

[conservative cat]

There's nothing I love more than going out at 11:00pm for cold supplies because I can't breathe enought to sleep and not being able to buy Sudafed, because the pharmacy is closed.

[nothingnew]

Last month, President Bush declared Nov. 30 "National Methamphetamine Awareness Day."

Is this a paid holiday or not??

Jeesh

FMCDH(BITS)

[NonValueAdded]

My favorite encounter was expressing my outrage to a Walmart clerk about having to provide picture ID and sign for cold pills but I could go over and buy disposable phones used to trigger IED's without even a second glance from the clerk. In hindsight, I'm lucky I wasn't arrested.

[kinoxi]

National methamphetamine awareness day. That'll fix it.

[Still Thinking]

I vote for National Awareness of Government Drones Fooking with our Civil Liberties Without any Good Reason, uh, Day.

[The Westerner]

Don't worry, the new Sudafed is not made with pseudoepinephrine. Doesn't work as well as the old, either.

[Still Thinking]

I know. The new, improved, ***NOW 54% MORE POLITICALLY CORRECT*** NyQuil sucks as well.

[flashbunny]

not quite. I think we need a blue ribbon committee first to really take care of the problem.

[flashbunny]

I think I have a few pre-ban sudafed left.

[headstamp]

"not quite. I think we need a blue ribbon committee first to really take care of the problem."



Perhaps the Iraq Study Group could tackle this problem as well.......

[Still Thinking]

I got some white ribbon they can have. Doesn't smell real good, but they can have it.

[Still Thinking]

I got some white ribbon they can have. Doesn't smell real good, but they can have it.

[kinoxi]

We need to fund an exploratory committee to determine public awareness of the proposed potential holiday, I think.

:)

[varon]

Is this a paid holiday or not??

It will be as soon as Hallmark comes out with a card ;-)

[Gabz]

The cold medicine laws are absolutely ASSININE.

Thanks to such idiotic feel-good laws I have to waste a bunch of gas when I need sudafed because the local supermarket doesn't have a pharmacy and the nearest one is 15 miles away. IDIOTS.

[microgood]

I cannot believe they arrested 49 store clerks. What possible way could a store clerk benefit from someone buying cold medicine to make into meth? Did the idiot Feds think meth users were planting people in stores so they could sell them their meth materials?

This is entrapment in its purest form. These federal prosecutors should be jailed for stupidity.

[truth_seeker]

"My favorite encounter was expressing my outrage to a Walmart clerk..."

Like the clerk made the rule/law? It is their job to follow rules/laws.

And apparently your job is to "express outrage" with minimum wage clerks.

[MichiganConservative]

These meth laws are all for your own good and for the children. Meth could happen to anybody at any time. You could be walking down the street and blam-o, suddenly you're a meth addict with no teeth. Do you really want this to happen to your kids? Without the laws, it would all be because the government just didn't care enough.

[Othniel]

As someone plagued by colds and allergies since childhood, Pseudophed is one of my best friends. I don't mind the fact that I have to sign a form, or, in the case of Target, have my drivers license scanned. I know how much I need, and that falls well within the accepted parameters of the law. I think it's pretty funny to watch store clerks GO TO THE SAFE and open it, root through all the money, stocks, bonds, and whatnots (shades of Jack Benny) to get my little box of red pills.

I've seen what meth can do to families. Anything I can do to stop some dork from making it is OK with me, and this is very minor. Of course, going out with some friends and dealing with it with some bats would be better....