Posted on 12/23/2006 1:37:38 PM PST by 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,...
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
Just stop buying that crap.
Heroin works much better for the down, cocaine for the up; it's much more effective, easier to buy, and you don't have to show any ID.
They can figure it out, there's just no revenue prospect.
It all works out better for them if they can kick down your door, shoot your dog, and confiscate your home and vehicles.
I would not be a convenience store clerk for anything.
If they sell anything to anybody, they're at risk..
Pretty soon, they will be charged with something if they let somebody use their stupid-ass $0.25 air machine to air up a tire.
Google "Coca Cola"
For some reason, all this was fine with minimal consequences until the late 1930's.
Key word and propaganda qualifier highlighted.
There is nothing funny about this.
Sooner or later it will catch up to you (unless you belong to Law Enforcement-in which case it will be later).
So here is an alternative. Run your own life and stop trying to run everyone else's.
What you said, and DUDE!
I hope you are being sarcastic, but just in case you are serious.... (grin)
Been there, done that. It happened to my kid. My son. And what hell it was.
I am outraged to be treated like the criminal when I buy my Claritan-D.
Sorry....putting it behind the counter will not do one damned bit of good curbing the supply. If the good old boys don't supply it, the Mexicans will. And they are bad news.
Well, SOMEbody had to say it... Truth be told, I kinda enjoyed being the one to do it! :^)
As if the Claritan thing was not bad enough, I bought paint stripper or something such as that from Lowe's. Went through the line and had to show ID for that.
She told me they cannot sell WD40, paint and other such things to kids under 18 (or 16-forget)
I was incredulous. I cannot send my 16 year old son into the store to buy these things while I wait in the car near the door?
Guess what, kids move onto something else. Cough medicine is the big thing here now I hear.
The solution is not passing new laws.
The solution is at home.
They reformulated Nyquil... it's as good as nothing for a cold with this new formula.
Guess I had better hold on to the two boxes I've had for about three years then... you can tell I get a lot of colds ~LOL~....
The only reason I even noticed the change in Sudafed, which I've been taking multiple times a day for allergies, is that I used an old bottle of Robittusin for my recent cold. And the pseudoepinephrine in it cleared up my allergy completely. Now I'm wondering whether I can get the old Sudafed anywhere? Maybe one of the online pharmacies in Canada or Europe.
But, but out here they keeping telling us the number is growing and to keep our eyes and nose out anything odd.
I used to take allergy medication daily, now I almost never have a need and if you know what to take and catch is soon enough you can nip a cold in the bud and feel bad for a day or two at most.
You go girl. Merry Christmas to you and yours!
And a Very Merry Christmas to you and yours as well!!!
Rob, two professional atheletes happened to die while taking Ephedra during a time when thousands of atheletes were taking it. The whole thing was a over-reaction to that. In fact, the federal ban on it has been lifted by the courts, though several states still ban it.
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