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Another Fine Meth
The requisite
Newsweek cover story clues in anyone who hadn't
noticed that crystal meth is the new
heroin crack
OxyContin—and Slate's Jack Shafer is quick to puncture the panic.
|8.4.05 @ 11:18AM|#
On a related topic, here's a link to a story in today's NY Times
about a bunch of Indian-immigrant convenience store owners arrested
for selling meth-making tools like Sudafed, aluminum foil and
coffee filters. The DEA maintains that Indian immigrants who are
still learning our language should know what it means if a customer
says "I'm buying this because I want to finish up a cook;" truth
is, I'm a native speaker but I never heard that phrase until I read
it in the Times this morning.
I can't quite bring myself to think this idiot WOD will ever end,
but I wonder if maybe stuff like this means it will--it was easy
for a lot of people to not care when they could say to themselves,
"Well, I never use drugs so this won't affect me," but now the WOD
IS affecting everyday people. Can't buy cold medicine without a
prescription. Can't buy aluminum foil or coffee filters without
suspicion. When this meth epidemic runs its course and is replaced
by the next deadly drug epidemic, I really, really hope it's a drug
that you can't manufacture without using healthy things like fresh
fruits and vegetables. Let the DEA and the Health Nazis have at
each other, and with any luck they'll both legislate each other
into oblivion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/04/national/04meth.html?
|8.4.05 @ 11:23AM|#
Oh come now Jennifer, we all know that oranges have a great deal
of vitamin C, and really should people be taking that without a
doctors perscription? I'm sure I won't feel safe till I am
protected from the scourge of those dreaded citrus growers.
I believe they just had a study debunking VC's effects on the
common cold, so I'm sure the DEA will be glad to step in to protect
me.
|8.4.05 @ 11:27AM|#
I tried to buy some Nightquill tablets the other week here in Iowa, and I had to have two forms of ID, sign a form, and it put me in a online database to track how many milligrams of the stuff I've bought this month. There's a monthly limit on the amount one person can buy a month apparently. It took me about 30 minutes to get the cold medicine I wanted. I almost could've made an appointment with the clinic and seen a doctor in that amount of time.
|8.4.05 @ 11:29AM|#
Yogi,
Yes, but don't you feel safer now that small-government
conservatives are protecting you?
|8.4.05 @ 11:30AM|#
Actually, Skeptikos, it IS a fact that women should avoid citrus products during a certain time of the month, because citric acid will make cramps worse than they already are. A few years ago, if someone suggested that this could be used to justify making citrus fruit and juices prescription-only, I would have rolled my eyes at the ludicrous attempt at humor. But nowadays? I could seriously see that happening. "Citrus fruits can make you suffer MISERABLE PAIN! To prevent you from suffering, we're going to put you in jail."
|8.4.05 @ 11:34AM|#
Thank you Jennifer,
I'll have to use that sometime.
I've been arguing for some time now that we must destroy all
original copies of the founding documents of this country, after
all, many of them are printed on that devil plant, Hemp.
|8.4.05 @ 11:37AM|#
Still, being from the Midwest, we've been wondering how long it
would take for meth to become chic in the east. The politicians and
law enforcement types have been screaming about meth for a couple
years. Living in Fargo, ND and Iowa City the last 6 years, I've
come in contact with my share of meth users. I don't have any
numbers, but my perception is closer to the Newsweek article more
than the Slate article (in regard to number of users, not the scare
tactics).
I know little about the drug, because, well, it doesn't seem very
appealling to me. In undergrad, I got scared after taking too many
No-Doze studying for finals, so there's no way I'd go for something
this strong. Besides, my brain moves too fast the way it is, if I'm
going to try to relax, I'm gonna use something to slow my brain
down...
|8.4.05 @ 11:47AM|#
I got scared after taking too many No-Doze studying for
finals
Just like the classic Saved by the Bell "drug"
episode!
Warren|8.4.05 @ 11:48AM|#
I can't quite bring myself to think this idiot WOD will ever
end, but I wonder if maybe stuff like this means it will--it was
easy for a lot of people to not care when they could say to
themselves, "Well, I never use drugs so this won't affect me," but
now the WOD IS affecting everyday people.
Dream on Jennifer. Being inconvienence only gives the sheeple piece
of mind. The long wait, getting groped, and having their bags pawed
through, makes them feel safer whenever they fly or ride the
subway.
|8.4.05 @ 11:56AM|#
Shouldn't Mona be coming along to explain why REAL libertarians don't mind the idea of cold medicine and oranges being prescription-only?
|8.4.05 @ 12:01PM|#
Warren,
In the Times article, it's convenience store workers that are being
arrested for selling cold medicine, coffee filters, and aluminum
foil to informants(who it must be added, ask leading questions to
try to entrap them).
|8.4.05 @ 12:11PM|#
The majority of people are like balls in a pinball machine,
dependent solely on that plunger, gravity and the various pins to
determine their direction in life.
Reasonoids are Mexican Jumping Beans.
This is why the WOD will never end.
|8.4.05 @ 12:14PM|#
Just like the classic Saved by the Bell "drug"
episode!
Jessie: "No time! No time! There's never enough time!"
Zack: "C'mon Jessie! You have to sing!"
Jessie: "Sing? Sing? I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm
so...scared!"
|8.4.05 @ 12:50PM|#
Ruthless, I would have to agree with you...I have always
understood not trusting "wear it on their sleeves" "big-government"
democrats. What I've never understood is libertarians who trust
republicans, who seem to believe in the exact same "big-government"
bull, but with religious undertones, but of course campaign as
small-government folks.
A politician is a politician. The WOD is something both paries
support unconditionally.
|8.4.05 @ 12:51PM|#
I just wanted to add to Yogi's comment. I look at this story and
think, "you fucking idiots, you're only about 7 years late." I
lived in joplin, MO (in the buckle of the bible belt) and the cops
there were at wits end. In 1999, in Twin Falls, Idaho (a bastion of
very socially conservative Mormans) this peaceful small town was
dealing with its meth epidemic.
I'm never going to give them my name to get some cold medicine.
I'll suffer. I'll find alternatives. I'll drive miles before
acquiece to this stupidity.
|8.4.05 @ 1:04PM|#
There are places where you can't get coke? Jesus, no wonder they call it "fly-over country."
|8.4.05 @ 1:21PM|#
Dream on Jennifer. Being inconvienence only gives the
sheeple piece of mind. The long wait, getting groped, and having
their bags pawed through, makes them feel safer whenever they fly
or ride the subway.
Warren's exactly right, unfortunately. I await the inevitable story
telling us somthing like:
Eve Holbrook, 35, who works at a law firm, submitted to be tracked
in the government's pseudo ephedrine data base and being lectured
on the amount of cold medicine she was allowed to buy by the
pharmacist without being asked and even though she didn't have a
cold and does not use Sudafed. "It gives me a sense of comfort,"
she said.
|8.4.05 @ 1:24PM|#
Hey, anything that can help the cops to keep us all off drugs is
inherintly a good thing, I'm all for it.
A few good ideas.
1) Make all drugs, OTC drugs, vitamins etc. by prescription
only.
2) Eliminate money (cash) and require all purchases to be made
electronically. That way the govenment could keep an eye on what we
are all up to using data mining software.
J
|8.4.05 @ 1:35PM|#
LOL, I remember that Saved by the Bell episode as well. Classic. Seriously, though, I think my brain would explode if I took uppers. Remember the smart guy in "Road Trip", the pot-smoking science student? If I didn't have my beer, whiskey, and pot to mellow me out, I'd be freakin' out 24-7.
|8.4.05 @ 1:39PM|#
I never watched Saved by the Bell. What drug did Jessie take to go back and forth between excitement and fear? Because I want to get some--I'm planning to watch a scary movie this weekend, and this sounds like just the right drug to enhance my experience.
|8.4.05 @ 1:40PM|#
It wasn't clear, Jennifer. All you need to know is that they were drugs, and drugs are bad, mmkay?
Warren|8.4.05 @ 1:59PM|#
You watched 'Saved By The Bell'? And you remember individual
episodes? And you are unashamed to say so publicly?
You people give me the willies.
|8.4.05 @ 2:06PM|#
If David's right about the caffeine then I'd say Jessie's dealer
gave her bad stuff. I've had eight espressos since this morning and
I'm neither excited nor scared.
You guys are all talking about me, aren't you? Warren just insulted
me! Skeptikos want to take my ornages away! I'll bet you bastards
all think I'm paranoid, don't you? Don't you?!?
|8.4.05 @ 2:20PM|#
Aside from parroting the usual rah-rah-War-On-Drugs propaganda, the Newsweek article actually did make one good point: If meth is really so destructive and widespread, why are the Feds still focused on pot?
|8.4.05 @ 2:56PM|#
Why is Hit and Run all meth all the time these days? I am starting to think Reason is being published out of a double-wide trailor somewhere in rural West Virginia.
|8.4.05 @ 3:13PM|#
Joe/Yogi:
As a resident of Iowa City myself for 12 years, I guarantee you,
however popular meth may be here, this town is NOT a place where
you can't get coke. Half the undergrads are white middle class and
upper middle class kids from the Chicago suburbs, and they have
LOTS of coke. I have no idea what the availability of coke is in
the rest of the state, though, so Joe's point may still be largely
correct.
Yogi: The monthly limit on pseudoephedrine is 700mg, and you have
to be 18 years old to buy it. A family of 3 all with allergies
and/or colds may easily exceed 700mg in a month. (Recommended
dosage 30mg 3 to 4 times daily--90mg x 3 people x 30 days =
810mg.)
|8.4.05 @ 4:11PM|#
tsiroth-
In Iowa City, as most towns with big unniversities, you can get
anything your heart desires. Walking around town, you can
immediately tell which kids are natives Iowans and which are
Chicago subburb kids. They come here to school because the town has
a 19+ bar entry law. Then they wonder why they have a high underage
drinking problem. But when busted, they just pay for the fines with
their student loan/parents money, and everyone wins. The only
problem is, as a grad student, you need to know which bars are the
teen bars to avoid the random freshmen puking on your shoes.
There's really nothing more annoying than a 19 year old that can't
hold their liquor. What are they teaching these kids nowadays?
|8.4.05 @ 4:35PM|#
"Walking around town, you can immediately tell which kids are
natives Iowans and which are Chicago subburb kids."
The Chicago suburb kids are walking around in trucker hats, while
the townies are wearing baseball caps at rakish angles.
|8.4.05 @ 5:15PM|#
Joe: Heehee
The Chicago suburb kids call everyone "Chief" for some
reason.
Yogi: I drove a taxi here on Friday & Saturday nights for 2
years. I've seen enough of drunken college kids to last me a
lifetime. *shudder*
|8.4.05 @ 6:21PM|#
Some musin's...
1) Given that Time/Newsweek are generally behind the curve, this
could indicate that the meth craze has already passed it's peak and
is on the decline...
2) Anyone besides me ever notice that Ann Coulter never shows her
teeth when she smiles? Ya don't suppose...
|8.4.05 @ 9:16PM|#
Jim,
A little late - I think musing #1 was the very first sentence in
the linked piece from Shafer... But probably true, yes. :)
|8.4.05 @ 9:31PM|#
... speaking of being behind the curve :)
Oops! In the words of Harlan Ellison, mea maxima goddam
culpa...
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