Christine the Lioness (3113)
Christopher the Pyro (1986)
ProphetJoe the Irreverent (1202)
Trouble the Pirate (590)
Keith the Director (573)
Mara the Peacemaker (527)
eric the Lil' Devil (351)
AJ the Zen Master (305)
Ben the Kingpin (213)
Haas the Addict (187)
Christine 2 the Mercenary (131) Lei the Mercenary (124) Katie the Mercenary (114)
Ben2 the Soldier (56) Trouble the Pirate uttered
Hence why I smoke crack…
Christine the Lioness penned this
I, based on my own experience, am passionate about the very idea of locking up Sudafed so that one meth addict out of fifty customers who simply want to help their cold, can’t get it.
This is pretty bad for Pfizer though. They– and we all– would have been better off continuing to lobby against controlling Sudafed. They would have fared better in the long run I think.
Uber control of any substance that can be used for illegal activity never works. Look at the U.S. gun control laws, medical marijuana laws, Sudafed laws. The only people who it affects are the people who abide by the law. I highly doubt meth makers decided to change livelihoods, get a real job, and stop making meth simply because Sudafed is difficult to get now. In this country, we are notorious for finding the least effective way to pretend we are dealing with a situation instead of actually going the extra mile and putting in the effort it would take law enforcement to do a nation-wide crack-down on meth makers and users. It’s not the ingredient that’s illegal, it’s turning into crystal meth that’s illegal. Let’s focus on the person doing the crime instead of making everyone else (people who are sick, and drug companies) suffer.
Jen the Groupie stated
Legislation was never promoted for use-reduction. Rare is the problem that only requires one solution/action to eliminate it. Now each time we’re inconvenienced (slightly!) at the drug store buying Sudafed, we’re helping to save the lives of first-responders & neighbors/families living with or near mom-and-pop meth labs. Should be pointed to as a law that actually did what it intended!
Christopher the Pyro up'n wrote this
Jen… how.. I don’t know what your talking about.. why introduce the law if it doesn’t reduce use? So people can’t make the stuff at home.. are we really so stupid to think that their are not other ways to make meth.. seriously if the damn drug wasn’t such a scourge on society I would post few dozen other ways that I would go about making the drug here. Come one.. punishing me or other normal people for because smack addicts want to make their meth is NOT a solution.
I’m actually totally baffled by your statement, if we are not reducing use, then how are we reducing anything and saving lives.. what when the meth lab blows up and starts a fire.. we are saving firefighters lives? We are seriously STRETCHING here.
Christine the Lioness got all philosophical
I have to agree with Christopher. We’re not talking about “slightly inconveniencing” people. I went in to Walgreens to get it and couldn’t because it was locked up and the pharmacy was closed for the night. That’s not inconveniencing someone — that’s not allowing them to buy it, so whether the legislation was intended for use-reduction or not, that is what ultimately happened.
And come on… we are saving the lives of firefighters by eliminating Sudafed so crystal meth makers can’t make meth? Should we eliminate Christmas trees too? Because a lot of those cause fires. And also let’s keep all candles locked behind glass.
I think Jen’s way of thinking is symptomatic of the problem in how we approach issues in this country. Why is it somehow acceptable to prevent non-criminals from purchasing a legal drug they need, and yet no one seems to think legislation that puts crystal meth makers in prison longer, and appropriating funds so that more undercover cops can be hired to increase the number of meth makers caught seems like a good idea. Are we trying to eliminate crystal meth labs or not? Because these people didn’t give up making crystal meth simply because you can’t purchase sudafed after 7pm.
Mike the Groupie scribbled
I had to switch to Crystal Meth for my sinus infections. It’s less of a hassle to get now.
Christine the Lioness pontificated
LOL!
Lori the Virgin added
Just legalize pot and we won’t have any of these dilemmas… Of course it’ll never happen because the pharmaceutical companies are paying off those who make the laws. Think of all the money they would lose if you could legally grow something in your garden that cures colds, sores, sore bum holes, fits, farts & freckles… Actually, I’m surprised that the government hasn’t figured out a way to make us pay for the air we breathe…
Christopher the Pyro got all philosophical
Other then creating much high cancer rates which in turn create the need to smoke more pot…. and last time I checked being obvious and stoned isn’t a cure for anything it’s called a pain killer and morphine works pretty well for that also.
Christine the Lioness remarked
And I don’t know any meth addicts who would give up meth for pot simply because pot’s legal… well, actually I don’t know any meth addicts at all, so I’m just speculating at where they would stand on this subject.
As far as I know, the only thing pot “cures” is it slows the degeneration associated with glaucoma. Other than that, it’s nothing more than a pain killer (which I agree does have medicinal value). But it IS legal with a prescription in most states, so if we legalize it, we’d just be legalizing it for people who want it for reasons other than because they need it for pain.
Frankly, I’d like to see something like birth control pills legalized without a prescription first because allowing better access to those seems like it would have much more positive benefits for society in general than pot would.
Christopher the Pyro commented
There is little value in legalizing pot… I mean if we legalize pot we should make vicadine, kodine, opiates, morphine legal. The people who want pot legalize need a serious history lesson. Display #1 - The opium wars in China.. look it up.
Christine the Lioness remarked
I’m not really passionate either way about whether we legalize pot or not since it doesn’t affect me. I do think, from my experience though, that the people who tend to advocate the legalization of pot, are usually pot heads who just want to be able to do it without having to hide the fact they’re doing it.
odin the Virgin said this
My experience this weekend with phenylephrine (”garbage” hereafter) has convinced me to never every use it again. I spent two days as a miserable mouth breather, blowing my nose every 2 minutes because I didn’t realize that pseudoephedrine (”sudafed” hereafter) had been taken off the shelf. Basically, I stumbled into my local drugstore with head cold and, thinking I was getting sudafed, bought garbage instead. Sure, the garbage package looked like sudafed and the pills were the same color. The difference though is that the garbage dose is half the sudafed dose and even at that level, it doesn’t do squat (unless you consider “casuses splitting headache” to be something). Anyway, 30 minutes after getting back from the pharmacy with the real thing and taking some, I can breath through my nose and I haven’t had to blow my nose for at least 10 minutes. I am concerned that packaging garbage so that it looks like the old packaging for sudafed could be dangerous when people may be so used to the dosage levels for sudafed, that they mistakenly apply those dosages to garbage.
Christopher the Pyro added
Christine… maybe that is why the medicine you have been taken this weekend wasn’t so effective..
Christine the Lioness commented
No… I didn’t take any sudafed or “garbage” this weekend. I took Nyquil.
Trouble the Pirate uttered
Um, Christine… If memory serves, Nyquil was one of the manufacturers who used Pseudoephedrine Hydrochloride as their Nasal decongestant in their ‘multi symptom relief products’ prior to the ‘Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act’… And they also switched to Phenylephrine to circumvent the inconveniences of the law…
Christine the Lioness asserted
Then no wonder that shit didn’t work. Fuckers.
Christopher the Pyro spake, and sayeth
Thanks.. for clarify for me Trouble.. I totally didn’t have the energy to type all those long words to explain why her NyQuil didn’t work.
Christine the Lioness penned this
Nor did he have any clue how to spell them. LOL.
Christine the Lioness stated
Which… btw… I find interesting considering we were standing at 7-11 and he walked into the aisle where I was trying to decide what cold medicine to buy and he said, “There. Get Nyquil.” 
Health Concerns the Virgin hunt n' pecked this
After 3 sinus surgeries, thousands of Guaifenesin tablets, which ironically became very expensive at about the same time because the FDA made them OTC, and plenty of other drugs of experience, I have figured out that nothing less than 120mg of Pseudoephrine is effective as a decongestant. Pseudoephrine became hard to get and more expensive because of this new FDA behind the counter rule. You no longer will see a whole row of Sudafed tabs next to generics at 1/5 the price, just a 3X more expensive Sudafed behind the counter. Plus, they don’t sell the generics in bottles of 200-300 pills for $15 anymore…now it is 12 Sudafed pills for $15 and you have to go from one town and pharmacy to the next to get an adequate supply for two or three months as they won’t let you buy however many you need anymore. Phenylephrine is a useless joke. The only other drug that ever worked for me was Phenylpropanolamine, and they took that away from me almost a decade ago because women are more likely to suffer strokes. I’m not a woman! Sell me what I need to survive! This is just crazy.
The more this goes on the less free I think this country is. Are we really more free than the myriad of countries you can go to and buy any pill you need in a pharmacy? This is what I have to do to get medication. If I have to suffer severe pain, months of infectious pus, thousands of dollars worth of antibiotics and medications, followed by $17,000-$24,000 surgeries (I almost went blind in the process)…I say it is time we change the FDA to the FA and get rid of rules against methamphetamines. Let’s go back to personal responsibility. It just isn’t worth the cost.
If we can’t control the FDA, just put everyone who is caught using or manufacturing meth in a big enclosed courtyard together, put a big pot of meth in the center with a cache of guns. They’ll solve the meth problem for us.
I didn’t do anything to ask for my problems, methamphetamine users have chosen their addictions. Why should I be the one forced to suffer? Why don’t I have the liberty to persue happiness?
ProphetJoe the Irreverent uttered
“I didn’t do anything to ask for my problems, methamphetamine users have chosen their addictions. Why should I be the one forced to suffer? Why don’t I have the liberty to persue happiness?”
Because of the “victimology” in this country’s political and social system. Drug addicts and illegal drug manufacturers are seen as being sick and needing our sympathy and attention. It’s the same reason gang-bangers are treated as “disadvantaged youth” and not cold-blooded killers by some in our society.
Unfortunately, the mentally-impaired politicians believe restricting access to guns and ephedrine should reduce crime and drug use…. all the while, we — the law-abiding citizens — are the ones who suffer in one form or another. And then, when we complain, we’re told to be quiet because the laws are there to “help us”.
I’m ready for a political revolution — unfortunately, it ain’t gonna be in this election!
So sayeth the Prophet…
Christine the Lioness penned this
I agree with you 100%. In this country, we are notorious for treating symptoms rather than sources. Ban guns so bad guys can’t kill people with them. Bad guys are still bad guys and the good guys are the only ones who actually respect the new laws anyway and jump through hoops to get a gun. Same with meth. From what I know about drug addicts, they don’t just decide that drugs are too hard to get and become clean. Those that become clean don’t do it because they were having trouble getting a hold of drugs. It’s just the law-abiders that suffer.
So that backward, lazy way of approaching issues, coupled with this notion that our courts have upheld time and again that the individual is not really responsible for what happens to him or her, has pushed this victim mentality along. We absolutely should be treating killers like killers because that’s what they are. You got Cancer from smoking cigarettes after picking up a pack ten times a day with a warning label on it that said the product can give you Cancer, and it’s still not your fault? You got fat because you ate a greasy hamburger twice a day and topped it off with a chocolate shake and you want to sue McDonalds? Sorry but this stuff pisses me the fuck off.
Instead of forcing McDonalds to pay some dumbass a million bucks because the dumbass ordered a hot coffee, spilled it on herself and got burned, we should ban the dumbass from ever being able to order a hot beverage again. Apparently, she can’t handle it while the rest of us can. The guy who sued McDonalds for making him fat, guess what, everyone else can still order what they want off the menu, but you can only order the yogurt and salad because apparently YOU can’t handle having the option to order what you want. If they want to deny responsibility for their choices, take their choices away. I have a feeling those lawsuits would stop pretty quickly.
Just like the health concerns dude explained, who is more inconvenienced by the Sudafed thing?
It’s much easier to impose a law like the Sudafed one which costs only the makers of Sudafed and the legal users of Sudafed than for the police to really get a handle on meth-makers and meth users. Why? Because those people are very motivated to continue doing what they’re doing and aren’t going to give up easily.
ProphetJoe the Irreverent commented
Amen, sister, preach it!
Btw, Christine, you’re sounding less and less like a California liberal these days 
Mara the Peacemaker up'n wrote this
Well, I don’t really get the illegal drug thing and this sort of paternalistic government that we have in the first place. But that’s another debate for another day.
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