Crystal Meth finally hits the suburbs -- Wal-Mart to restrict sales of cold medicine

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Wal-Mart to Restrict Some Cold Medicines :
By JOE BEL BRUNO, AP Business Writer
NEW YORK - All Wal-Mart stores will move many nonprescription cold and allergy medications behind pharmacy counters by June because they include an ingredient used to make the illegal stimulant methamphetamine, the company said Monday.
The retailer — which has almost 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in the United States and another 1,600 international locations — will join rivals Target Corp. and Albertson's Inc. in making such a move throughout all locations. Customers won't need a prescription, but will need to ask pharmacists for access to the medication.
All three retailers are trying to make it more difficult for customers to easily obtain medications containing pseudoephedrine, which is a key component for making methamphetamine, a powerfully addictive drug. Popular over-the-counter medications such as Pfizer Inc.'s Sudafed and rival Schering-Plough Corp.'s Claritin-D list pseudoephedrine among their active ingredients.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which had already been making the changes, estimates that 60 percent of its stores now sell such abused products behind the counter.
[...]
Methamphetamine has become a widespread problem after emerging on the West Coast about a decade ago, and then began to move east. There were some 16,000 methamphetamine lab seizures last year, up from 912 in 1995, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

It is estimated the nation has some 1.5 million meth addicts, which represents about 8 percent of the nation's 19 million drug users. The drug is made by taking over-the-counter cold medicines and boiling them down using highly toxic chemicals to siphon out the pseudoephedrine...

Looks like bikers will have to just go to Canada to get their supplies...

― kingfish, Monday, 25 April 2005 23:31 (twenty years ago)

hmmmm ... maybe pissing off the bikers is what's gonna bring down walmart!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 25 April 2005 23:34 (twenty years ago)

Um, I don't believe that's how the "pros" make meth, AP Business Writer.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Monday, 25 April 2005 23:36 (twenty years ago)

this already happened in australia, not sure if it affected production any

xpost

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Monday, 25 April 2005 23:36 (twenty years ago)

I just spoke with a buddy who's brother is going through a terrible meth addiction. He's been stealing money, sleeping in the park, and only stayed in rehab for one day before he bailed. And he's 30 now. It's heartbreaking, he's a good guy, but that drug is pure evil.

― andy --, Monday, 25 April 2005 23:37 (twenty years ago)

uh, crystal meth hit the suburbs, as well as the rural areas and the big cities, years ago.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 25 April 2005 23:37 (twenty years ago)

Now we have to buy our cases of Sudafed under a watchful and perhaps even disapproving eye.

― Aaron A., Monday, 25 April 2005 23:38 (twenty years ago)

the fun thing is that here in Portland, the drug is getting so much coverage that the cops actually had to talk to reporters to tell them that crack & heroin are still far more abused drugs...

but this would prevent the "Faces of Meth" series that the Oregonian is running daily...

― kingfish, Monday, 25 April 2005 23:41 (twenty years ago)

I hardly ever go into the H&B section at Sam's — I wonder if they used to have the 55-gallon drum of Sudafed?

― Curious George (1/6 Scale Model) (Rock Hardy), Monday, 25 April 2005 23:41 (twenty years ago)

People bike to Wal-Mart?

― donut debonair (donut), Monday, 25 April 2005 23:45 (twenty years ago)

God, you can hardly make proper clean speed with sudafed, but yeah... like Jim said this has been the case in Aus for a while now, much to my annoyance - I have bad sinuses. The irony is, while I either get the 3rd degree or a refusal asking for sudafed (30mg pseudoephedrine per tablet), I can easily buy CLarinase 12 hour (120mg psuedoeph per tab!!). Sure I know its meant to be slow release but it sort of doesnt... and god it fucks with my head.

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 25 April 2005 23:46 (twenty years ago)

And what of the Wal-Marts in Canada?... I dunno if they restrict Sudafed and the like, but I think the major brand supermarkets like Safeway and IPA certainly restrict more meds than the major brand U.S. markets do. (Or at least, cigarettes.)

― donut debonair (donut), Monday, 25 April 2005 23:48 (twenty years ago)

nyc doesn't have a wal-mart but you can get meth all over chelsea

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 25 April 2005 23:56 (twenty years ago)

Well, you can go into any Shoppers/Pharmaprix here and buy 60mg pseudoephedrine Life brand sinus meds with no problem. But honestly now though, people will make *anything* a drug, that's the thing. A couple pseudoephed pills vs. 3 espressos vs. a litre of coke (pop, that is) - all will pep you up, but the whole "pill" thing is, what?, sexy/sells papers/wins votes? blargh.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Monday, 25 April 2005 23:56 (twenty years ago)

Crystal Meth finally hits the suburbs -- Sales of Pantera CD's Soar

― latebloomer: But when the monkey die, people gonna cry. (latebloomer), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 00:00 (twenty years ago)

For a long time I have found (the red version of) Actifed to be very useful & some others who were initially scornful now agree also. I just checked and it contains pseudoephedrine, mentioned above. What is pseudoephedrine? What is it doing, in Actifed, that makes it so good?

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 00:40 (twenty years ago)

Sudafed basically dries up and constricts all the mucus membranes in yr sinuses, hence it being good for colds and sinusitus - however it also dries one the fuck out, and can really wire up some people. Certainly does me.

NEVER EVER take sudafed on anti depressants. I made that mistake once. Never again.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 00:42 (twenty years ago)

I took Actifed once in 1984 AND IT WAS AWFUL, O JESUS, NERVES PARANOIA HYPERVENTILATION DRY-MOUTH INANIMATE OBJECTS TRYING TO SNEAK UP ON ME AND SET ME ON FIRE NOOOOOOOO. Acid and shrooms were like a picnic in the park compared to that shit. Never again.

― Curious George (1/6 Scale Model) (Rock Hardy), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 00:46 (twenty years ago)

Here in my corner of WA, meth labs are so rampant, cops were actually ordered to stop busting them as they could not afford the hazmat costs of cleaning them up. Needless to say, this did not go over well once the media got ahold of this info.

― Aramyr, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 00:51 (twenty years ago)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20050426/ts_usatoday/stateshopelawswillcurtailmethlabs

and meth-fever is spreading across the land.

― kingfish, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 21:21 (twenty years ago)

if you're slightly snotty when you're at the dive schools in Thailand (it can hinder the popping of the ears as you descend and thus make life very unpleasant)they give you Thai strength pseudoephedrine, I'll never forget leaning over the side of the boat while trying to fit my kit together while quite literally a stream of snot came pouring out of my nose for about a minute. I've never seen the likes of it. sorry if anyone's eating right now.

― Porkpie (porkpie), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 21:44 (twenty years ago)

It's been a few years since I lived in a suburb, but Wal-Mart doesn't seem to own Canada in the same scale as the states.
Yet.

― Rufus 3000 (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 21:53 (twenty years ago)

if you're slightly snotty when you're at the dive schools in Thailand

I originally took this as being pompous at a learning center in disrepair.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 22:08 (twenty years ago)

Sudafed is like speed to me not that I've tried speed but believe me you don't want to see me on speed. I mostly stay away from sudafed.

― RS_LaRue (RSLaRue), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 22:13 (twenty years ago)

They restricted the sales of cold medicine already in Oregon. Now the methheads have taken up tearing apart bridges and railings in order to sell the metal parts for drug $$. If nothing else, they're resourceful, I suppose.

― darin (darin), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 22:16 (twenty years ago)

when my mum had surgery on her sinuses, the doc told her that the human body can generate up to a quart of snot per hour...

xpost:

Now the methheads have taken up tearing apart bridges and railings in order to sell the metal parts for drug $$

hahaha. i love how post-apocalyptic this sounds...

― kingfish, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 22:21 (twenty years ago)

Feeling speedy > not being able to breathe.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 22:24 (twenty years ago)

Eugene, OR 2005

http://www.madmaxmovies.com/making/madmax2/images/MundiMundi/WezFaceoff.jpg

― darin (darin), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 22:24 (twenty years ago)

between that & peak oil, it might not be all that far off the mark.

altho, needs more trees.

― kingfish, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 23:19 (twenty years ago)

Trayce, what happened with the sudafed and anti-depressant combination? Speedy anxiety? Something else?

― paulhw (paulhw), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

uh, crystal meth hit the suburbs, as well as the rural areas and the big cities, years ago.

I was gonna say! This is what, 15 years behind the curve at least???

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 14:36 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, and this: "Methamphetamine has become a widespread problem after emerging on the West Coast about a decade ago" - speed is a bit older than 10 years, no?

I've been on anti-depressants for a couple of years and never noticed any effect at all from taking Sudafed. Maybe it's got different active ingredients in the UK? Never hear of anyone abusing it here. But then crystal meth isn't big here at all. No-one takes speed any more.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 14:44 (twenty years ago)

The right wing opposition party (along with several right wing media hacks) here has taken up Crystal Meth as their pet cause, dispite study after study that shows it's nowhere near the threat that alcohol and solvent abuse are on kids.

― Huk-L, Wednesday, 27 April 2005 14:47 (twenty years ago)

http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Phenethylamine

see the table in the bottom half of this page, for pseudoephedrine's place in the scheme of the amphetamine/ecstasy family of drugs.

― slb2, Wednesday, 27 April 2005 14:54 (twenty years ago)

I think it has to do with the fact that in places like rural Indiana, meth is king. Legislators are pushing for some sort of restriction, and they think that by having Walmart and Walgreens (pretty much the only local stores) track cold medicine sales, they are doing something to help fight the drug war. This is in the wake of a 10-year-old girl who was molested, strangled, and drowned in southern Indiana 2 months ago after stumbling across a meth lab, and increasing reports of children in my town (Lafayette, a huge meth town due to being between Indy and Chicago) being forced to help their parents procure meth-making materials. I don't think that it will really help, but it's more a symbolic gesture than anthing else to appease interest groups.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 15:31 (twenty years ago)

MY ADVICE TO DEA: LOOK FOR TRANS AMS SCRAPING THEIR ASS ON THE HIGHWAY.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 16:01 (twenty years ago)

IF THE TRAILER'S A COOKIN' DON'T COME A-LOOKIN'.

― nickn (nickn), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:33 (twenty years ago)

didn't we just do a thread on this?

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:41 (twenty years ago)

holy shit my concept of space-time is fucked! nevermind!

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 27 April 2005 19:41 (twenty years ago)

they think that by having Walmart and Walgreens (pretty much the only local stores) track cold medicine sales

Walmart is voluntarily putting pseudoephedrine behind pharmacy counters (some states may already have laws requiring this).

Last week I worked at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores on materials for an upcoming convention; one of the session topics is existing and prospective laws restricting cold medicine availability. Short answer: laws requiring action like Walmart's are coming.

― j.lu (j.lu), Thursday, 28 April 2005 00:52 (twenty years ago)

Trayce, what happened with the sudafed and anti-depressant combination? Speedy anxiety?

Basically yeah. I dont know about elsewhere but here, sudafed is pure pseudoephadrine, theres no other ingredients in it. I was already having major problems with AD's making me very edgy and irritable, and a sudefed just kicked that up a notch into horrible strung-outness.

Its funny how some people are mega sensitive to sudafed and get very wired, speedy, etc while others dont feel that effect at all, or even claim to get sleepy!

At one stage recently I was all stressed and had v bad attention span/concentration levels, and interestingly I found sudafed (and speed wouldve done this too I imagine) made me sharp and clear as a tack, and suprisingly relaxed and focussed.

Claritine (Claratyne) 24 hour? Now thats the shizz. 240 mg pseudoephedrine in one tablet! woohey... crunch it up, drink it with an energy soda and dont expect to sit still for at least 12 hours. Not that nice.

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 28 April 2005 02:20 (twenty years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.