(no subject)

[theweaselking]

You can keep people from cooking meth, or you can have over-the-counter cold and asthma medicine. Pick one!

(PS: Drug companies would lose money if you pick the stopping meth one, so guess which Congress picked?)

Also,
Queensland department of education makes Talk Like A Pirate Day an official holiday.

Also,
Proving that Adam Smith was dead wrong when he said that humans were unique in their ability to work with money, Yale researchers teach monkeys about money, watch as monkeys learn to gamble and invent prostitution all on their own.

Also,


Also,
UK House Of Lords insists that UK stop extraditing prisoners to the US until the US actually signs, ratifies, and starts abiding by it's side of the treaty.

Also,
More important than the reason behind Zidane's headbutt is the question of whether or not is was a GOOD headbutt. Conclusion: Flawless.

Comments

[missysedai.livejournal.com]

(PS: Drug companies would lose money if you pick the stopping meth one, so guess which Congress picked?)

*rolls eyes*

"Consumers of cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine will be limited to buying 3.6 grams of pseudoephedrine per day, or about 120 cold pills.

Consumers will be limited to 9 grams of pseudoephedrine per month, or about 300 pills.

Starting Sept. 30, all U.S. retailers must move cold medicines behind the counter and record the name and address of every customer. International impact U.S. drug agents can demand sales records from foreign manufacturers to help track the destination of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine shipments globally. Companies that refuse could lose the ability to sell their chemicals in the United States. The State Department will be required to compare legitimate demand for ephedrine and pseudoephedrine worldwide with the amount actually being produced. Countries with excessive imports could lose U.S. aid." (From the Factbox here (http://www.oregonlive.com/special/oregonian/meth/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/1141359928123060.xml&coll=7&thispage=3).)

They've already started this. NyQuil changed its formula and now doesn't work for shit for me, and now I have to show ID for Coricidin HBP, which doesn't even HAVE ephedrine or pseudoephedrine! (HBP is for High Blood Pressure - some med manufacturers make remedies specifically for hypertensives, so we can get relief from our colds and flu without sending the tops of our heads off and across the floor.)

[jerril]

Odly enough, while "gel caps" with pseudoephedrine are now behind the counter here, the hard pills for Sudofed are still right over the counter.

[pope-guilty.livejournal.com]

Adam Smith being wrong is hardly news.

[ed-dirt.livejournal.com]

During the time I was in prison I heard hundreds of conversations between convicted meth cooks, sharing trade "secrets" with each other.

The DEA is out of their heads if they think that choking off Ephedrine and its Pseudo cousin would stop methamphetmine manufacture.


Thise dudes can make it out of everything from bug spray to chicken feed. Seriously.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

You're using Earth Logic. That is Bad. It won't work. Obviously an easy-to-implement stopgap measure is going to take care of all the problem, because those druggies have no creativity, initiative, or motivation to find other methods than just the one legislators can address easily!

(By "easy-to-implement" I mean "we just write it into legislation." It doesn't mean it will be easy to implement for the pharmacies or convenient for the sick people, but who cares about them?)

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

Besides missysedai's point about the already-extant restrictions, it's rather dangerous policy to say "there are people who can misuse a generally helpful product, so we deny relief to millions of sufferers."

Of course the drug companies want to make money, but no one wants to be told "no, we know what's best for people, and we'll tell you what medications to take."

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree. I simply dislike the reasoning that led them to come to the conclusion that they did.

In short, I have absolutely no belief that "freedom of choice" and "relief from suffering" had ANYTHING to do with the decision to continue allowing OTC ephedrine sales.

[missysedai.livejournal.com]

In short, I have absolutely no belief that "freedom of choice" and "relief from suffering" had ANYTHING to do with the decision to continue allowing OTC ephedrine sales.

Without a doubt. Congress doesn't give a rat's ass about sick people, they're busy following the money.

As ed_dirt points out, this "stick it behind the counter and card people" bullshit is going to do NOTHING to stop meth manufacture. And WTF is with the hype that meth is something new? Shit. My parents were cooking up meth in the basement right alongside their hydroponic pot garden - and THAT was in the early 80s!

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

Nah, it's just popular now. It's a huge problem in the Pacific Northwest, too; I run into people strung out on it in Seattle's International District all the time. (These people are the best anti-drug argument I've ever seen. Some of them have hassled my kung fu buddies, which is proof enough for me that meth destroys your survival instinct: some of the guys I train with could take your head off.)

Last fall I took a CPR/AED class from a couple of local firefighters. They said that fires started by home-grown meth labs kept them hopping.

All that said, I agree with you. This reminds me of when airports were stationing visible and obvious National Guard units everywhere: I doubt they did jack for security, but they made people THINK something was being done.

[culfinriel.livejournal.com]

This is very interesting. First, Orrin Hatch disturbs me no end because he could care less about any medical realities but he sure seems to care a whole lot about money. So much for direct election of senators.

Regardless, it seems it would be far less inconvenient to consumers to have to get a prescription, as long as they allowed refills for up to one year, than to go through the current ridiculous byzantine nonsense. You stand in line at the pharmacy (because you can't call ahead for non-prescription meds), get out acceptable ID (generally a driver's license), sign one or more items, the pharmacist signs one or more items, then you may pay. AND, since you may now only purchase what they figure is the equivalent of a 2 week supply of medicine (at least in my state), you get to do this up to 24 TIMES A YEAR.

More stupidity (there's more?!) - many of the things people are buying were prescription only until well into the late 90's. The drug companies had to request they be made OTC, presumably for consumer convenience, long after everybody knew what was up with psedoephedrine and meth.

Basically, this is saying that major drug manufacturers are selling directly to illegal distributors and manufacturers and they know exactly what they are doing and would, in fact, prefer to get rich than actually do anything that might be both safe and convenient for their consumers. Of whom there are so many, you'd think they'd be satisfied with just getting rich, as opposed to filthy rich. And there are members of our government who are colluding with them. And the public believes everything they are trying to sell us.

Same sh--, different day. Whatever would we have to scare people into voting for us if we didn't have the nasty drug dealers? And who would fund our campaigns if we didn't make sure there were rich corporate executives? Apparently, I am still capable of disillusionment, which is amazing, since this is pretty much what I expect of these people. Or maybe it's something else.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that monkey-research link; it was really fun to read.

[culfinriel.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, isn't it interesting that they'd rather create a system where they can collect information on private citizens, than one where they are tracking corporations? Just sayin'. (and I can spell, I just can't type - pseudoephedrine - see?)

[harald387.livejournal.com]

The data generated by the capuchin monkeys, Chen says, "make them statistically indistinguishable from most stock-market investors."

I'm still giggling.

-K

[falconwarrior.livejournal.com]

Isn't Talk Like a Pirate Day on the 19th, rather than the 22nd?

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

They're putting it on a Friday, for reasons which should be obvious when you realise that this is an elementary school board.