Comment by ultrarunner | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ultrarunner | Hacker News Reader

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GP said:

> Some people stopped buying pseudoephedrine entirely, either because they were offended by these rules or because they were afraid that they could wrongly be implicated in meth investigations if they appeared to buy it too often.

This has actually happened [0], and I seem to remember more instances (at least when the law was first passed). I know I have also gone to buy it in a headache-induced fog and found that I've forgotten my ID, and on at least one occasion the national drug whatever system was down and they refused to sell it. Because it has to be run through the specific national database, it has to be run through one department and I have been unable to purchase because that department has closed for the day.

These are just what comes to mind when I think about purchasing pseudoephedrine over the years; it's just generally become a pain to get. It makes me wonder if it'd be quicker and easier to just buy meth and reintroduce the hydroxyl group to get my cold medicine.

[0] https://reason.com/2009/09/28/hoosier-grandmother-arrested-f...

> It makes me wonder if it'd be quicker and easier to just buy meth and reintroduce the hydroxyl group to get my cold medicine.

Relevant: “A Simple and Convenient Synthesis of Pseudoephedrine from Meth” https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33444852 https://maggiemcneill.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/synthes...

Just crazy, isn't it? Nothing could be better proof that drug laws are both ill conceived and ineffective than when otherwise lawful people are forced to consider converting easily available but highly illicit meth into a medicine that's much needed by millions because it's essentially unavailable through stupidity.

If aliens were to visit they'd likely bypass contact on grounds that the planet's inhabitants are low-IQ nut cases.

"…and easier to just buy meth and reintroduce the hydroxyl group to get my cold medicine."

Damn stupid isn't it? I'd be funny if it weren't serious.

What's more most of these sympathomimetic amines are both simple organic molecules, and in numbers/types they're a dime-a-dozen so to speak—there are hundreds of them. Any number of which can be altered or 'metamorphosed' into others that have different physiological and psychological effects by almost any competent chemist.

I'm certainly not advocating the use of meth but it's clear to me that the regulations that control the distribution and use of these amines are not working. Essentially, all these brute-force/unsophisticated laws have done is to inconvenience legitimate users and have drug barons streamline the production of more efficient precursors such as phenylacetone (P2P).

We really do need a better way of approaching the problem. For instance, many drug users turn to illicit amines and other street drugs to overcome medical and psychological problems. It would make sense to have these people identified and then be treated by the health system before they turn to the street to 'help' them. Moreover, I'd reckon it'd be much cheaper than the millions now spent on enforcement.

Trouble is moral panic and an almost complete lack of understanding by both lawmakers and law enforcement of the problem and its underlying causes is significantly impeding progress.

It's also out of stock now a lot more than before. Especially in larger (read: cheaper per dose) boxes. I assume but have not confirmed this is simply done by overworked pharmacy staff not re-ordering as often as they otherwise would to avoid the extra workload induced by having to run your ID through the database/etc. I've talked to pharmacy techs that do this for other drugs that induce extra workload at national chains, so I don't see why this wouldn't hold true here as well.

That happened 15 years ago, just a couple years after the policy is created. A more compelling example of a spurious prosecution would be one more recent, say, after 2016. We can probably find some! The last time people looked, we found a pretty interesting story.

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