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Back in my late teens and early twenties I had a particular fondness for White Crosses, the little bronchodilater pills that one could by legally at gas stations all over the country. They were ephedrine tablets, designed for folks with asthma but used with great gusto by dieters and for recreational purposed. And also by long haul drivers nationwide, which is how they got their other common nickname – trucker speed.
I used to indulge on long road trips. They were great for driving, kept you alert and entertained while undertaking the innately dull task of racing down the interstate from point A to point B. And as someone who suffered with occasional asthma throughout my twenties, it was easy to use the old ‘medicinal purposes’ justification. They weren’t without their side effects however, after a long night with a bottle of Mini Thins things like insomnia, agitation, irritability, dry mouth, sweating, and heart palpitations were not uncommon.
And not surprising, considering ephedrine is pretty much an amphetamine. And as with all good things, the days of cheap trucker speed at the gas station came to an end. Ephedrine containing products became increasingly difficult to obtain through the 90’s and now are available only with a prescription in the U.S., U.K. and Australia. This is largely because ephedrine can be used as a precursor in the production of methamphetamine – crystal meth – which became the drug to panic and rend our garments about in the Naughties. All the meth-induced panic resulted in the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act which was passed as an amendment to the renewal of the Patriot Act in 2006. Basically, it resulted in tight regulations on any ephedrine or pseudoephedrine containing product. The effect of the regulation is that most of your over the counter allergy and cold medicine were sequestered behind the counter and if one bought too much Sudafed, one’s name was passed on to the Drug Enforcement Agency. Shortly thereafter, one’s meth lab was probably shut down by heavily armed men while one was handcuffed face down in some Missouri trailer park.*
The idea, of course, is that if the meth manufacturers can’t get the chemicals that they need to make their product then methamphetamine will disappear from the world. Crime will become a thing of the past, tweaked out teens will become Rhodes Scholars and money will grow on trees. Perfect world.
I’m not much into drugs anymore. Quite the contrary, in fact, these daysI tend to just say no. However, that abstinence has nothing to do with Nancy Reagan or any of the other attempts by the powers that be to convince me that drugs are wrong or their endless ‘War on Drugs’. It has nothing to do with prohibition or criminalization or heavy handed enforcement. These things don’t work. They haven’t worked in the last several decades and they aren’t going to work in the next several. No matter how illegal you make them or how many people you put in jail or how hard you make it to acquire drugs, a certain number of people are going to use them and a subset of those people are going to abuse them. All the time, money and energy would be better spent on treating addicts and attempting to get them clean. We have a problem that no matter how hard we hit it isn’t going to go away.
When I heard about the pseudophedrine and ephedrine regulations, I was pretty confident that keeping Sudafed behind the counter at the Wal-Mart was going to have approximately no effect on crystal meth production and distribution. It was just another prohibition effort. And now, a few years later, I’ve got the facts to support that hypothesis. A group led by Russell Callaghan of the Canadian Center for Addiction and Mental Health asked whether these types of regulations were doing any good. Their results, published this month in Drug and Alcohol Dependence, suggest that this policy is just the latest failure in the endless war on drugs.
Like the U.S., Canada began to regulate the import and export of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine in January of 2003 and the domestic distribution of those compounds in July of the same year. They then took the further step of regulating the import and export of other essential chemicals used in the processing of methamphetamine in January of 2004. Callaghan and his colleagues asked what effects, if any, these regulations have had on methamphetamine-related emergency room admissions, a fairly good indicator of your population’s drug problem. As a comparison, they also looked at the number of cocaine, heroin and alcohol related ER admissions in the same period of time.
What they found is, to me, not surprising. The January 2003 import/export regulations had no impact on meth related ER admissions. However, the July 2003 domestic distribution regulations on ephedrine and pseudoephedrine and the January 2004 regulations on the import of meth processing chemicals were associated with 20% and 21% increases in meth related ER admissions respectively. During the same time period the number of emergency room visits due to cocaine, alcohol and heroin did not change.
In short, policies of prohibition have certainly not reduced methaphetamine use in Canada and in the time since their enactment, there have been significant increases in the number of meth related injuries. Now obviously this study addresses the problem in Canada, and in some ways it is understandable that if you spend your life in some rest stop of a town on the frozen plains of Saksatchewan or Manitoba that you may want a bit of a pick me up, but it is also safe to assume that similar regulations in other countries are as effective as those in Canada. Regulating ephedrine and pseudoephedrine is simply not effective in reducing methaphetamine use.
A good question is why not? If you can eliminate production why wouldn’t meth use drop? Short answer – you aren’t eliminating production. Callaghan hypothesises that the increases may be due to the replacement of small-scale producers – the folks making meth in their shed – by international criminal organizations that don’t buy their chemicals at the local drug store. This shift in production may have resulted in an increase in meth supply rather than the intended reduction. With the increase in quantity, there is likely to be a decrease in both price and quality as well. More meth, cheaper meth, impure meth.
Whatever the reason, this is just another example of a failed policy of prohibition and criminalization. It isn’t working. Governments around the world have been losing the War on Drugs for decades and it is time for a cease fire. I don’t know what the road forward is, I’m not that smart. I don’t actually think it would be a great idea to make hardcore drugs like methamphetamine, heroin and the like completely legal. But I am smart enough to know that the road we’re currently driving on is going nowhere.
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*Just to clarify, this has never happened to me personally. I messed around with meth a bit, but it wasn’t really my thing. I was (and still am) a terrible middle class snob and always consider meth to be a white trash drug. But for a while, I lived next door to a meth dealer who used to give me free samples in order to keep me from calling the police. I’m not too snobby to turn down free drugs.
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Alt-country supergroup Golden Smog featured members of The Jayhawks, Soul Asylum and Wilco. Their 1996 record “Down By The Old Mainstream” is rollicking alt country gold. As a Wilco fan, the songs with Jeff Tweedy at the mic are my favorites – particularly this one.
Buy “Down By The Old Mainstream” from 
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We can’t seem to come up with any answers to curtail drug production and use and yet, I think the answer is closer to home. Perhaps if more parents spent more time talking with (not talking to) their kids, this wouldn’t be the path those kids would choose. Then again, we’ve all seen those families where there was one bad egg while the rest of the clan went on to much success. Does anyone ask what went wrong with that one child?
I have no answers.
Beth´s last blog ..Randomness Mess
This is a really good post about a situation that is part of our world and seems not to be going away any time soon. While I agree with you that what is being done to discourage drug use is not working, I do not know what is going to work if there ever will be something to keep people from taking the first taste, the first puff, whatever. My hubby was given his first drugs when he was 17 and he was hooked. He was a guitar player (still is) and older band members gave him something to help him play better. So for about 40 years he was a user of whatever is out there including meth. I did not know him at the time but I doubt that all the drugs and alcohol helped his bipolar disorder. To his credit he has been clean and sober nine years now. And in my life I was not interested in using or drinking for lots of my own reasons, but when my kids dad and I divorced when I was 30 years old some “friends” started supplying me with free pot to “help” with the transition. After a couple years I left behind the pot and the friends. There are different ways to start using drugs and some people are hooked. My kids tried stuff and then moved on. One of my good friends has been clean and sober 25 years but spent most of life heavy into drugs and alcohol. The people I have known who have used drugs over a long period of time had Leave It To Beaver childhoods. I had the opposite. Is it possible for young people to experiment and not get hooked and move on? Yes. I sure don’t know the answer but having been closely involved with heavy users I see the wasted minds and them discarding their lives and relationships to keep using.
Technobabe´s last blog ..One Brick At A Time
Do you guys have Red Bull down there? That stuff is liquid dynamite. It does exactly what it says it’ll do…keep your ass awake. Sometimes, I’ll get a Red Bull and vodka. It’s two drugs in one!
The Unbearable Banishment´s last blog ..NYC wildlife
Did I not read somewhere that in a certain Canadian city, (prolly Vancouver) heroin addicts could go and get their fixes legally? I remember being glad that I’m no longer a tax payer in that country. I suppose that’s an unnoble feeling…
JChevais´s last blog ..Emptying the Brain Junk
It does hamper those of us who suffer greatly through the 10 month Georgia allergy season. I can go to the pharmacy and pick up an Rx for anything including whatever kind of addictive, opiate-based painkiller my doctor sees fit to prescribe to me or any of my family members with the transaction taking less than a minute. If I need to by an OTC decongestant, however, it takes no less than six minutes to fill out all of the paper work. All of that time I have to bear the burning eyes of the sick people behind me wishing I’d just drop dead so they could step over my body to get their prescription.
Cat´s last blog ..A Cat Family Outing
I’m only a wimp when it comes to two kinds of pain: The excruciating shooting pain that left me more or less crippled for a week when I first herniated a disk in my neck, and headaches. Seriously, I refused to take more than one pain pill when I had my wisdom teeth cut out and have never taken medication for either of the times I sprained my ankle. I really haven’t had injuries worse than that. My bones are like freaking titanium and I’ve never even had a cavity.
But give me a sinus headache and I’m reaching for the medicine cabinet. The best thing to ever work for me is Aleve Cold and Sinus or the Sinus Headache version. Unfortunately, those are one of the medications you have to sign out to buy and during the spring and fall pollen seasons, I’m always a little worried I’m going to go over some mystical limit and get a visit from the FBI.
But I never had a real problem with it. The drug wasn’t banned and I could still purchase it. I just had to be willing to attach my name to the purchase.
I’m not a fan of prohibition. All prohibition does is add a revenue source to organized crime because it does nothing to eliminate demand. Heck, the Mafia families gained most of their wealth and power from Prohibition because demand didn’t go anywhere and legit businesses who follow the law no longer could compete.
I always assumed this was a much better track to take. Instead of banning it and sending production to organized crime (which increases violence as gangs fight for market share with deadlier things than advertising and marketing. I didn’t realize that making it harder for the average producer would just make it better for the large-scale producers.
Interesting post.
Jacob´s last blog ..since feeling is first
I’ve never done drugs (I am just that boring). I don’t think prohibition of things does a lot of good, in fact it probably just makes it worse. I’m not saying drugs should be legal either. I really don’t want to find cocaine next to the bread in my store you know?
If you take alcohol for instance in Europe, there are very few restrictions on age (16 I think for Germany but when I was in Italy at 16 everyone offered me wine). It becomes something you grow up with and therefore it’s not that sacred no-no that a lot of kids in the US get off on breaking. I think you’d find the ratio of alcoholics as compared to the US would be less. I can’t quote statistics for that but the alcohol problem I witnessed living there for almost four years seemed very little compared to the US.
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Excellent (rubs hands…) an argument!
Firstly let me take you to task on this statement:
“but it is also safe to assume that similar regulations in other countries are as effective as those in Canada.”
Call yourself a scientist??? As if results from one country with its culture, context and legal system can be generalised to the rest of the world!
Next I take exception to the use of ER figures as a reliable indicator of general levels of drug use. The only thing it factually indicates is an increase in health crisis related to the drug. After that one can only hypothesise as to the reasons for this increase. Perhaps quality is going down due to large scale criminal providers but perhaps users are, faced with a market drought, devising new ways to administer the drug to either eke out small supplies or make the limited supply more potent in its application? Either way these ER admissions do not indicate what is happening to levels of use amongst the recreational drug taking population. Has the ‘drought’ in local production prevented a 16 year old girl from trying something at her first rave? There is no way your ER admissions data would indicate this.
Personally, having done the usual student flirtation with drugs and being far too fond of a glass of sav blanc than I care to cheerfully admit, I think lack of opportunity goes a long way to preventing some of that casual drug use which can end in tears without ending in addiction.
Indulge me in a metaphor; we do not give our toddlers old fashioned sharp can openers to play with as they will undoubtedly injure themselves; as they become older and wish to open a can we ensure there are no sharp can openers in the house and reduce the opportunity for accident, if they are the type of child who just REALLY WANTS TO USE A SHARP CAN OPENER….they will get into a drawer, find one in the shed or borrow one off a friend true, but the majority of kids will be happy to open a jar instead. As adults we figure that there are better and safer ways of opening cans and we eschew the old sharp can opener for the safety model.
The incidence of ER admissions for meth crisis may (or may not) indicate a continuing level of availability amongst hardened users but it does not reflect the levels of use amongst the rest of our vulnerable teenage and young adult population. If my kid can go to a gig without being offered something to ‘try’ as a result of ephedrine controls…..queue up all you hay fever suffers I say!
As right as you are about prohibition and criminalisation not being the answer to the drug war, I think you are wrong about the benefits of reducing availability.
Unless you are right about the organised crime suppliers coming in to fill in the gap. But we would need to see another study to support that. And not just in Canada.
arizaphale´s last blog ..Theme Thursday: At Play
Beth – I think a lot of it is genetic. Certainly a lot of environmental factors, but a lot of people have a great normal childhood but still end up addicts. There is a lot of study into the genetics of addiction that’s really interesting.
Technobabe – I sent you a mail to this effect, but I hope you don’t think I’m being glib or flippant about drug and alcohol abuse. Not at all. The fact is that drugs and booze are out there and no matter what we do about it, that’s going to be the case. People have got to learn the dangers and those that get sucked in often need help getting out. They don’t need to go to jail. The whole policy of prohibition hasn’t helped a bit. Time to move on.
TUB – I do like those energy drinks. In fact, maybe I need one right now…
JChev – Don’t know. I know that Vancouver has a massive heroin problem, but I don’t know what they’re doing about it.
Cat – I’ve not been in the States since they put it in place, so I don’t know what it’s like. Just seems like a waste of time and energy and government resources.
Jacob – I think maybe it’s like the Wal-Mart phenomena. Regulating sudafed put your mom and pop meth manufacturer out of business, so organized crime moves in to satisfy the demand. Organized crime, like Wal-Mart, gives you a cheaper product but one that is made in china with lead paint. You’re never going to change demand, just the supply.
Andrea – I doubt, even if they were ever made legal, you would find cocained next to bread in your store. They’d probably keep it with the cigarettes.
As for booze and drinking ages. I don’t know. The 21 drinking age is a joke anyway. I never had a problem getting alcohol from about 16 on. I don’t know what the right thing to do is. Really don’t. Just know that they way it works now doesn’t work.
Ariza:
1. There’s very little difference in cultural context between the U.S. and Canada. Yes, Canadian readers, I know you’re now irate with me, but it’s comparing Granny Smith and Jonagold apples rather than apples and oranges.
I haven’t found a similar study on the over the counter regulations effects in the US, but I did find this which is pretty interesting: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/121685328/HTMLSTART
“US precursor regulations targeting large-scale producers were associated with substantial decreases in continental US methamphetamine purity, while regulations targeting over-the-counter medications had little or no impact. Canada’s essential chemical regulation was also associated with a decrease in continental US purity. However, Canada’s precursor regulations were associated with purity increases: these regulations may have impacted primarily producers of lower-quality methamphetamine, leaving higher-purity methamphetamine on the market by default.”
2. What is a good metric to quantify use? A survey? There is no accurate way to measure use. ER admissions – and in more prosecutorial nations (USA) – arrests are an effective way to quantify abuse. Abuse is more relevant anyway. The occasional user I think we could agree not to worry about. It’s like comparing the person that enjoys a glass or two of sav blanc at dinner with the one who guzzles a couple of casks a day. We’re more concerned – as a society – about the latter.
As for your metaphor, we have much more control over our toddlers’ behavior and safety than we do over adult friends, family members, children or fellow citizens. It’s a bogus metaphor.
I only cop to doing things that are legal in the countries I’ve done then in. Germany, I was 16 and it was legal to drink there (off-post) but on-post you had to be 21. Guess where all the kids hung out?! Holland… um yeah if you can enter a shop, there’s a menu and you can order it… And in England until a few years ago they were selling shrooms in shops in London, but I’ve heard this has changed. Meth, however, after studying in (rural!) Illinois, which I consider the white trash capital of the US, and seeing a fair few meth-heads wander around the abandoned, half-closed down malls there, I wouldn’t go for. That’s too hard-core, thanks.
I agree with Blogging Mama above. Italy has one of the lowest rates of alcohol abuse in Europe, and it’s much lower than that of the U.S. It is an embarrassment for most Italians if someone they are with drinks to excess at dinner or a nightclub. It’s a completely different culture to the U.S. though, but perhaps cultures like that, and must of Europe (minus the binge-drinking and heroin shooting U.K.) that should be studied for the answers!
(According to this http://www.illinoismethproject.org/documents/Illinois%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf Illinois ranks #4 in the country for meth-related arrests and meth lab seizures.)
Danielle´s last blog ..Vegemite, Marmite, and Vegemite Cheesybite
I also think that it’s not really about keeping the drugs away from kids. It’s an entire facet of human experience that is regulated in ways that should perhaps be reconsidered. There are lots of cultures that use “mind altering substances” in ways that I think can be enriching, life-changing, or just for fun. BUT there are obviously other substances out there, that I really don’t see the point of. Meth is one of those things. It is very hard to draw the line though because take something like marijuana, which I don’t consider too “hard” of a drug. I don’t like the effects personally and it’s illegal here so I don’t use it, and it can probably have some negative effect on a developing brain, AND I’ve worked with quite a few people addicted to only the psychological effects of this drug, but that doesn’t mean I don’t think some people should be able to use it if they want to. Can the rule be, if it’s made in a bathtub, it has anything to do with bleach, draino or another already humanly toxic substance, that it’s not allowed lol?
Danielle´s last blog ..Vegemite, Marmite, and Vegemite Cheesybite
A right pedant pointed out that ‘Wars against ideas can never be won’. With the obvious countrepoint that ‘Wars against people can be won.’
Being a serious allergy sufferer I was very annoyed when they hid the Sudafed from me. But I think that hiding it behind the counter was a good thing. If they hadn’t regulated it I might have accidentally become a meth addict and then my fingernails would be a mess. That picture is disturbing. So then I’d have my meth addiction to pay for AND I’d have to double my mani/pedi’s.
Carolyn Online´s last blog ..There are no stupid questions. Just stupid people doing their best.
I like my teeth too much to do meth.
I have 2 friends who are DEA agents, and I feel for them a bit: they make their living fighting a war that will never be won and, frankly, they don’t want to win!
I do hate what crack has done to undermine the efforts and strides made by MLK and other civil right leaders 40 years ago. And all the money terrorists groups are making from heroin production.
when i have taken drugs, i have not gone and searched them out, they’ve been at a party, and I’ve taken them out of curiosity or someone else said it was good, and then either disliked it or totally fucking loved it. and it’s the latter which left me feeling the next day i wanted to drive around town til I found some more of the drug to take. luckily i dont have that many drug dealing friends and didnt get to take some, or i’d probably still be off my face now, and the cravings lessened the longer the time since I last had any. But I don’t like addiction and sometimes I like not giving myself the things I want, cos I’m weird like that. I don’t think easily obtaining drugs is the answer, cos man, drugs make you feel good, and you would def want to do them again as a teenager. Drugs being expensive and hard to come by discourage me from taking them, and the social stigma, and getting a criminal record. and turning into a total eedjit. Everyone reacts differently to drugs, and someone could have a nice night and someone else could be affected in a bad way for the rest of the night. I would have liked more education and less scare mongering. I think the Uk has a worse problem with binge drinking than with drugs. I think some people can like doing drugs now and again and other people have to have them all or nothing, and you dont know which one you’re going to be til you take them. People are always going to take drugs, protecting vulnerable people is good, educating people, making sure there’s help if people want it, but if you want to fuck up yourlife, there are a lot more ways than drugs to go about it. I dont really know what my point is here but i liked the article.
ssg´s last blog ..hello again
Hi! I like drugs! Though I suppose I have my prejudices as well. Crystal Meth just rings of get addicted and lose your teeth. I suppose I’m pretty soft core. Man, did I love the Demerol after I had my wisdom teeth taken out (should it be spelled Demoral?).
ellie´s last blog ..The Dog Travels
I tried taking an over the counter called DoDos a couple of times. The sensation of speeding was outweighed by the way it made me feel utterly sick. Not sure if you can still get DoDos If so I won;t be reliving my youthful folly!
jams O’Donnell´s last blog ..Radovan Karadzic trial to start
How would suggest we curb the use of illegal drugs and/or misused legal drugs? And this is not meant as a smart ass question, but a legitimate one.
What we have tried hasn’t worked, but making everything legal doesn’t seem top be the answer, either.
Jud´s last blog ..Sunday in the Park with Little One
“Last time he was at my house, he tried to walk away with my weed.”
Drugs are something you just need to be good at, and I’ve never been good at them. Ever. Because pot makes me paranoid as fuck (like I’m a walking conspiracy theory) and the one time I took mushrooms I was fucking terrified. People have all of these wonderful things to talk about and how awesome their trips are/were, and mine was like being stalked by a twenty foot invisible tiger, but I knew that fucker was right behind me BECAUSE I COULD HEAR IT GROWLING AND BREATHING.
And I was in an art museum. People were looking at me.
So, in conclusion, good research. I don’t do drugs.
rassles´s last blog ..I Would Throw A Good Search Party
I’d be interested to read a description from you about what meth was like. Any drug that makes its users look like the walking dead surely must be good, right?
Just curious…why is it that meth users have such bad teeth?
Is it because of something in the the crystal meth itself?
Or just because they’re too “out of it” to brush their teeth?
Vasopro´s last blog ..I Am Currently Taking A Prescription Drug To Cure A Stomach Ulcer. Can I Continue To Take Ephedra?