Pubdate: Sun, 23 Jan 2005
Source: Enterprise-Journal, The (MS)
Copyright: 2005 The Enterprise-Journal
Contact:  http://www.enterprise-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/917
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

THE DRUG TRADE AFFECTS US ALL

The ingenuity of illegal drug manufacturers and drug users continues to 
threaten the existence of products that Americans have used safely for years.

For example, it's a lot more difficult these days to find Crystal Drano, 
the drainpipe cleaner. Sure, an alternative is available - Liquid Drano - 
but the crystal product just seems to work better.

Unfortunately, Crystal Drano is one of the ingredients used to make crystal 
methamphetamine, an unusually addictive concoction that has wreaked havoc 
in many rural communities across the nation. Many stores won't stock 
Crystal Drano, choosing not to contribute, however unwittingly, to the drug 
trade.

You can't blame stores for this decision. But it sure is frustrating to the 
average customer.

Another ingredient of crystal meth is pseudoephedrine, a drug common in 
decongestants and other cold remedies. Pfizer Inc., one of the world's 
largest drug manufacturers, has come up with an alternative medication of 
its popular Sudafed brand that does not have the ingredient used to make 
crystal meth.

Pfizer, however, is being criticized by officials in Tennessee, who note 
that the alternative medicine, known as Sudafed PE, has been available in 
Europe since 2003. The Tennessee people, frustrated by the growing 
popularity of meth labs in the state, want to know why the new medicine is 
only now being introduced there.

Sudafed PE will go on sale in the United States in February. The original 
Sudafed will still be available, but in communities that have restricted 
the sale of medicines containing pseudoephedrine, customers will have to 
ask for it at pharmacy counters.

Those among us who don't make, sell or use meth have a right to be annoyed 
that the illegal habits of others are making it more difficult to get their 
preferred medicine or drain cleaner. That said, there is evidence that 
restricting the availability of such products has been successful at 
strangling the illicit drug trade.

In Oklahoma, for example, officials put medicine with pseudoephedrine 
behind counters, and that helped lead to an 80 percent decline in meth lab 
seizures. Tennessee's governor has said he'd like to see the same thing 
happen in his state, as it leads the nation in meth lab seizures and 
accounts for a whopping three-quarters of such seizures across the South.
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MAP posted-by: Beth