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more on Patriot Act Includes Crackdown on Meth Use]
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2006 19:28:52 -0500
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [IP] Patriot Act Includes Crackdown on Meth Use Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2006 17:59:50 -0500 From: Gene Spafford <spaf () cerias purdue edu> To: dave () farber net CC: ip () v2 listbox com, Richard Forno <rforno () infowarrior org> References: <440DC1FD.2060908 () farber net>
ID to buy otc medicine!! -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Patriot Act Includes Crackdown on Meth Use Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2006 09:59:10 -0500 From: Richard Forno <rforno () infowarrior org>
There are really two issues here -- (1) is it right to tack this on to the Patriot Act, and (2) is it an effective means of countering the meth problem. As to #1, this is a mechanism long established in both Federal and State law -- tack on amendments to other "must pass" legislation. It is how we ended up with the REAL-ID act, for instance. So long as voters don't complain loudly and our elected representatives continue to find it a way to get things done, it will continue. As to #2, yes, this will help. Many states have passed laws requiring OTC medications with pseudophedrine to be held behind the counter and an ID presented for purchase. In states where this has happened the number of meth busts has dropped precipitously. (psuedopehdrine is the main ingredient in several popular "recipes" to "cook" meth.) Are there better methods? Well, several have been tried, including setting up treatment programs for addicts and changing the packaging of the OTC meds. None of those have helped -- the number of labs and busts simply continue until a hold-back-and-ID law is passed. With a sales quota and no ID requirement, the addicts simply make the rounds of multiple stores, buying up the quota at each and going on to the next without any worry of being tracked...or deterred. Meth is *highly* addictive and extremely difficult to overcome. It changes brain chemistry in a way that may be permanent, and the craving is supposedly always there...as well as changing the way "sober" reality is experienced. Even with the best of treatment alternatives, addicts relapse. It is worse than crack cocaine, I am told. The best treatment is to make meth completely unavailable. Meth is extremely dangerous to the users. It can lead to something akin to Parkinson's, which can eventually lead to death. Meth users drastically lose weight and develop terrible health conditions because they don't want to eat. They hallucinate. They indulge in risky behaviors of all kinds. They need to continually increase the dosage to get the same high. Home-made meth is often contaminated with noxious chemicals that lead to secondary poisoning. "Meth mouth" is a particularly notable problem with long time meth users -- their teeth and gums rot away from a combination of medical effects of the meth and poor hygiene. (cf. <http://www.mappsd.org/Meth% 20Mouth.htm>) Meth users will do most anything to get the money to buy more meth. This leads to crime in the communities where they are located. Before long, addicts often turn to making their own meth. This is an additional hazard because cooking meth involves steps with volatile chemicals (lithium, ether, acid, phosphorus, lye, anhydrous ammonia are all common). Meth labs are often set up in apartments and buildings near other residences, and often without care that children and other people are nearby. Meth labs pose a huge explosion risk, and hazardous waste teams are required to clean up labs busted by the police. (If you live in a community where this has happened, you know these aren't scare stories manufactured by the police, either.) I live in a state where there has been a growing meth problem over the last few years. We're lucky as it has been moving east over the last few decades -- it is relatively recent here. Further west it has been a bigger problem for longer, with (I believe) Oregon as one of the first and hardest-hit states. Maybe Pennsylvania hasn't seen much of it yet. Meth is a terrible scourge. Short of banning the use of psuedophedrine, which is widely used in all sorts of OTC and prescription meds, there don't seem to be too many good alternatives. As a result, we are left with choices that are non- optimal in some ways. So, in the end, the question is -- how do we combat something that endangers innocent people and ruins the health and lives of thousands, yet is relatively simple to make from things we do not wish to ban? Until someone comes up with a better solution, the holdback-and-ID laws seem to be the way to do it. Personally, I don't think that this should be bundled in the Patriot Act. I also wish there was a way to deal with this short of the ID approach. But sometimes the real world requires compromises. ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- more on Patriot Act Includes Crackdown on Meth Use] David Farber (Mar 07)