At 05:21 PM 2/2/02 -0800, Tim May wrote: >On Saturday, February 2, 2002, at 12:52 PM, Neil Johnson wrote: >> Still believe that the government doesn't snoop in your private life ? >> Read on:
>> She's checking out when when the words "Limit 3" appears on the cash >> register display. The check-out person informs her that this is because >> Wal-Mart (in co-operation with law enforcement) is limiting the amount >> of >> over the counter cold remedies one can buy to prevent their use in the >> manufacturing of meth. Or maybe since Mafiaboy confessed to being a Robo-head, they're watching dextromethorphine, the cough-suppressing but not terribly euphoric isomer used in cold meds and by bored teenagers. >And this has been going on for a while. I used to be able to buy 50- and >100-count bottles of generic pseudoephedrine (IIRC this was it...don't >quote me on it), the same ingredient in Actifed, a cold/sinus pill. >These generic bottles have vanished, to be replaced by blister packs of >vastly more expensive pills containing the same ingredient. Its the pseudoephedrine which is the major input to most amphetamine and methamphetamine syntheses. The feds (who cause the illicit labs via their prohibition) find cases of PE bottles with their bottoms sliced off. >Pseudoephedrine is related to speed, and I presume can be used to make >purer forms of speed. The synthesis makes a small change to the PE molecule producing a diferent molecule. There is no speed in PE; a long time ago centrally active amphetamines were used in inhalers, but no more (it was readily extracted and purified.) ... Steve Shear: nasal sprays are good for hydrating the membranes that coldbugs target; heated winter air dries them. Zinc may help. But someone buying Nyquil-type drugs is already infected and just wants a break from symptoms. Neil: You'd be better off reading the labels on brand-name Nyquil and buying the ingredients separately and generically. That way you can avoid taking something you don't need --say pseudoephedrine which dries membranes-- when all you want is dextro's cough suppressant effect. The other ingredient tends to be anti-histamines (and ethanol) which help you sleep if nothing else. Enough biology for now. -- "Architects ask: What did I do to cause this?" http://latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-122101arch.story Architects ask, but does congress even bother?
