Re: Hello, DEA Minders!

1

And then you found five meth labs?


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 6:28 PM
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My experience is that the pharmacists are remarkably casual about it. "We're out of the 24-pack, will you take 48?" "Uh, sure."
(I've been using it to self-medicate for something vaguely like exercise-induced asthma, by taking one before workouts. It works well, but I keep thinking I should get a professional opinion on that.)


Posted by: Nathan Williams | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 6:57 PM
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My experience is that the pharmacists are remarkably casual about it. "We're out of the 24-pack, will you take 48?" "Uh, sure."

Well, because the whole thing is absurd.


Posted by: Sifu Tweety | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:00 PM
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And yet, the push is on for pseudoephedrine to be prescription only. (Warning, will count against NYT limit.)

The article notes that in the two states that have enacted such a law, the number of busts of meth labs has dropped. It doesn't say how much meth use has dropped.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:05 PM
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They're a little less casual than they used to be at CVS. They used to let you pay for the sudafed at the regular counter, but they got fined big time and are now very careful about making sure that you pay for it at the pharmacy counter.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:07 PM
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4: I thought that links from blogs didn't count.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:09 PM
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You can view an unlimited number from blogs, etc. But the counter is running, so if after having viewed 20 free via blogs you go direct to NYT for the 21st the system will say PAY ME. (I took the free offer from Lincoln. I also get the paper version at the office.)


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:12 PM
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7: Can you just sign up for that Lincoln offer or do you have to get a special invitation from them?


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:22 PM
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7: I'm not following. If viewing links from blogs is free, they don't count, right? You should be able to still view another 20 directly from the NYT page.

BG, you have to get a special invitation from Lincoln, it seems.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:30 PM
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What a bunch of fucking idiots the NYT is. They're taking themselves off the radar. Paper of record, my ass.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:32 PM
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The details of the Lincoln offer are kinda weird.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:34 PM
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From the NYT FAQ:


We encourage links from Facebook, Twitter, search engines, blogs and social media. When you visit NYTimes.com through a link from one of these channels, that article (or video, slide show, etc.) will count toward your monthly limit of 20 free articles, but you will still be able to view it even if you've already read your 20 free articles.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:36 PM
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11. Geez. I thought it went out to a wider number of people. I think I need to cut back.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:38 PM
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I've been using it to self-medicate for something vaguely like exercise-induced asthma mild hangovers. One of those pills and a cup of coffee and I'm better than on non-hangover days.


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:39 PM
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13: I was sort of proud of myself, and then realized it's largely all procrastination.


Posted by: Parenthetical | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:39 PM
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Huh, maybe I should have taken the offer. Still, I'd rather defeat the stupid paywall illegitimately.


Posted by: Sifu Tweety | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:39 PM
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Perhaps the offer was an action in the interest of public health. The withdrawal could have been massive.

Oh, Felix Salmon on all of this is interesting.


Posted by: md 20/400 | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:43 PM
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12: When you visit NYTimes.com through a link from one of these channels, that article (or video, slide show, etc.) will count toward your monthly limit of 20 free articles, but you will still be able to view it even if you've already read your 20 free articles.

I apparently need to take a break, because that makes no sense to me.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:44 PM
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If you've viewed 20 articles through blog links, you can't go to the nytimes.com front page and read articles, but you can still read more articles through blog links.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:47 PM
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Ah. Thanks. Right, I figured I wouldn't be going to the front page and reading articles anyway. Stupid idiots.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:50 PM
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Buy the by.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 7:53 PM
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17.2: Felix Salmon is interesting, as is the fact that Freakonomics has left the NYT (dot com). Who knows why both Frank Rich and Bob Herbert have left as well in the last couple of weeks. It would be irresponsible to speculate.


Posted by: parsimon | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 8:06 PM
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Of course, if they make that D prescription only, will I be able to get Allergy+D for the price of my $5 copay instead of the $30 the Allergy drug costs me now that it's over-the-counter? That would be nice.


Posted by: Di Kotimy | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 8:25 PM
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Christ, if pseudoephedrine goes prescription, I'm going to be stuck having to order it online from shady off-shore pharmacies, like I do with my asthma drugs. That's so much less of a pain in the ass than schlepping to the doctor for a prescription.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 8:29 PM
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I am congested no matter what. Antihistamines do nothing. Flonase and its ilk do nothing. I do not get this. There are worse problems to have but it's fucking frustrating. Don't antihistamines kind of work for everyone? And no, neti doesn't do much. It's refreshing to clear the junk out but I still wake up with the general sensation that an army has marched through my mouth, because I've been breathing through it all night. I just decided to go presidential on this not because it's scandalous but because on the one hand it's incredibly uninteresting but on the other I am grumpy and feel like venting about it. It is my experience that people sometimes recognize my writing anyway. Hi!


Posted by: Richard M. Nixon | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 10:23 PM
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25: I don't think antihistamines generally do help with congestion. They help with runny nose, sneezing, and watery or itchy eyes. Sudafed was always the OTC drug I took to deal with congestion.


Posted by: essear | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 11:16 PM
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If we have to go presidential to grumpily vent about uninteresting things, then call me Chester A. Arthyr.


Posted by: Robert Halford | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 11:39 PM
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All I had to do to get that lame joke right was not mispell the president's name. And I did that. Fuck a duck.


Posted by: robert halford | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 11:40 PM
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YOu would need another andrenergic drug, like amphetamine or ephedrine or desipramine.


Posted by: yoyo | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 11:45 PM
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Using Nixon, of all presidents, to admit you're congested is such an egregious abuse of presidentiality that you ought to confess something embarrassing. Or at least make up something juicy.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 11:54 PM
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Also, what Arthyr said.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 03-28-11 11:57 PM
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I'd never had shot Garfield if I'd known Arthyr would succeed him.


Posted by: charles gateau | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 12:10 AM
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D... Allergy-D. D is dumbness and despair. Desertion. Desertion of you from your friends, your friends from you, everyone from everyone. Isolation and loneliness... and hating and suspecting each other. D is finally death. Slow death from the sinuses down.


Posted by: I CAN'T BELIEVE NOBODY'S QUOTED A SCANNER DARKLY YET | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 12:13 AM
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Well, because the whole thing is absurd.

This is my natural instinct--I tend towards 'legalize everything, no prescriptions!'--but I've been made uncomfortable by how confident some of the public policy profs at Kle/iman's blog sound about the efficacy of making psuedoephidrine scrip-only to reducing meth abuse. I'd look for particular posts, but I'm lazy.


Posted by: x.trapnel | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 2:25 AM
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but I've been made uncomfortable by how confident some of the public policy profs at Kle/iman's blog sound about the efficacy of making psuedoephidrine scrip-only to reducing meth abuse.

Reduced number of domestic meth labs yes. Reduced meth abuse? I doubt it. Meth lab incidents much rarer in many jurisdictions but crystal sure is common on the street. It's just being made in Mexico now like everything else.


Posted by: gswift | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 2:56 AM
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"I am congested no matter what. Antihistamines do nothing. Flonase and its ilk do nothing. I do not get this."

Well, if you use nasal sprays too freely you get permanent congestion. V. common.


Posted by: David the Unfogged Commenter | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 3:43 AM
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37

Yggles made me use one my 20 on an article about Miranda Cosgrove.


Posted by: David the Unfogged Commenter | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 3:57 AM
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23: A friend of mine found that allegra helped her allergies but not claritin or zyrtec. Her insurancecompany continued to let her get it for about 6 months but then stopped.

I was able to point her to a Canadian site that will ship it (which used to be a good deal when the loony was lower) but was always cheaper than the $40 co-pay.

Her life is a lot simpler now that Allegra is available OTC in the U.S.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 4:47 AM
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35: I'd really hate to see pseudophedrine go OTC: a doctor once recommended it for debilitating heat induced fatigue and dizziness, since I have low blood pressure.

So, I'm nervous about saying this, but: would it be a good thing to reduce the number of meth labs even if it didn't reduce the abuse of meth, since the labs are so toxic and dangerous?


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 4:52 AM
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I've been taking a low-dose of Flonase all winter, but it's a steroid, not what most people call an antihistamine. (It does suppress allergic responses that can lead to post nasal drip etc.) I had this terrible painful lump which turned out to be a swollen lymph node nestled next to an artery so that when I turned my head it hurt like hell and a red throat. I think that my doctor will take me off it at my physical in April.


Posted by: Bostoniangirl | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 4:57 AM
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39: Relocating meth production to Mexico is not the same thing as reducing the number of labs. Unless the Mexican labs employ more efficient methods.

Or we just value Mexican lives less, so we don't care as much about meth accidents there.


Posted by: Benquo | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 6:08 AM
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I think the way to make meth labs safer is to make them publicly run, like the lottery. And then, if the government has deficits, all it has to do is sell more meth.


Posted by: Spike | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 6:23 AM
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Or we just value Mexican lives less

I think we've fairly conclusively demonstrated this. Actually, we've gone quite a bit farther.


Posted by: Annelid Gustator | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 6:35 AM
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36: Rebound congestion I had read about. Still there after ditching the stuff for a year congestion was an unpleasant surprise.


Posted by: Tricky Dick | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 7:22 AM
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41b: The drug war is all about shifting the burdens of drugs to populations "we" don't care about.


Posted by: Bave Dee | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 7:30 AM
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46

Chronic congestion like that is often linked to food sensitivities. Dairy, gluten, and refined sugar are common culprits. Maybe you could try taking vacations from them (but not all at the same time) to see whether eliminating one makes a difference?


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 7:32 AM
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47

Have you tried meth?


Posted by: Sifu Tweety | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 7:36 AM
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48

I've only read a little of Kle/man's blog, so perhaps I've missed it, but they never seem to address the burden shifting problem. The closest they come is things like suggesting we buy poppies from Afghanistan to make prescription opiates for the underserved developing nations.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 7:36 AM
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Maybe you could try taking vacations from them (but not all at the same time)

Someone learned from the OP!


Posted by: heebie-geebie | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 7:39 AM
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37: I had never heard of Melissa Cosgrove until I saw this article, so I guess I'm out of touch.

This sounded so intriguing you had to follow the link? Because you had never heard of Melissa Cosgrove, and you wanted to be "in touch"? And then you found out the article was actually about Miranda Cosgrove, who you've been watching on ICarly for years, so you actually are "in touch"?

Damn you, Yglesias! If you had only gotten the name right I wouldn't have needed to waste one of my precious NYT article passes!


Posted by: peep | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 8:00 AM
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49: What a proud day for me.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 8:11 AM
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Found out that my wife signed us up for the NYTimes thingie so for a small fee I'll read links, experience the appropriate emotion or insight for you.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 8:21 AM
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52: Or you could you link here in comments to everything you read over there, as a public service.


Posted by: Stanley | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 8:39 AM
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Socialist.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 8:48 AM
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Regarding meth use vs. labs and domestic vs. imported, I had the impression that the labs that are disappearing in the US are of the small-time, barely-know-what-they're-doing variety. I don't actually know what the situation in Mexico is, but given the presence of larger criminal drug organizations (and the fact that they're organizations) I would kind of expect larger, slightly-better-run, possibly even safer operations. Blowing up the lab is bad for the bottom line, after all. So if we're exchanging small-time, dangerous local labs for foreign, larger, better (even if not pharmaceutical-grade) labs, that seems like an improvement.


Posted by: Nathan Williams | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 8:54 AM
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Why do you hate American industry, Nathan?


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 8:56 AM
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Regarding meth use vs. labs and domestic vs. imported, I had the impression that the labs that are disappearing in the US are of the small-time, barely-know-what-they're-doing variety.

I think this is basically the goal of the anti-meth-lab interventions in various jurisdictions, since their priorities were to not have so many houses blowing up and humongous fires and caches of weapons in supposedly abandoned houses, all of which are bad for the municipal budget.


Posted by: Cryptic ned | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 8:58 AM
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I don't hate American industry!
Clearly, what I hate is small business.


Posted by: Nathan Williams | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 9:13 AM
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I prefer artisanal meth.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 9:24 AM
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Connecting up to the internship thread: see, this is what happens when a country lacks a strong tradition of vocational training: fly-by-night, dangerous, amateurish meth production. I can assure you the Zentralverband
des Deutschen Handwerks
wouldn't stand for such a disgraceful outcome.


Posted by: x.trapnel | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 9:30 AM
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That is to say, I prefer to be hand-cranked.


Posted by: Eggplant | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 9:32 AM
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It looks like small-scale domestic production through organized retail purchase actually increased in '08 and '09, if seizure statistics are anything to go by. Though this is after a huge decline in production following the 2005 law restricting OTC sales (CMEA), looking at an older table.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 9:36 AM
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That is to say, I prefer to be hand-cranked.

Groan. That was really something.


Posted by: | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 9:40 AM
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I had the impression that the labs that are disappearing in the US are of the small-time, barely-know-what-they're-doing variety

The people who bought my grandparents' old place next to my parents' house and subsequently burned the barn down under suspicious circumstances were certainly not the brightest people I'd ever met.

(They were also distant cousins of ours, but that's true of pretty much anyone in our county.)


Posted by: Blume | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 10:26 AM
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I was a snot-nosed kid chronically congested when I was a kid, but then I quit swimming and it all cleared up.


Posted by: fake accent | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 11:40 AM
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Oh, hey, fixed first link.


Posted by: Minivet | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 11:44 AM
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55: If that's true, then our drug policy is in this case quite sensible! (Therefore it must be false?)

I'm glad I added the appropriate caveat.


Posted by: Benquo | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 12:15 PM
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65: I will quit swimming then. First I will have to start.

(Ach, I blew my cover.)


Posted by: Mister Smearcase | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 2:14 PM
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Not that I'm complaining about it!


Posted by: Smearcase's cover | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 2:19 PM
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Maybe you should try blowing me instead.


Posted by: Smearcase's nose | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 2:22 PM
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You two are incorrigible.


Posted by: Mister Smearcase | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 2:56 PM
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"I prefer artisanal meth."

I'm trying to 'do local' and sustainable and reduce my drug miles.

Don't want Peak Oil to hit and be trying to do manual labour and survive in the mad max world w/o my uppers.


Posted by: yoyo | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 3:30 PM
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To put Pigford into some perspective:

The US pays out $20 billion a year in direct farm subsidies. Total government agricultural support is well over $100 billion year.

In 1910, black farmers owned 15 million acres of farmland; in 1982, black farmers owned 3.1 million acres of farmland.

But I am probably erring by even engaging.


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 7:42 PM
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fuck


Posted by: JP Stormcrow | Link to this comment | 03-29-11 7:43 PM
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