police say a massive influx of meth made by Mexican "superlabs," which can obtain tons of pseudoephedrine, has kept meth plentiful and potent. The number of Oklahoma users shows no sign of falling, and property crime still keeps the Oklahoma County Jail at capacity.That's predictable. In Texas, the Oklahoma law was hyped as a cure-all that would rid the state of meth once and for all. Now it turns out we can expect the drug to be just as "plentiful and potent" as ever under the new law, maybe more so. What's saddest, in 2007 when the same politicians return to Austin complaining we need tougher drug laws, I doubt their constituents will call them on the fact that their past efforts never really mattered at all.
"We took away their production," said Tom Cunningham, task force coordinator for the Oklahoma District Attorneys Council. "That didn't do anything for their addiction."
See also, "Pseudoephedrine restrictions raise fears of more addiciton, more overdoses and more violence."
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12 comments:
The public story could have been just a cover story for the real agenda -- the cartels order their stooges to drive the amateurs out of business.
This is a common dodge in corporate America.
You know, too many people wanted the pseudoephedrine change for me to believe most weren't acting in good faith. What's disturbing is that such misguided policies would be demanded so widely by DAs and other law enforcement professionals who, at the end of the day, didn't have the first clue what effect the change would have on the illegal drug market. Arguably, with drugs cheaper and the potency allegedly higher with Mexican meth, things are actually worse. So who is accountable?
Will they take this law off the books? Of course not. There are tons of laws out there that seemed like a good idea at the time but are ineffectual. They never get repealed and just serve to inconvienance the law abiding or as an extra thing to throw at someone convicted of other crimes. You know the theory, just keep piling on charges and hopefully something sticks.
Brass
This is a copy of the email I sent to the person in Texas responsible for bring meth law stupidity to texas.
Dear Texas State Senator Craig Estes,
You don't know me, but you have single handedly made my life harder. I have extreme allergies. I take three allergy shots twice per week and use many prescription drugs such as Astelin, Nasacort, and Zyrtec.
None of these expensive prescription drugs relieve the extreme sinus pressure that I feel several times a week.
Pseudoephedrine does. I take 60mg every 4 to 6 hours as needed until my bone splitting headache goes away. Pseudoephedrine works and it works quickly. On bad days, if I forget to have my Pseudoephedrine with me, I get post nasal drip that rapidly causes me to get sick and to eventually vomit. Vomiting while you have a bone splitting, eye socket, screaming headache is a very unpleasant experience, but if you don't believe me, I will be glad to come to your office and demonstrate the intensity of my affliction.
This affliction most recently manifested itself during the Hurricane Rita exodus which put me and my wife in Marshal, Texas after being on the road for 30 continuous hours. I had taken my last two pseudoephedrines six hours earlier and my sinuses started backing up. I could feel the beginnings of the vomit inducing post nasal drip when we reached the Wal-Mart in Marshal.
My dear wife, Rhonda, went into the Wal-Mart in Marshal to get me my precious pseudoephedrine only to find that she was stared at and treated like a criminal. She had to get out her drivers license, provide her address and sign her name for a box of pseudoephedrine. Since your law requires Wal-Mart to keep records for two years, I am sure you will take great joy in verifying my story.
You have made me feel like a criminal every time I buy the miracle drug I need.
You have also caused pharmacists to wonder if they should continue to sell this drug. I have tried the substitute they touted and found that it doesn't work.
And all for nothing. Please go to the following web site where you will find that your law has done nothing to reduce the availability of meth to those who want it.
http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2005/09/oklahoma-meth-law-not-working.html
If that one is not good enough, try this one:
http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/suo092905.html
Your law has only made it harder for me to purchase the drug I need while illegal Mexican and home grown American gangs are getting rich bringing in all the meth that lowlifes in our country can shoot, snort, pop, or smoke. (I really don't know or care what they do with it) In fact, now that all the home grown labs are gone, the supply of meth from Mexican labs has grown more potent with absolutely no shortages at all.
How dare you treat me like a criminal, while you leave our borders unprotected. If meth is an epidemic that threatens children, then shoot the bastards who actually threaten children and leave me alone. Personally, I think the number of child rapists Texas releases from prison is a much greater threat to children than meth addicts, even if meth addicts do have kids.
I have no time for stupid laws that don't work. I also have no time for politicians that are too stupid to figure this out. It took me all of 2 ½ minutes of searching the internet to discover that your law hasn't done a thing to stop meth use. So what is the solution? Morons, republican and democrat alike, are now proposing a Global ban on pseudoephedrine. I have decided that you must all be stupid because no one could be that blind. Even meth addicts can get around your stupid law. I can't. You see drug dealers don't ask for ID, only Wal-Mart does. Understand now?
I am sorry that you have forced me to call you stupid. But if I don't point out your stupidity and rub it in your face, then you will never learn and there is nothing as tragic as a grown man or woman being stuck on stupid. God Bless Lt. General Honore for teaching me that lesson.
From now on, I am going to hand a copy of the articles linked to in this email along with a copy of my email to you to every pharmacist I buy Pseudoephedrine from. I will also be handing it out to my doctor and, if he agrees, each patient at the allergy clinic that is interested. The Doctors at the allergy clinic are both kind, elegant, and polite men, so they may have some concern with my belligerent tone. You should know that I have put this as politely and elegantly as I can. It took three editings to reduce this email to its current level of politeness. I did so not for your sake, but for the sake of any children who might read it while waiting to be checked by the nurse after receiving their shots at the clinic. I think it is important for children to learn at a very early age that God, and their attention to his moral guidance protect them and not politicians.
Personally, I think you are wasting your time with Meth addicts. They will either quit, hit rock bottom, recover, or die. There is nothing you can do about it. Punishing me will not help them. Only God can help them, and they will only find God through the help of the Church. If you want to do the work of the Church, then become a Priest. If you want to do the work of a politician, then do what you are supposed to do; Protect my Freedom. Protect our Children and Stop releasing Child rapists. That is your responsibility.
Remember you can be saved. You can learn. Don't be stuck on stupid.
The senator was given my full name, address, email, and phone number.
JJ -- I don't think it "works" in OK either. Now there's MORE meth, it's CHEAPER, and the trade is run by thuggish criminal gangs instead of much-less-dangerous locals cooking their own. Law enforcement officials on the TX-OK border say the new law may have actually INCREASED drug abuse.
To use your analogy, OK's law only stopped water flow to local winemakers -- then made the "wine" more profitable to sell for importers. That doesn't seem like progress to me.
For as smart as you people think you are, your flat out fucking stupid, and meth is raping my town even worse. I damn you for being so incompetent, and you better fix this fucking problem. Or i'll have to, since you cant. now people instead of making it in the privacy of their home ther're robbing people for money to buy it, and i rather people make it than rob me, my family, or any other civilian. so all you have done is made more problems, and show even more how you dont know how to due your job or fix the problem. I dont use the drug, but see how there is no way of stopping it but what is more of a problem are the gangs that build up around these drugs and their more of a problem. what should be top of the list is getting rid of these gangs who cause more problems then drugs. To get rid of the drugs you have to get rid of the cartels first. think about it. i hope you read and address this with a reply.
the people
from drug infested Southern California
Correction
For as smart as you people think you are, your flat out stupid, and meth is raping my town even worse. I damn you for being so incompetent, and you better fix this damn problem. Now people instead of making it in the privacy of their home, which i dont agree with, but is better than addicts robbing people for money to buy it, and i rather people make it than rob me, my family, or any other civilian. So all you have done is made more problems, and show even more how you dont know how to due your job or fix the problem. I dont use the drug, but see the real problem are the gangs that build up around these drugs and their more of a problem. To me gangs bring in more crime than anything else, cause they bring themselves and the drugs. What should be top of the list is getting rid of these gangs who cause more problems then drugs. To get rid of the drugs you have to get rid of the cartels first. think about it. I hope you read and address this with a reply.
the people
from drug infested Southern California
Even though I'm not a libertarian, libertarians are right about one thing, namely that once government has acquired a new power over people's lives, it NEVER gives up that power even when the warm-fuzzy justification for instituting that new power proves to be a chimaera. Now matter how socially and politically liberal you are, at the end of the day, you have to admit that pure, raw power is always more important to government than helping people ever was or will be. That's why we'll likely be stuck with this law for the rest of our lives. And that sucks for me, because Milwaukee, the city where I live, has some of the vicious and agressive cold germs you could imagine!
The meth law in Oklahoma has closed down the "mom and pop" meth labs here. Children were being exposed to the noxious chemicals these labs produced, and the toxic waste that was being dumped on our backroads and in our rivers and streams has been halted. The restrictions on the sale of "pseudo" were directly responsible for these changes. Now instead of a thousand amatuer chemists, law enforcement can focus on the Mexican "superlabs." oh, and by the way, whining about the inconvenience of having to show ID to buy items containing this chemical sort of makes you look like an asshole (or a pissed-off tweaker that can't get his supply of "pseudo").. Best Regards!
To the last Okie commenter - if you think more addicts, more property crime and more violence means the law "works", then more power to you. Meth labs were bad - are they worse than organized crime? How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? US drug policy is chasing its own tail. This law didn't improve things, at best it just shifted profits and enviro hazards to Mexico, at worst caused your addicts who used to cook at home to rob your house to buy the drugs from the Mexican cartels.
This is a silly law - further evidence that the best thing ever to come out of Oklahoma is still I-35. ;)
That's WHY the UNITED STATES is ridiculous. We fight EVERYONE'S war EXECPT our own. And when WE FIGHT are OWN fights (Like the war on drugs). WE LOST when cocaine first came about and we ARE going to lose this WAR ON DRUGS also.
I HOPE this IGNORANT world would just be BLOWN TO BITS!
well all of you need some help there is a cure for this problem its called rehab. if there are no users there are no dealers if you need help or know some one who does call us we can help www.stopaddiction.com/index.php?option=com_xmap&sitemap=1
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