Losing The Meth War

Last week, the Mexican army seized 15 TONS  (13 million doses - $4 billion worth) of pure meth just outside of Guadalajara.   I think it's safe to say that the OTC Sudafed wasn't really the problem, was it?

Was Pseudoephedrine Maligned To Make A Corporation Rich?

Jeffrey A. Tucker at the Ludwig von Mises Institute has a fascinating short post about what may be the real reason Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) was moved behind the pharmacy counter as part of the Patriot Act.

Protectionism and My Stuffy Nose

FDA realizes Sudafed Replacement Is Snake Oil

The FDA is finally realizing that the drug that is being used to replace pseudoephedrine (Sudafed's active ingredient) in over-the-counter versions is no better than snake oil. After anti-meth laws swept through the US forcing pseudoephedrine products to be moved behind the pharmacy counter, drug companies began offering formulas using phenylephrine as a replacement.

The only problem is, it just doesn't work. Of course, you already knew that back in March.

You can read the FDA's new study here (large PDF)

Meth-a-demic Follow-up

After reading a story in today's Washington Post regarding "Mexican smugglers" importing crystal meth into the US, I was reminded of the fact that when the Sudafed restriction laws fail to to solve the "meth crisis" (as I predicted), politicians and law enforcement will have to find a good reason why their plan didn't work. Looks like they're starting to form a consensus on what that excuse will be.

The Meth-a-demic

One of the biggest problems with the meth story is the lack of hard evidence. Sure there are photos of drug labs and scary photos of addicts who have replaced their teeth with oozing sores. But where are the numbers? Frequently you get facts like this:

“While only one methamphetamine lab was seized in Virginia four years ago, 61 were seized in 2004;”

The reference for that was piece of data was “(CESAR Briefing, March 2005).” That CESAR briefing gave “DEA 2005” as a reference for that information. Pretty vague, eh?. But on their own website, the DEA shows that in 2004 they busted 75 labs. Hard to tell where the numbers are coming from. But the real issue is that no one seems to care. The facts of this problem is not nearly as important as the rhetoric.

Another thing that annoys me is the fact that many OTC cold relief products have been reformulated with phenylephrine, which, if you haven’t realized it yet, is a very poor replacement.

In a recent peer-reviewed letter published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, researches found that 7 of the 11 studies done years ago (which form the basis for the FDA’s approval for over-the-counter phenylephrine) showed that at the allowable 10 mg dose phenylephrine was not effective [Journal of Allergy & Clinical Immunology. 2006 Jul;118(1):279-80. Epub 2006 May 2]. An updated study (available here) comes up with the same conclusion: “There is insufficient evidence that oral phenylephrine is effective for nonprescription use as a decongestant. The Food and Drug Administration should require additional studies to show the safety and efficacy of phenylephrine.”

One of the researches, Leslie Hendeles was quoted as saying, “At the maximum 10 milligram dose, phenylephrine is no more effective than a placebo. It's like shooting blanks,"

One of the required precursors to making meth, along with psuedoephedrine is red phosphorus. A logical question (I would think) is, how inconvenienced would the average person be if we implemented restrictions on the sale of red phosphorus rather than Sudafed? Probably not much.

Meth problem solved?

Virginia police say that meth lab busts have declined 70% between October 2005 - October 2006. They're claiming this decline is due to the decision to remove Sudafed and pseudoephedrine containing products from drugstore shelves. Strange, since pseudoephedrine products weren't removed from the shelves until April 2006. That means a 70% drop in only 6 months. That sounds hard to believe. Somehow I doubt the meth problem will be this easy to solve.