The Mathematics of Meth Production
The reason I haven't posted in awhile and the subject of this post have one thing in common: both are a side-effect of being sick for some time. I finally went to the doctor today after having cold symptoms and an unrelenting cough for over 3 weeks. I am not one to go to the doctor with a cold, so it took about a week of sleeplessness and misery for me to get there, as well as 2 minutes of unbearable face pain EACH WAY on a flight to and from Bismarck, ND . As it turns out, my 108-step ascent to Boynton was not a waste (see future post regarding clinic placement and elevation), although I felt like I was going to die before I reached the doors of the place. The doctor diagnosed me with a sinus infection and a lung infection, both of which were exacerbating my asthma AT ALL TIMES.
I swear I'm getting to the point. She prescribed an antibiotic and an inhaler, and told me to compliment that cocktail with Claritin-D to dry myself up. I filled my prescriptions at Boynton, and was told that Claritin-D was only sold at pharmacies with over-the-counter drugs: Target, Cub Foods, Walgreens, etc.
Fast-forward 3 hours to my Cub Foods stop. I found the place where the Claritin-D was supposed to be kept, next to to the Sudafed and NyQuil, but instead of actual packages, there were little cards that had to be brought to the pharmacy counter. Easy enough. I proceeded to the counter, at which point the woman looks slightly annoyed, and pulls out a packet of paperwork. She takes my license and checks through the book. I inquire about this, and she says she is making sure I haven't been there earlier today.
Blink.
Cough.
She then fumbles around for a new sheet of paper, and records every detail regarding my identity and my purchase of 10 caplets of 12-hour Claritin-D; not even the 20 pack, not even the 24-hour variety! She flips the sheet around to me, at which point I am supposed to fill in my full name, address, phone number, and signature. Yes, I bought Claritin-D, and now I have a way to prove it.
17 minutes and $13.54 later, I have what I came for.
Really?
I realize that this is to curb the production of meth in our state. However, I think the system is rather flawed. I asked her if my license information was funneled to some database where all potential meth-makers were monitored. Nope. So I could buy one package of this stuff once per day at every Rainbow, Cub, Walgreens, and Target? Yep.
I don't know how much pseudoephedrine is needed to make meth. I actually tried to find out, but the info was skewed and sparse at best. What I do know is that I could find 10 of these establishments within 10 miles of my house, and it wouldn't take a whole lot of time out of my day each day to make the rounds (well, relatively, assuming I was a meth user). Worst case, I'm sure I could obtain an amount necessary to maintain my own habit.
It doesn't seem like it could be that hard to have a registry of pseudoephedrine purchases (per state and by scanning a license) to limit these purchases per day or per week. In addition to actually having an effect on access to pseudoephedrine, this process would take all of 1 minute of my day (although I must admit, waiting this long each time I had to buy my materials would be quite a turn-off; it could be enough to abstain). After all, anyone going through this process is either in a state of sickness or tweaking or wanting-to-be tweaking, none of the aforementioned which allows for patience in excess.
Long story short, I am starting to feel better, finally, albeit quite annoyed with the seemingly pointless operation involved in obtaining me some drugs.
I swear I'm getting to the point. She prescribed an antibiotic and an inhaler, and told me to compliment that cocktail with Claritin-D to dry myself up. I filled my prescriptions at Boynton, and was told that Claritin-D was only sold at pharmacies with over-the-counter drugs: Target, Cub Foods, Walgreens, etc.
Fast-forward 3 hours to my Cub Foods stop. I found the place where the Claritin-D was supposed to be kept, next to to the Sudafed and NyQuil, but instead of actual packages, there were little cards that had to be brought to the pharmacy counter. Easy enough. I proceeded to the counter, at which point the woman looks slightly annoyed, and pulls out a packet of paperwork. She takes my license and checks through the book. I inquire about this, and she says she is making sure I haven't been there earlier today.
Blink.
Cough.
She then fumbles around for a new sheet of paper, and records every detail regarding my identity and my purchase of 10 caplets of 12-hour Claritin-D; not even the 20 pack, not even the 24-hour variety! She flips the sheet around to me, at which point I am supposed to fill in my full name, address, phone number, and signature. Yes, I bought Claritin-D, and now I have a way to prove it.
17 minutes and $13.54 later, I have what I came for.
Really?
I realize that this is to curb the production of meth in our state. However, I think the system is rather flawed. I asked her if my license information was funneled to some database where all potential meth-makers were monitored. Nope. So I could buy one package of this stuff once per day at every Rainbow, Cub, Walgreens, and Target? Yep.
I don't know how much pseudoephedrine is needed to make meth. I actually tried to find out, but the info was skewed and sparse at best. What I do know is that I could find 10 of these establishments within 10 miles of my house, and it wouldn't take a whole lot of time out of my day each day to make the rounds (well, relatively, assuming I was a meth user). Worst case, I'm sure I could obtain an amount necessary to maintain my own habit.
It doesn't seem like it could be that hard to have a registry of pseudoephedrine purchases (per state and by scanning a license) to limit these purchases per day or per week. In addition to actually having an effect on access to pseudoephedrine, this process would take all of 1 minute of my day (although I must admit, waiting this long each time I had to buy my materials would be quite a turn-off; it could be enough to abstain). After all, anyone going through this process is either in a state of sickness or tweaking or wanting-to-be tweaking, none of the aforementioned which allows for patience in excess.
Long story short, I am starting to feel better, finally, albeit quite annoyed with the seemingly pointless operation involved in obtaining me some drugs.
posted by nka at
20:23
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