Breathe Easy

The government is monitoring and restricting my consumption of Advil Cold & Sinus^©, and it is all Japan’s fault.

A Japanese chemist first synthesized ephedrine into Methamphetamine in 1893. Twenty-six years later, another chemist produced a crystallized form of methamphetamine, known on the streets as “crystal meth.” Three years after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Abbott Laboratories gained the approval of U.S. Food and Drug Administration to produce methamphetamine for treating a wide variety of illnesses such narcolepsy, depression, chronic alcoholism, and hay fever. One year later, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (The Germans were also widely distributing methamphetamine, and there are rumors around Hitler’s methamphetamine use for Parkinson’s.)

Currently, U.S. FDA only approves two uses for methamphetamine: treatment of ADHD and short-term management of obesity. (Wikipedia, 3/4/2010; Methamphetamine). But American’s are inventive and resilient and we do not ever want to feel pain.

Pseudoephedrine is the component found in many over-the-counter nasal remedies for colds and allergies. It is also a common component, for people with a little room in their basement, in homemade crystal methamphetamine.

According to rules set in the Federal Controlled Substance Analogue Enforcement Act (1986), the Methamphetamine Control Act of (1996), and the updated Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of (2005), which were created to counter the violence and abuse surrounding illegally produced synthetic drugs, you can purchase no more than 3.6 grams per day of Pseudoephedrine in any over-the-counter product. Considering that an average-sized box of my over-the-counter pseudoephedrine of choice, Advil Cold & Sinus^©, contains .96 grams, 3.6 grams seems abundantly unnecessary.
However, I still don’t appreciate being treated like a potential guest on “The Jerry Springer Show” every time I go to the pharmacy: I must present my driver’s license, sign an agreement, endure the judgmental pharmacist glance, and wonder if I look like someone who cooks up crystal meth next to their husband’s dinner.

I appreciate the seriousness of this addiction. Methamphetamines are potent central nervous system stimulants. People who use crystal methamphetamine feel very alert, lose their appetites, and become more ‘primal’ (increased libido, aggression and concentration) as the drug taps into the fight-or-flee centers of the brain. Addicts feel very, very good for a while until side effects like arrhythmia, tremors, convulsions, heart attack and stroke take hold of the body while the brain deals with paranoia, obsessive disorders and psychosis.

After World War II, the United States aided in the recovery and rebuilding in Japan, and went on to become strong trading and investment partners. As of this writing, the federal government has spent $2,643,065,703 on the war on drugs, and as of 2007, someone is arrested for violating a drug law every 17 seconds. The current number of U.S. soldiers killed since the 2003 war began in Iraq is approximately 4379, which is 1,406 more than died in the World Trade Center bombings.
So sometimes when purchasing my sinus medication, I sign illegibly or think about using a pen name like Suppa Starr. I am not trying to undermine this war on drugs or diminish attempts to catch drug makers and dealers.

I simply do not believe that tracking people at their local Duane Reade is a valuable or useful way to stop the ruinous effects of this drug in its illegal form any more than I believe starting a war on any one at any time in history has helped counter the bad intentions we set out to stop in the first place.
Maybe Max Hastings was right when he wrote in his book, “War is inherently inhumane.”