Meth's 'shake-and-bake' method spreads in South

Meth heads are an ingenious bunch, even with their rotting teeth and brains
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Meth's 'shake-and-bake' method spreads in South

Justin Juozapavicius, Associated Press


(08-30) 04:00 PDT Tulsa, Okla. -- This is the new formula for methamphetamine: a 2-liter soda bottle, a few handfuls of cold pills and some noxious chemicals. Shake the bottle and the volatile reaction produces one of the world's most addictive drugs.

Only a few years ago, making meth required an elaborate lab - with filthy containers simmering over open flames, cans of flammable liquids and hundreds of pills. The process gave off foul odors, sometimes sparked explosions and was so hard to conceal that dealers often "cooked" their drugs in rural areas.

But now drug users are making their own meth in small batches using a faster, cheaper and much simpler method with ingredients that can be carried in a knapsack and mixed on the run. The "shake-and-bake" approach has become popular because it requires a relatively small number of pills of the decongestant pseudoephedrine - an amount easily obtained under even the toughest anti-meth laws that have been adopted across the nation to restrict large purchases of some cold medication.

"Somebody somewhere said, 'Wait this requires a lot less pseudoephedrine, and I can fly under the radar,' " said Mark Woodward, spokesman for the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control.

An Associated Press review of lab seizures and interviews with state and federal law enforcement agents found that the new method is rapidly spreading across the nation's midsection and is contributing to a spike in the number of meth cases after years of declining arrests.

The new formula does away with the clutter of typical meth labs, and it can turn the back seat of a car or a bathroom stall into a makeshift drug factory. Some addicts have even made the drug while driving.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/08/30/MN7819D1AL.DTL#ixzz0PhfA2yIs

Like the last batch of "Anti Meth" laws, that ended up harassing cold and allergy sufferers.

Sorry, but let "natural selection" take it's course.

You will NOT EVER eliminate drug abuse and addiction. However, WE CAN provide treatment for those who need help. Even repetitively, as recovery most often involves relapses.

Nancy Reagan is right when it comes to "recreational use" of any AMPHETAMINE: Just say NO!

It'd be easier just to arrest people with bad teeth. And about as logical.

The Darwin Awards?

next time you buy soda make sure the 1st commenter doesn't see you, otherwise you're
toast.

This is why criminalization and prohibition as responses to substance abuse are doomed to fail. Go after powder cocaine, someone invents crack. Go after meth labs, someone figures out how to do it without a lab.

Really, what we need to do is adopt a harm reduction/public health approach to truly dangerous drugs (and I would categorize meth in there) while legalizing, regulating & taxing things like pot. The best advertisement against meth is meth users themselves.

There's another aspect to this problem which I saw a good piece on recently, but that is NOT generally touched by the mass media/drug war boosters, which is- lots of the people doing meth in the heartland are these folks working 2, 3 minimum wage jobs just to scrape by. They're not "partying", they're trying to stay awake so they can make it to Wal-Mart or the 7-11 and pay the rent. There are sociological factors to this beyond simple substance abuse issues.

And how various pundits would cite this as an example of the pathology of ghetto life? And of all the calls for serious police action to end the epidemic ("massive raids, round up everyone, send them all to prison")? And to criminalize "crack" cocaine with penalties far beyond the more respectable powder version?

Now, do we hear similar discourses on the pathology of rural life, emphasizing the inherent dysfunction of rural communities and their unsuitability as homes for decent people? Calls for a massive police invasion of rural meth hotbeds, with mass arrests of anyone who looks like a meth user? Calls for draconian prison sentences for possession of even small amounts of meth?

No, we don't. The issues are similar, but the "color" of the drug users is different.

*Now, do we hear similar discourses on the pathology of rural life, emphasizing the inherent dysfunction of rural communities and their unsuitability as homes for decent people? Calls for a massive police invasion of rural meth hotbeds, with mass arrests of anyone who looks like a meth user? Calls for draconian prison sentences for possession of even small amounts of meth? *

Um, yes. In fact there were even joking references upthread to how we need even more laws to prevent people buying cold medicine (already severely restricted). Without diminsihing the failure and discrimination of anti-crack legislation, I think there has in fact been quite a lot of anti-meth activity, from changes in the law to specific ad campaigns and so on.

I don't know... I was taught that it is very difficult to reduce an alpha-hydroxyl group...

nt

The first was a couple of weeks ago when the local paper reported that that is what burned down part of a motel just out of town. Methhas f'd-up a lot of people around here. They get no inrvention or help except through arrests 9(and that doesn't help much, getting a criminal record.)

And the owner of some random property has got a costly mess on his hands.

When will we learn that prohibition simply doesn't work? Human beings seem to have an innate need to change their state of consciousness, through drink or drugs. Accept this fact, legalize it all (yes, including meth and heroin), and then control it in much the same fashion as we do alcohol.

You would do away with a whole secondary crime wave, encourage people to come forward and get treatment, watch the use and abuse rate go down, do away with the nasty side effects of ingesting these nasty ass chemicals that are used in these home made drugs, and create an entirely new revenue stream that can be used for prevention, treatment, and health care in general.

But sadly, between the attitude of hard core drug warriors and the greed of a certain select few who make tons of money off the drug wars(police, legal profession, prisons, etc.), we're going to continue this insanity for the foreseeable future.

Big pharma makes too much money selling it over the counter.

§ 90-113.52. Pseudoephedrine: restrictions on sales
... (c) A pseudoephedrine product may be sold at retail without a prescription only to a person at least 18 years of age. The retailer shall require every retail purchaser of a pseudoephedrine product to furnish photo identification. If the retailer has reasonable grounds to believe that the prospective purchaser is under 18 years of age, the retailer shall require the prospective purchaser to furnish photo identification showing the date of birth of the person. The name and address of every purchaser shall be entered in a record of disposition of pseudoephedrine products to the consumer on a form approved by the Commission. The record of disposition shall also identify each pseudoephedrine product purchased, including the number of grams the product contains and the purchase date of the transaction. The retailer shall require that every purchaser sign the form attesting to the validity of the information. The form approved by the Commission shall be constructed so that it allows for entry of information in electronic format, including electronic signature. The form ... shall contain a statement in at least 10-point boldface type at the top of every page substantially similar to the following: "NORTH CAROLINA LAW STRICTLY PROHIBITS THE PURCHASE OF MORE THAN TWO PACKAGES OF CERTAIN PRODUCTS CONTAINING PSEUDOEPHEDRINE (3.6 GRAMS TOTAL) PER DAY, AND MORE THAN THREE PACKAGES (9 GRAMS TOTAL) OF CERTAIN PRODUCTS CONTAINING PSEUDOEPHEDRINE WITHIN A 30-DAY PERIOD. BY MY SIGNATURE, I ATTEST THAT THE INFORMATION I HAVE PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THIS TRANSACTION IS TRUE AND CORRECT AND THAT THIS TRANSACTION DOES NOT EXCEED THE PURCHASE RESTRICTIONS. I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT KNOWING AND WILLFUL VIOLATION OF THE PURCHASE RESTRICTIONS OR THE FURNISHING OF FALSE INFORMATION IN CONNECTION THEREWITH MAY SUBJECT ME TO CRIMINAL PENALTIES" ...

and in fact, when not used to make meth with it's a handy and effective treatment, so these restrictions are a pain for legitimate customers. there is no big pharma conspiracy here.

Get yourself an edumacation: peseudoephdrine is a just a manufactured version of ephedra, which has been used medicinally for thousands of years - and the manufacture is nothing more complicated than sugar and a particular kind of yeast. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephedra

I despise the ill-conceived sudafed laws. Why couldn't they have targeted a meth ingredient that DOESN'T help me breathe???