Should pseudoephedrine be by prescription only in Oklahoma?

[Townsend]

Would it help?

Tulsa shatters meth lab record

http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/tulsa-shatters-meth-lab-record

TULSA - 2011 is proving to be a record year for meth in Tulsa. TPD has busted more than 400 meth labs so far. This is number concerns police, because back in 2007 they busted only 20 meth labs. Since the one pot meth labs started showing up in 2008, the problem has exploded.

"You might think that they are nice people and they have a lab in their house. You just don't know nowadays," says Bob Peterson. He and his wife Sharon live just yards from a home that went up in flames Wednesday night. Firefighters say it was started by several one pot meth labs.

The Peterson's have lived in this north Tulsa neighborhood for 16 years. They don't like what they are seeing.

"As far as the meth labs, it's 10 times worse than it was when we moved in," says Sharon. "In this neighborhood we've had meth labs busted all around us," adds Bob.

But it's not just this area of Tulsa that's seeing this trend. Police say one pot meth labs are being found across Tulsa, even in moving cars.

"It's just tragic that this situation has gotten where it's at," says Officer Leland Ashley.

He tells 2NEWS last year TPD saw a record 323 meth labs. So far this year they've seen 412.  With three weeks left in 2011, Ashley expect to see at least a hundred more labs compared to 2010.

He warns that a spike in meth production leads to a spike in other crimes, such as burglary, robbery and identity theft.

"Drugs really fuel a lot of crime. A lot of times people say that doesn't affect me. But really it does," says Ashley. "It affects each and everyone of us."

That's exactly what has happened in Peterson's neighborhood. Sharon has been robbed twice her driveway. The couple's home has been burglarized twice.

Unfortunately, the Peterson's know the problem isn't going away. Sharon says, "I'm sick of it. I'm still of it all."

Officer Ashley says the worst maybe yet to come. "You can just imagine, if we are seeing 412 now, what are we going to see next year?"

While Tulsa County has more labs than any other county in the state, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics expects to see more than 900 meth labs busts state-wide by the end of 2011. Most of them are one pot meth labs and have been found in Northeast Oklahoma.



Read more: http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/tulsa-shatters-meth-lab-record#ixzz1g3lV1eJa

[AquaMan]

Geez, maybe that explains what happened when entire cultures disappeared from the earth. Someone found a way to make a drug that would devastate them economically, physically and mentally. And people lined up to try it.

Seriously, couldn't hurt. It slows them down anyway.

[DolfanBob]

I like the way that they are now saying the one pot labs. Gone are the day's of the ol cook in a shed or barn out in the middle of a field doing a cook for over three hours. Once they found out how to make their small amount for themselves in a plastic bottle. Boom ! there ya have it. New records set all over the U.S. for what they call labs.

Just a side note. I thought Creek County was the Meth Capital of the State.

[Nik]

I don't like the idea. If me or my wife is having allergy problems, I don't want to have to make an appointment with a doctor, take time off from work, and pay a copay just to get a prescription. This is a slippery slope...

[heironymouspasparagus]

I don't like the idea. If me or my wife is having allergy problems, I don't want to have to make an appointment with a doctor, take time off from work, and pay a copay just to get a prescription. This is a slippery slope...

It's all BS.

This covers it.  Watch out for some "colorful" language!  (Profanity.)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJr_ggTeq64

[Red Arrow]

Boom ! there ya have it. New records set all over the U.S. for what they call labs.

Clever.

[carltonplace]

Wonder what the percentage is of pseudoephedrine used for the production of meth -vs- pseudoephedrine used to treat cold symptoms (or whetever its more mundane use is).

Do we really even need pseudoephedrine for its legal use anymore? Are there better options?

[heironymouspasparagus]

Do we really even need pseudoephedrine for its legal use anymore? Are there better options?

Yes, we do.  It has a place that no other covers quite as well.  Usually working with another compound - just not acetone.

[nathanm]

No thank you. Phenylepiphrine or whatever the hell it is doesn't do anything for me. I don't want to have to pay a doctor a hundred bucks to say "yep, you're sick." I thought we were trying to stop health care costs from increasing unnecessarily. Part of being a responsible health care consumer is treating yourself for the simple stuff as long as they stay simple.

This war on sick people smile is getting utterly stupid. Punish the vulnerable for the acts of others. Great solution.

[custosnox]

When they get what they need with a forged script, not going to help much.  That is one of the things the women caught making meth in walmart last night was being charged with
http://www.newson6.com/story/16224159/woman-arrested-for-making-meth-in-south-tulsa-walmart

[TheTed]

Going to Walgreens, it seems like the majority of people buying pseudophedrine are not buying it for their allergies.

I'm always behind some methed-out looking weirdo who knows way too much about the product lines and quantities sold at Walgreens. Last winter I was waiting to get my prescription for something else and some fidgety woman got a jumbo box of pseudophedrine. The next day, her photo was in the paper for running from a meth lab explosion.

Between the meth-heads and the prescription drug addicts, I often wonder what percentage of walgreens pharmacy customers are not addicts.

[Breadburner]

Just go to Liqugels only they, cant extract psuedoephedrine from those...

[Townsend]

Just go to Liqugels only they, cant extract psuedoephedrine from those...

Seems a reasonable route.  What's keeping them from doing it?

[Conan71]

Seems a reasonable route.  What's keeping them from doing it?

Same thing that keeps us from buying wine at Reasor's and cold microbrew at the liquor store.

Personally, I've not used Sudafed ever since they put it behind the pharmacy counter because it made me feel like a criminal to buy it.  I'm fortunate my allergies are well-controlled with a neti-pot, Claritin, or Benadryl.  Obviously there's a really deleterious societal effect from meth and if the only source of that precursor is products with pseudoephedrine, then it would be real simple to get rid of or at least make it a whole lot harder to manufacture- ban pseudoephedrene.

There's plenty of other options out there for allergy sufferers.

[nathanm]

Sure, for allergy sufferers. For those of us with colds that fill our nasal cavities full of mucous, however, the only (known) relief is pseudoephedrine. I have found neti pots worthless, unfortunately.

And FWIW, pseudoephedrine is not necessary to make meth, it just makes it easier to do without a real lab.