newly popular ways to destroy lives

[chronovore]

The entirety of FRONTLINE: the meth epidemic can be viewed online. Well, not by me; I can’t get it to stream properly. But I am very interested in this horrid drug, which is apparently so easy to produce that it now means I can’t stock up on kids’ cold medicines when I come back to the USA from time to time; the stuff I want has an ingredient necessary to cooking meth. So I peeked at Wikipedia for info, in lieu of watching the show, and found out:

• Both the Axis and Allied forces distributed Methamphetamine to their troops. Hitler received shots of it.
• It was first created by a Japanese scientist in 1919
• At one point, it was socially acceptable to take it
• It is used to tread ADD/ADHD
• The Indiana state police found 1,260 labs in 2003, compared to just 6 in 1995
• Meth labs are easy to make, and potentially very mobile

I am almost positive the cabbie that drove me back to my hotel was high as a kite on this stuff. It was very late at night, but he talked a mile a minute, was constantly doing at least one other thing while driving the car, and frequently wanted to look back at me to talk while the car was moving, you know, forward. Scary stuff; I felt too relieved to reach the hotel, and forgot to get his license plate or call the cops. Completely unsafe.

The Bush Jr. administration says that pot is a gateway drug, so instead of focusing on fighting Meth use, they are focusing on fighting marijuana. I knew a lot of potheads in Santa Cruz, and none of them were interested in amphetamines like meth or cocaine; they all thought it was evil. Still, maybe I should trust the Shrub's expertise on crank...

Comments

[zerochan.livejournal.com]

Mom used to mail me "illegal" cold medicine in care packages when I lived in Nagoya. We didn't seem to have any problems.

But if you want meth, Iowa's the place to be!



Also, isn't meth the Japanese stimulant of choice these days?

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

The crowd I run with here is pretty far removed from any drug except caffeine and nicotine. We don't even have time to go out drinking except once or twice a year. Pretty bad, come to think of it.

I sometimes do eiyou drinks when I have a cold, or am trying to get over jet lag. Is that what you mean?

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't know anything about drug-of-choice. I thought it was nicotine. Or caffeine. In terms of illegal stuff, I am never approached, and never go looking for anything, so I have no clue whatsoever.

[stevenkaye.livejournal.com]

You should also check out some of Jack Shafer's pieces on the 'meth epidemic' on Slate:

Meth Madness at Newsweek (http://www.slate.com/id/2123838) from August 2005

And How Not To Report About Meth (http://www.slate.com/id/2138398/?nav=navoa) from March of this year.

[toxgunn.livejournal.com]

You can still get pseudoephedrine (sudafed) otc in CA, it's just behind the counter now. I presume this is what you'd been lookingfor?

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

Yes, but they will not let me get more than two bottles of it. And they look at me funny if I have two bottles. But I can live with that.

[toxgunn.livejournal.com]

well, for marginal improvement, you could pull the cotton out and condense 4 bottles to 2...

Is it legal otc in japan? ie., is it legal for me to send you some when next needed?

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

You're such a sweetie.

I think it may be legal, but I bet it would get stopped dead in customs if you sent a lot.

Actually, the stuff we use is in liquid form, the "kids" and "infants" model of PediaCare and PediaCare Night, so trying to condense one bottle to two would be... messy. We adults use TheraFlu, which may have that stuff in it, or may not. Lately I've been sticking with the domestic (JPN) version of Dristan hot lemon drinky-drink, which knocks me right out. Odd that it works, when so many other Japanese meds have NO discernable effect.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

I will read those as well, thanks!

[sdemory.livejournal.com]

Did the driver smell like chemicals? I've been around many meth-heads in my former life (when I was in news, my chunk of Missouri was the Meth Capital of the World), and there's a very definite acetone-and-battery-acid/sex-funk and diesel fume scent to those who're methed up.

I've many amazing meth stories; I'll have to kick some to you at some point.

[weezie13.livejournal.com]

I used to work in the meth capitol of the world (El Cajon, California). Most mornings when the evening's dew was starting to bake off the street tops, you could smell it in the air. I've done many terrible things including meth, so I can tell you first hand about it if you're really interested. Details Magazine back in the 90's wrote the best article i've ever read on the substance.

I've never understood the "gateway drug" theory on marijuana. It's a scare tactic. There are many factors involved with drug use (recreational) and drug abuse and one drug does not necessarily lead to another. You have to look at culture, climate, availability, social circles, psychology, etc.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

I refrained from cabbie-sniffing. Nothing so strong as to make it into the backseat, but there were at least two windows open; either he opened them or I did, I don't recall.

Spill a meth story, you counterculture simian!

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

The gateway propaganda is doubly dangerous; it is like drawing a line in the sand next to a cliff, and claiming that stepping over the line is like jumping over the cliff. If someone /does/ step over the line-in-the-sand, they may next try jumping off the cliff, because they assume the warning was realistically accurate and, really, just how bad can the cliff be, then?

[weezie13.livejournal.com]

Agreed. What really needs to be driven home with proper drug education is that marijuana and methamphetamine are diametrically opposed highs with completely different risks. Lumping them all together is just plain stupid especially with the propaganda-like commercials for anti-marijuana campaigns. One of the advertisements in question shows some kids smoking a joint and then one of them shoots themself in the head as a result in a "this is cool" / not-so-vaguely suicidal manner.

[sdemory.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's less countercultural wackiness and more rolling with cops when I worked news. Heard stories about meth heads who caught fire when they were shot, meth cooks who didn't realize that their fingers were being eaten away by the chemicals they were using, mobile meth labs in vans that exploded on the highway, things like that. Between the meth cops, the homicide guys and the ATF/Treasury anti-moonshine task force, I had war stories a-go-go back in the day.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

..."caught fire"?