NEWS: SMH - 18/10/09 'No script, no cold drug: radical plan for ice war'

[hoptis]

No script, no cold drug: radical plan for ice war
EAMONN DUFF
October 18, 2009

Chemistry set ... a lab set up to turn flu medicine into the illegal drug ice.

EXCLUSIVE

COLD and flu remedies that contain pseudoephedrine would become available only by prescription if authorities adopt a radical plan aimed at tackling Australia's growing epidemic of the drug known as ice.

NSW Police will host a three-day international conference in Sydney from Wednesday to address the growing problem of illegal drug manufacturing.

The Australasian Chemical Diversion Congress will bring together Federal Government policy advisers, health department officials, pharmaceutical companies and police.

Top of the agenda will be a proposal, backed by NSW Police, to follow the example set by New Zealand this month and reclassify pseudoephedrine-based medicines so they could be accessed only through an appointment with a GP - a big step-up from the current system, which requires proof of identification at pharmacies and imposes a limit of one packet per customer for some medications.

NSW drug squad commander Detective Superintendent Nick Bingham backed the move as ''viable'' and a ''natural progression''. He said it would cripple many of the state's organised crime gangs, which depend on pseudoephedrine to manufacture drugs such as ice (methylamphetamine) and speed.

It is estimated that a third of the pseudoephedrine used to make ice is bought or stolen from pharmacies.

''Pseudoephedrine has developed into a highly sought-after drug on the black market,'' Superintendent Bingham said.

''As further restrictions have been placed on its availability, it's left various levels of the industry exposed to serious crime. We're not just talking pharmacies, but robberies from logistics and warehousing. It's a huge problem and it's on the increase.''

Latest statistics show, NSW Police have uncovered 57 amphetamine labs this year, surpassing the 55 found in 2008. Forty kilograms of amphetamines were seized, with an estimated street value of $21.5million.

"Pseudo running" has become lucrative work for criminals who sell the drugs to illegal backyard labs.

Last month a 51-year-old man was charged after he was allegedly caught buying pseudoephedrine-based cold and flu tablets with fake ID at a chemist in Westfield Miranda. Police said they found 17 fake driver's licences and a list of chemists he had targeted. He will face Sutherland Local Court on November 5.

Detective Inspector Nicholas Iorfino, from the NSW drug squad's chemical operations unit, welcomed the proposal.

''There are some ramifications for NSW and Australia now that New Zealand has gone down that road,'' he said. ''We have more pharmacies in this state than the whole of New Zealand. Because of the drug's high black market value criminal groups [in New Zealand] would inevitably refocus on what they could get here.''

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners vice-president Dr Morton Rawlin said: ''Doctors' workloads would undoubtedly increase but, in turn, it will become harder for criminals to obtain the drug.''

But Pharmacy Guild of Australia spokesman Greg Turnbull condemned the proposal, saying it ''would penalise all the people in the community who use those medications appropriately''. He said there already existed a centralised real-time electronic software system that alerted pharmacies to suspicious requests.

The guild's innovation and technology manager, Shaun Singleton, said resources would be stretched as ''patients requiring medication to treat their cold clog up waiting rooms. Pharmacists are perfectly well trained to handle the issue''.

Sydney Morning Herald

 

[dynamo]

It is estimated that a third of the pseudoephedrine used to make ice is bought or stolen from pharmacies.

... so more will just get stolen creating more crime.

Never having seen a meth lab do they all look that scummy or is that just the worst photo they could find ?

 

[drug_mentor]

So ridiculous! I thought it was proven ice use was decreasing yet they call it "a growing epidemic". Also I doubt much ice comes from small time cooks using cold pills, it is made in super labs in South East Asia and Canada.

 

[Crankinit]

That's always been my impression, that a lot of the clean, high quality shards is imported from Asia and Canada, and the wet/pastey base is usually the local product. But I'll admit to not being too well acquianted with the cooking/production scene.

 

[rolls]

Thats a dirty makeshift lab there that has never been cleaned.

 

[modoq]

Call to track buyers of cold and flu tablets

Posted 8 hours 2 minutes ago

New South Wales police are calling for mandatory rules requiring all pharmacies to record who buys cold and flu tablets that contain pseudoephedrine in a bid to crackdown on illegal drug making.

Pseudoephedrine can be used to make drugs such as ice and speed.

The New Zealand government last week announced that all pseudoephedrine-based products would be available by prescription only.

About 60 per cent of pharmacies in New South Wales participate in a program called Project Stop that involves recording the details of people who buy cold and flu tablets.

Drug squad commander Detective Superintendent Nick Bingham says he wants the program to be made compulsory.

"It would stymie the attempts of people who are using up pseudoephedrine-based products for the purpose of manufacturing methylamphetamines," he said.

"Generally, people who are using it legitimately don't have an issue with having to provide their details, but people who are buying it for an illicit purpose certainly do."

ABC News

 

[Sustanon]

Call to track buyers of cold and flu tablets

Posted 8 hours 2 minutes ago

New South Wales police are calling for mandatory rules requiring all pharmacies to record who buys cold and flu tablets that contain pseudoephedrine in a bid to crackdown on illegal drug making.

Pseudoephedrine can be used to make drugs such as ice and speed.

The New Zealand government last week announced that all pseudoephedrine-based products would be available by prescription only.

About 60 per cent of pharmacies in New South Wales participate in a program called Project Stop that involves recording the details of people who buy cold and flu tablets.

Drug squad commander Detective Superintendent Nick Bingham says he wants the program to be made compulsory.

"It would stymie the attempts of people who are using up pseudoephedrine-based products for the purpose of manufacturing methylamphetamines," he said.

"Generally, people who are using it legitimately don't have an issue with having to provide their details, but people who are buying it for an illicit purpose certainly do."

ABC News

This isnt new, man the journalists are runnin out of ideas lol

 

[rolls]

Well us people with allergies will have to start informing the world that

PHENYLEPHRINE IS A SCAM.

Does it actually help anyone here?
Its unscheduled you can buy it as a bulk powder. High doses do nothing either but they are apparently not good for the body.

 

[Sustanon]

Well us people with allergies will have to start informing the world that

PHENYLEPHRINE IS A SCAM.

Does it actually help anyone here?
Its unscheduled you can buy it as a bulk powder. High doses do nothing either but they are apparently not good for the body.

Naah its shit, doesnt help my cold at all. I dont understand all this tho. Most of the pseudo is imported anyway. This means that there will be less shit stuff around which is actually good hehe

Alot of cooks dont want to/ dont know how to wash/clean there pseudo or just dont care.

 

[belarki]

I'm pretty sure someone posted a link to a trial a few months back that found phenylephrine exactly as effective as a placebo. It's all a marketing gimmick to let big pharma make a quick dollar selling "PE Cold and Flu Tablets" in supermarkets to those who know no better.

 

[Jordan`]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19230461

Patients were dosed with immediate-release formulations of phenylephrine, 12 mg, pseudoephedrine, 60 mg, as a control, or placebo.

RESULTS: Phenylephrine was not significantly different from placebo in the primary end point, mean change in nasal congestion score at more than 6 hours (P = .56), whereas pseudoephedrine was significantly more effective than both placebo (P < .01) and phenylephrine (P = .01).

 

[belarki]

^ thank you!!! Should be printed and waved in the face of all pharmacists who try to sell you phenylephrine when you have a cold!!!

 

[baysieguy1]

^ thank you!!! Should be printed and waved in the face of all pharmacists who try to sell you phenylephrine when you have a cold!!!

Agreed!!! it shits me when I have to feel like a criminal when all I am doing is stocking up for the next time I get a cold, rather than waiting till I have one and feel like shit an don't want to go to the fucking chemist and get something, I just want to stay at home and sook!!!!

 

[Pie]

^^^ I've also heard that from the horses mouth. Know a couple of pharmacists who said basically phenylephrine has about 5% the effectiveness of pseudo... We live in such a nanny state, it's terrible!

 

[dryandcola]

to be honest id actually support this plan..

small time cooks are breeding like rats where i am..

seen some pretty negative outcome from this sharp increase in availability / acces to 'uncut gear'

 

[rolls]

If this happens they will just import it from overseas and the price will go up like coke. Problem will still exist and the crime gangs will just use other avenues to get it and sell other drugs.

All this will do is fuck off all the doctors who are wasting their time writing pseudo scripts and people with runny noses who can't get any relief.

GOGOGO GOVERNMENT!

 

[Sameria]

Like almost every other plan to stem the profuction of illicit drugs, this one will not work.

If they seriously think that this will make a dent in the amphetamine market they are in dire need of a new strategy. The only production this will effect is small-time backyard cooks.

Anyone producing large amounts of amphetamine illicitily would; 1. Not be using a Pesudo-based recipe.
2. Have a Pseudo source capable of supplying far more than buying commercial cold and flu tablets

One also has to remember that a large amount of Australia's illegal amphetamines are imported, so no need for precursors.

This does nothing but make the "do gooders" look good. Nothing new.

 

[static_mind]

Yeah but it fucks things up for all the good people plus people like me who are evil but used pusdo because it really is an effective drug when your sick. The PE stuff is worthless, not worth even useing if it were free.

 

[Sameria]

Yeah but it fucks things up for all the good people plus people like me who are evil but used pusdo because it really is an effective drug when your sick. The PE stuff is worthless, not worth even useing if it were free.

Yeah, I'm pretty well versed on the subject lol. I've got TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE sinus problems and Pseudo is just about the only thing that helps. PE is completely useless crap, even my local pharmacists tell me that.

I hope this doesn't go through....I might just have to but my pseudo illigitemately after this. Thanks anti-drug people

 

[Jordan`]

ABSTRACT

The aim of this review was to investigate the rationale for replacing the nasal decongestant pseudoephedrine (PDE) with phenylephrine (PE) as a means of controlling the illicit production of methamphetamine. A literature search was conducted in electronic databases and use of textbooks. Restrictions have been placed on the sale of PDE in the USA in an attempt to control the illicit production of methamphetamine. This has caused a switch from PDE to PE in many common cold and cough medicines. PE is a poor substitute for PDE as an orally administered decongestant as it is extensively metabolized in the gut and its efficacy as a decongestant is unproven. Both PDE and PE have a good safety record, but the efficacy of PDE as a nasal decongestant is supported by clinical trials. Studies in the USA indicate that restricting the sale of PDE to the public as a medicine has had little impact on the morbidity and number of arrests associated with methamphetamine abuse. Restricting the sale of PDE in order to control the illicit production of methamphetamine will deprive the public of a safe and effective nasal decongestant and force the pharmaceutical industry to replace PDE with PE, which may be an ineffective decongestant. Restrictions on sales of PDE to the public may not reduce the problems associated with methamphetamine abuse.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2000711/

This paper was published in 2006, where are the government and private studies? This is slightly off topic as the discussion is about moving pseudoephedrine over the counter products to prescription but a lot of people will turn to buying the inferior phenylephrine based decongestant.