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Pseudoephedrine Scheduling Changes

From the News.com.au Crime Blog

Pharma speed bump in war on drugs
Tuesday, June 20, 2006

The seizure of two million cold and flu tablets containing pseudoephedrine – used to make speed – illegally imported from Indonesia is a good indication of the impact of measures taken to stop the local products falling into the wrong hands. So why not take the next logical step and not just restrict the sale of cold and flu tablets to pharmacies, but make them available only on prescription? The answer is simple. The power of international pharmaceutical companies and their profits.

The federal government restricted the sale of over the counter medicines containing pseudoephedrine to chemists, but criminals known as "pseudo runners" still obtain the tablets by trailing from one pharmacy to another posing as legitimate customers and buying small quantities.

This is despite pharmacists themselves having their own code of practice designed to halt this happening.

The continuing problem of pseudoephedrine being obtained through pharmacies and "diverted" into speed manufacture was acknowledged in April, when the federal government forked out $380,000 to fund a new Pharmacy Guild of Australia project to stop it.

Under ProjectSTOP the details of pseudoephedrine sales will be recorded on an online database, including the names of customers asked to produce photo ID. The database will provide real time information on suspected "pseudo runners" on their runs.

But the system is voluntary and even the pharmacy guild acknowledges how hard it is to stop legitimate cold and flu products being diverted into illicit drug manufacture.

"They (pseudo runners) are well-organised and notoriously difficult to detect, often travelling interstate in the course of their 'run'," says the guild.

NSW police also runs its own "Pseudo Watch" program, allowing pharmacists to report suspicious purchases online.

So why not take next logical step of making products containing pseudoephedrine available only on prescription from a doctor?

Here’s why multi-national drug giant Pfizer, which boasts of taking a leading role in stopping pseudoephedrine being diverted into speed manufacturing, insists on its company website that’s a bad idea.

"Restricting access through scheduling changes will place an enormous burden on the health system and disadvantage the consumer. Increases in doctor visits and prescription fees will cost the consumer more and create bottlenecks in doctors’ rooms during peak cold and flu periods," it says.

"Pfizer Australia does not consider that further changes to the re-scheduling of pseudoephedrine products will reduce the diversion problem. Furthermore, the number of legitimate users of pseudoephedrine products, far outweighs the criminals and any changes will unfairly disadvantage the health consumer.

You can read Pfizer’s argument in full here.

What you won’t find mentioned there are Pfizer’s top selling – and highly profitable - over-the-counter cold and flu remedies containing pseudoephedrine such as Actifed CC cough medicine, Benadryl, Sinutab and Sudafed.

Coincidentally they are also some of the most common products targeted by the "pseudo runners".

Making them available only on prescription would see Pfizer’s sales – and profits – plummet.

Gary Hughes
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From Gotcha Blog, News.com.au
 
Good on Pfizer: they're just protecting their business. And they have a point.

BTW, tried the new "non-pseudoephedrine" sinus tablets (Codral Phenylephrine), and they are worse than useless. The night-time ones still contain an antihistamine so work fairly well, but the day ones might as well be lollies. There's no comparison to the original.
 
I totally agree. The new PE (Phenylephrine) formula does sweet fuck all and when you tell them this and ask for pseudoephedrine they treat you like a criminal because you know what medication works for you.
 
lol even though I have given up meth, I still think "damn them for raising the street price of meth!" whenever I read articles like this
 
mepat1111 said:
lol even though I have given up meth, I still think "damn them for raising the street price of meth!" whenever I read articles like this
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I guess what they are doing is having an effect on the supply then. Personally I think meth is a dirty dirty addictive drug and doesn't have a place in our world so I am all for it, especially when its often mixed with mdma in unknown doses. Not being able to get it when you are truely sick however, I am not all for.
 
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I wouldn't be surprised if we saw:

- an increase in imported forms of meth - particularly imported crystal meth - this is happening anyway

- experimentation by local manufacturers with other drugs (but what????)
Methcathinone...
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...uses the the same precursor, sorry. I might suggest that we'll see a rise in 'novel' stimulants, now that australia has a taste for 'tweeky' highs. B-dfly (or a relative, can't remember which exactly...) seems to have more stimulant propertys than psychedelic, and being active at less than a mg means more lucrative bulk-smuggling goodness for the triads/etc. obviously tho, the restrictions on safrole/mdp2p didn't have much effect on the mdma trade, why would ppl think restricting (or even banning) pseudo-ephedrine will make much of a difference?

- an increase in imported forms of meth - particularly imported crystal meth - this is happening anyway
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really? back in 02 when i was smoking, its was (or at least seemed to be) all imported from thailand/burma... from what I've heard more recently (not my scene, so I might be wrong...) we've got more domestic product atm? (although I agree, imports will go up again between the time the cooks get to the bottom of their stock-piles of pseudo and the first clandestine ephedra harvests come in.)
 
B-dfly (or a relative, can't remember which exactly...) seems to have more stimulant propertys than psychedelic, and being active at less than a mg means more lucrative bulk-smuggling goodness for the triads/etc
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although, it's just not as much fun if ya can't smoke it, right? So any replacement would have to be smokable to keep the crackheads happy yeah? *removes tongue from cheek*
 
Splatt said:
Almost anything can be crystalised.
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True, but ppl are 'calibrated' atm to "this" much stimulation per point, if ppl are used to smoking 1 pt of "ice" in a night, and their told they'll get the same or similar effects from 15 mg of this hypothetical new product "tw3ekZ0R", they'll be pretty doubtful... they'll probably pack their regular "i'm a hero" sized pipe, and wheel themselves all the way into ER... Or if new meth replacement "quack" is active at one mescaline unit, they'll feel ripped off, and won't buy it again (gotta keep the customers happy, y'know?)

People seem to enjoy dick-sizing how fast they can burn-out their dopamine receptors, and thats where the 'industry' makes its money... a country full of ppl on maintenance doses never made anyone rich, so any replacement chemical would have to keep the "ice" thing going to cash in on the current market, ie, similar dose-response curve, similar more-ishness, a similar tase would be good too... it was the taste that I got hooked on personally, i'm adhd, so the stuff just made me 'functional', not high, but i came to associate the taste at the back of my throat with the state... (as an aside, the statistics of ppl in rehab for meth addiction in the united states sugest approximately 2/3rds of long-term meth-addicts have AD/HD... now theres a reason to prescribe dex to ppl.)

Anyway I'm rambling, but I do have one question: what chemical(s) form inactive, smokeable meth-like crystals? MSM has got that funky 'blood' taste, and it's gotta be bad for you... are there any papers/discussions about the cuts found in aussie 'ice'?
 
My g/f picked up this pamphelet for me at the pharmacy. :)

Personally I will continue to demand pseudo based products at the chemist when I have a cold, the substitute is crap.
 

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I don't believe its really a big deal as such, I have a brand spanking new copy of amendments to the SUSPDP (Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Drugs & Poisons) in front of me. This is the legal document for the way drugs and poisons are classified in Australia.

Pseudoephedrine has been deleted from Schedule 2, this means that you can't get it in the easy to reach places in a Pharmacy, and you must talk to the Pharmacist to get it. This leaves it in Schedule 3 and 4, that is "pharmacist only medicine" and "prescription only medicine".

All it means is you have to talk to the pharmacist about it to get the stuff, and I believe there is now a system for having to sign for it perhaps but I'm not a full bottle.

It is only in Schedule 4 (prescription only) in preparations containing more than 60mg per dosage unit, containing more than 30 dosage units in a pack or where the daily recommended dose exceed 240mg.
 
Drug traffickers seek prescription for speed
Mark Russell
September 24, 2006

Victorian doctors have been warned to be on alert for drug traffickers known as "pseudo runners" trying to obtain prescriptions for the chemical pseudoephedrine in cold and flu tablets, which is used to make the highly addictive drug speed.

A recent crackdown on the amount of pseudoephedrine that pharmacists are allowed to hand out over the counter has led to fears of a rise in gangs of pseudo runners conning doctors across Victoria.

Acting Detective Senior Sergeant Steve Abrehart said the pseudo runners would feign illness, claiming that they need pseudoephedrine to help treat conditions such as sinus problems.

"They might claim they're going away for a period of time and need a large supply. Some of the excuses they sometimes use is that they're going parachuting or scuba diving," Senior Sergeant Abrehart said.

"We've also had an increase in forged and stolen prescriptions for pseudoephedrine and we're just trying to raise awareness with general GPs about the problem."

The Human Services Department's Drugs and Poisons Unit, in an article prepared for the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria's monthly bulletin for doctors, said one $15 pack of pseudoephedrine could be used to manufacture thousands of dollars worth of methylamphetamine or speed.

Pseudoephedrine, an ingredient in most cold and flu tablets, is a precursor chemical that can be converted in clandestine laboratories into amphetamine-type substances.

The Drugs and Poisons Unit said the recent law changes had resulted in more pseudo runners visiting doctors.

"Evidence already suggests that doctors are writing prescriptions for pseudoephedrine products, including one case recently in which 84 tablets with five repeats was ordered for a person who has a criminal record of serious illicit drug offences," the unit said.

"Experience indicates that 'pseudo runners' are not readily recognisable — they are commonly unremarkable in appearance and presentation."
Over the counter

PHARMACISTS have been restricted from selling large amounts of cold and flu tablets containing pseudoephedrine (used to make speed) over the counter since April 1. Only capsule and tablet packets containing less than 720 milligrams of pseudoephedrine and liquid medication with less than 800mg are allowed to be sold over the counter.
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The Age
 
Lol parachuting?? What? Blue parachuting??

*i dont think much people will get that one.*
 
Also '..said one $15 pack of pseudoephedrine could be used to manufacture thousands of dollars worth of methylamphetamine or speed...'

That is bollocks!! probably about half a gram for a 24 tablet cold and flu packet lol. Even my mates who used to cook, dont bother, as the imports kick ass. I do hate when I have a cold, and need to ask for pseudo, since its well, ahem.. Safer than smoking ice to help dry a runny nose 8)

EDIT: unless he means the 100 tablet sudafed bottles?? lol..
 
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Didn't take long... :\

Pharmacy burglaries on the rise
December 13, 2006 04:28pm

SOUTH Australian police are reporting a rise in the number of burglaries targeting pharmacies.

Superintendent Paul Dickson of the Drug Investigation Branch said that since December 1, eight pharmacies had been burgled across Adelaide.

The latest pharmacy was in suburban Glenelg about 4am (CDST) today.

Superintendent Dickson said medication that included pseudoephedrine was the target and the number of break-ins has increased compared with recent months.

He said police would work with the Australian Medical Association and pharmacy groups to restrict access to the medication.

No links had been established between the burglaries, he said.

Most over-the-counter cold and flu medications contain pseudoephedrine, a chemical used in the manufacture of methamphetamines such as speed and ice.
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News.com.au
 
I get terrible hayfever regularly, and i found that some sudafed with telfast helped. But i agree that the new sudafed PE's are total crap. I just take a little speed now instead. At least i know it works!

And i was in the states recently, and you really can just buy as many cold and flu tablets as you want...awesome.
 
Yeah, these new laws are awesome!!!!!

I can't legally drive and I need some pseudoephedrine really bad for my hayfever. My face is swollen right up and I can hardly breathe and I've been having sneezing fits all day..

I know my brother who has worked all day won't want to drive all the way to the chemist again after coming home so I rang him to get me some Pseudo on the way home. He was a bit shy asking so straight away they were on to him and he then told them it wasn't for him, it was for me. They told him it was prescription only and he could not get any.

Well thanks Mister Guv'ment!, I'm going to ring my speed dealer so I can blast some fucking base into my arm to stop this cold.. Hell it's about as cheap as pseudo these days anyway, and it gives you a rush.

Another customer turning to illegal drugs because of stupid laws.
 
Police act to limit drug lab supplies
February 01, 2007 01:15am

POLICE are consulting chemical industry leaders to determine the next move of illicit drug makers, who can no longer find pseudoephedrine supplies.

In the past two months, thieves searching for pseudoephedrine - used to make methamphetamines such as speed and ice - have targeted 25 pharmacies. In most cases, thieves found only a small amount or left empty-handed.

Most pharmacies have reduced the amount of pseudoephedrine that is stored overnight.

Detective Superintendent Paul Dickson said thieves would soon seek other products and police were working with the chemical industry to "further disrupt" the manufacture of amphetamine.
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The Advertiser
 
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