Pseudoephedrine HCL is an effective medication, and can also be used to make Methamphetamines so is now more restricted although still over the counter. It is what is in the branded medicine Sudafed, but is basically a naturally occurring drug.
Phenylephrine HCL is not an effective medication in tablet form, and the US FDA has decided recently to remove it from sale after studies showed it performs no better than placebo. This is what had been in the branded medicine Sudafed PE, and was a patented drug in 1927.
So one is an effective generic naturally discovered drug that cannot be patented, and the other is an ineffective drug that although off patent now has been pushed by the pharmaceutical industry for nearly 100 years. In fairness, nasal spray Phenylephrine is likely to be effective - it is the tablets that are ineffective.
The packaging is likely the same to deliberately confuse consumers, in the same way the original major brands are Sudafed and Sudafed PE. Once medications have to be bought from a pharmacist behind the counter rather than just taken off a shelf it sells less well, so better for the Pharamceutical industry to ensure people think they’re the same thing even though one is useless.
Because the restriction was never going to reduce drug use. It does nothing to address addiction or treatment or the import of drugs.
Where it was effective was reducing the number of local meth cooks in states where restrictions have been the tightest. Some people still cross state lines to buy pseudoephedrine, but then why not just cook in a state where it’s available?
Make no mistake, the purpose of these restrictions are not to protect addicts from addictive substances. It was to protect property values for neighbors who don’t want to live in a cloud of piss.
Make no mistake, the purpose of these restrictions are not to protect addicts from addictive substances. It was to protect property values for neighbors who don’t want to live in a cloud of piss.
Legalizing and then restricting the manufacture to industrial-zoned property (just like other smelly stuff like paper mills and whatnot) would’ve accomplished the same thing.
So for clarity:
So one is an effective generic naturally discovered drug that cannot be patented, and the other is an ineffective drug that although off patent now has been pushed by the pharmaceutical industry for nearly 100 years. In fairness, nasal spray Phenylephrine is likely to be effective - it is the tablets that are ineffective.
The packaging is likely the same to deliberately confuse consumers, in the same way the original major brands are Sudafed and Sudafed PE. Once medications have to be bought from a pharmacist behind the counter rather than just taken off a shelf it sells less well, so better for the Pharamceutical industry to ensure people think they’re the same thing even though one is useless.
And yet the meth problem doesn’t seem to be going away…
Because the restriction was never going to reduce drug use. It does nothing to address addiction or treatment or the import of drugs.
Where it was effective was reducing the number of local meth cooks in states where restrictions have been the tightest. Some people still cross state lines to buy pseudoephedrine, but then why not just cook in a state where it’s available?
Make no mistake, the purpose of these restrictions are not to protect addicts from addictive substances. It was to protect property values for neighbors who don’t want to live in a cloud of piss.
Legalizing and then restricting the manufacture to industrial-zoned property (just like other smelly stuff like paper mills and whatnot) would’ve accomplished the same thing.
Ah, but then youd5have created competition for the protected corporations.
I keep hearing about a meth and fentanyl epidemic, but as far as I’m aware, I haven’t met one person in my entire life that uses either of them.
Come here to Terre Haute, Indiana. You’ll meet a whole lot of people addicted to meth and various opioids.
It’s always fun when they decide to direct traffic.
God I love captialism
What if you crush and sniff the Phenylephrine pills, or dissolve in water and squirt it up your nose?