My wife asked me to pick up some Claritin-D. The pharmacist scanned my driver’s license (which I consider to be an invasion of privacy, but that topic is for another forum).
I assume this has some chemical that can be (easily?) converted into an illegal drug, so they keep track of how many people buy. So how many am I allowed to buy before the druggist says, “no”. 3? 12? 24 in a three day period?
Assuming I was going to convert this to get high (meth?), how many Claritin-D packages would it take?
And on a related note: A few years ago, my adult son was into making his own beer. I found it odd that purchasing beer had an age limit, but there was no similar limit to purchase the equipment/ingredients for the manufacture of one’s own booze.
In the UK packets of up to 14 tablets are available “off the shelf”. You do have to ask a pharmacist, who will ask questions about what other medication you are on. No ID required, so you could do a tour round the pharmacies I suppose.
Yep, there are federal limits on buying pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine products since 2005 in the United States (Cite), thanks to their use in manufacturing methamphetamine, mostly. I don’t have a clue how much Claritin-D it would take to make a batch of meth, though!
Right. The Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 says “Purchasers are limited to ‘3.6 grams of pseudoephedrine base’ per day and 9 grams per month. (Buying more than that is a federal misdemeanor.)” I’m not sure how many packages of Claritin-D that equates to.
OK; just Googled and discovered that you can still get veterinary products with phenylpropanolamine. And for all I know, it may be banned in the US, but available in Canada and Mexico, so pretty easy to get online. I used to use it for seasonal allergies, and was bummed when it was banned, because pseudoephedrine doesn’t work for me. However, I’ve discovered that phenylephrine, which you can buy without restriction, works well if I take it with a Benadryl.
There are, actually… I can’t do searches on homebrewing from work, but if I recall correctly, you’re allowed to brew 50 gallons a year, 100 if you live with another adult. 50 gallons is 10 batches, each of which takes three evenings to make, spaced apart: brewing, racking, and bottling. And, it is pretty much illegal to make or consume beer if you’re underage. Buy all the yeast, honey & condensed malt syrup you want, just don’t make anything out of it. If, by booze, you meant hard liquor, it’s kind of hard to restrict purchase of the materials necessary to distill beer into (whatever you make out of beer), since it’s readily available at most hardware stores.
Maryland also just passed a law a year or so ago to help out microbreweries… they allow you to brew and sell something like 10,000 gallons a year provided you grow a certain amount of the ingredients and sell it on-site, so farmers are putting in hop fields and converting the old barn into a brewhouse/tavern. I really hope this is working…
I was making my own *wine *back when I was only 12. My parents encouraged this hobby, buying my equipment and supplies for me. Ah, the perks of being Sicilian. It was only after I’d been at it for a while that I learned that technically you have to get a permit from the state government to make your own wine, and being underage I could not have gotten one. But I never knew of that regulation ever being enforced, so I continued on my merry way making wine at home. I don’t know how they would have enforced the limit on home production either. The clerks at the winemaker supply shop obviously didn’t pay any attention to any of these regulations either. This was over 40 years ago, and I don’t know if anything has changed since.
The one drug I consistantly buy is pseudoephedrine. It’s surprising how often the pharmacist is unsure of how much I can buy so they only allow me the smallest box on the shelf. If a box on their shelf contains more than the allowable amount, who is going to get to buy that box I wonder? Pharmacist don’t like that question.
It’s worth shopping around until you find a pharmacy that knews the limit. Saves a lot of trips.
Yeah, serious invasion of privacy. Pseudoephedrine is a great decongestant and now is a PIA to buy. Not the pharmacy’s fault. T’is Federal Law Bundled into a revision to Patriot a Act in 2005. And it also effects a bunch of other useful stuff like iodine, phosphorus, and acetone.
The most important thing to remember is the government keeps track of all your purchases. You are limited to 9 grams of Pseudoephedrine per 30 day period. This is only 40 or so Claritin-D 24 Hr tablets. Fairly easy for someone with a family to exceed. Quite a few people have been charged.
Not sure on how much Pseudoephedrine will yield how much amphetamine. But even the easier methods for making the stuff are still some what complicated. Google “meth soda bottle method” if you are brave.
And in the end, it was all for nothing. The Mexican Cartels were more than happy to step up and start manufacturing the stuff. The coca crop is limited, but they can make and smuggle amphetamines morning, noon, and night… What is really amazing is that this stuff used to be sold OTC in the U.S…and nobody cared.
That reminds me of a stupid situation I once ran into. The store carried 10-count and 20-count packages of pseudoephedrine. I wanted the 20-count, but they were out of stock. So I asked for two of the 10-count packages. No go. They said I was only allowed to buy one package at a time. Even if the total amount of pseudoephedrine in the two boxes added up to the same amount I’d be able to get in a single larger box if it had been in stock. Ridiculous.
3.6 grams is 15 days at max dosage (240 mg pseudoephedrine/day). That has always struck me as a rather low limit, considering that someone might conceivably be buying the stuff for use by several family members.
Not arguing with you folk south of the border; I know your regulations are more paranoid than up here. That said, my box of Safeway Daytime Cold & Flu Liquid Capsules was picked up off the shelf (REALLY off the shelf; no interaction with any professional at all). Each capsule contains 30 mg Pseudoephedrine hydrochloride, 15 mg Dextromethorphan Hydropbromide, 325 mg Acetaminophen. 2 capsules with water every 6 hours as needed, not to exceed 6 capsules per day. I guess we don’t have as many meth labs up here.
I am a regular pseudoephedrine user (Sudafed) and I’ve noticed something rather odd about the behavior of many pharmacists when i ask for a package of Sudafed. In addition to the regular Sudafed, which is recommended to be taken every 4-6 hours, most pharmacies also offer 12 and 24-hr delayed release Sudafed. However when I ask for “Sudafed”, the pharmacist will ask me, “12 or 24 hour?”, never asking me if I’d like the regular stuff, which one would think would be the default option for most people. I always have to specifically point to and ask for the regular stuff.
Hm. For me, the default is the 12-hour. I can take it in the morning and not bother with packing it or needing to take it later. When it wears off, I’m usually home or heading home and if I’m battling a head cold, once home for the night I switch to diphenhydramine and guaifenesen.