Meth and me?…And You?

Once again I returned to my local pharmacy in search of my allergy medication…and when I ask for Claritin-D (spoiler alert: It contains pseudoephedrine!) They scan my NJ driver’s license, and wait for their computer to say I’m OK (as in I didn’t buy some yesterday… anywhere in the state… let alone from the same store or from a different person, and have not exceeded my one pill per day allowance) (The computer of course knows all this) then I sign my name and offer payment and off I go with drugs in hand.

Then later today I saw this report in my news feed: The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in a newly released report, said that it saw a dramatic 5,657 percent increase is Methamphetamine seizures from 2015 to 2017 in New Jersey, jumping from 4,468 to 257,206 grams!

According to the DEA, One of the explanations for the rise in methamphetamine use (which can be made from pseudoephedrine, hence my having to prove who I am when purchasing it lest I go home and cook up some Meth) is that it has become a popular substance to help combat heroin withdrawal symptoms because “meth” is readily available, inexpensive, and provides the user with a high that can last more than 24 hours.

And Heroin has become a favorite drug of use for Americans lately because of the recent opioid epidemic which has also kept the DEA quite busy over the past few years.

Opioids are expensive and their abuse usually begins with a doctor’s prescription. Then when the abuser can’t afford those he turns to heroine which is cheaper and then to “meth” because that is cheaper still and they all seem to provide the same high and/or help with withdrawal from the previously abused drug.

In the DEA’s report, their analysis found that purity levels of the NJ Meth are as high as 99 percent! Which they say is indicative of large-scale labs in Mexico, where the Sinaloa Cartel are attempting to expand its market for crystal methamphetamine in New Jersey.

Said DEA special agent in charge, Valerie A. Nickerson, “Over the last several years much emphasis has been placed on the opioid epidemic. We are also taking this methamphetamine threat seriously. DEA and our law enforcement partners will continue to investigate those people and drug organizations who choose to put this drug on our streets.”.

To which I add…Seriously? USA law enforcement has been fighting a declared war on drugs, and those who make and distribute them, for over 60 years! And how are they doing? We now have 5,657 percent more of Methamphetamine than we had 3 years ago! And that’s just in NJ! And that’s just Meth! And that’s just in the last 3 years let alone 60! How much more of every other drug do we have now in the USA then we did 5, 10, 25 or 60 years ago!

That’s some war! And something tells me that we’re losing and it’s not even close. And I’m not even complaining about my having to wait in line and show my driver’s license just to get a little allergy medication…but obviously that little regulation isn’t helping one little bit.

And the DEA and all of law enforcement for that matter,  knows where it’s coming from because they told us in their report. And they even know the names of the particular bad guys who are selling this particular drug…and where they live! And no one can catch them or stop them?…after 60 years of trying?

And the opioid epidemic we know starts with doctors! Who write prescriptions! To give the drugs to their patients… and they get those opioids from American pharmaceutical companies! And we all know who they are too! And where they are! And we can’t stop them either? Why not?

Because there is no drug war. In America we have the Drug Business. And it’s a very lucrative business and if you are on the selling, making, enforcing, legislating, banking, jailing, treating or doctoring  side of it you make great money. And if you are on the using side of it you spend great money, and get high and possibly go to jail… but usually only if you are already poor, or browner than most or not in cahoots with someone on the money making side of the equation…or you ruin your family, lose your friends and eventually die from overuse and/or abuse.

And that’s drugs in America!…and the war continues…and that’s only with the illegal ones! The legal drugs are an even bigger business! And we’ve got no war with those…more like a love affair. So “Just say no” and don’t do them…or not? It doesn’t seem to matter one way or the other as far as “the war” is concerned.

Ironically though The Federal Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act was actually such a success that domestic meth production plummeted. And so Production has shifted to Mexican super-labs, and some smaller American labs which all now make a more potent version that is nearly 100 percent pure…

And it’s cheap! And meth cases now account for the majority of federal drug cases in more than half of U.S. states… but my Claritin-D now costs too much for me to want to try to buy it all up and open a meth-lab. I’d never be able to make a profit! So go figure. Are we winning or losing the drug war?

Well, according to our President’s most recent tweets, drugs are pouring over our southern border in record numbers… but our economy is doing great and jobs are up and The Dow is up… so we should all cheer up…and build that wall ASAP! (He really did recently say all of those things, just not all in the same tweet)

So that about sums it up… I guess? But cheap is good, right? So Tally Ho!…Just say No! And Into the valley of death… We go!?