After discussing Megan McArdle’s thoughtful analysis of the sudafed crackdown brought about by the war on Meth, Glenn Reynolds said something that made me want to join the sudafedayeen!
I want my goddamn Sudafed. What I’ve noticed is that they keep making it harder to get, but we keep getting more meth labs. Naturally, the political class’s answer is more of the same! And nobody’s held accountable, and nobody’s willing to relax changes that have proven ineffectual — they just accumulate like barnacles.
The situation is ridiculous, and it involves more than just the ability to buy Sudafed. You can buy Sudafed after going through the humiliating process of showing ID and signing the stupid form, but in the pharmacies I have been to, what you can buy is limited to Sudafed, and only Sudafed. Gone completely are the many different effective cold remedies which used to contain Sudafed. As Veeshir complained in a comment the other day,
I’m still upset that they took out whatever made Alka Seltzer Cold and Flu work.
Lucky for me that I have a stockpile of the old, good Theraflu, for the new Sudafed substitutes do not work. Doubtless the drug companies have spent a lot of money adjusting their manufacturing processes to eliminate Sudafed, because a couple of years ago there were posts like “Where to find real TheraFlu” and now they’re as dead as the old Theraflu, for there is no way to find the REAL thing anymore. (However, I have read that some companies were delighted to have a new, government-created opportunity to “clear the shelves” simply to market a useless new drug– which may be another underreported scandal.)
The bottom line is that in virtually every cold remedy that once worked, Sudafed has been replaced by a worthless shlocky drug called Phenylephrine:
Substitute for pseudoephedrine
Pseudoephedrine and phenylephrine are both used as decongestants; and, until recently, pseudoephedrine was much more commonly available in the United States. This has changed because provisions of the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005 placed restrictions on the sale of pseudoephedrine products in order to prevent the clandestine manufacture of methamphetamine. Since 2004, phenylephrine has been increasingly marketed as a substitute for pseudoephedrine; some manufacturers have changed the active ingredients of products to avoid the restrictions on sales.[9] Phenylephrine has been off patent for some time, and there are many generic brands available.
[edit] Questions about effectiveness
Pharmacists Leslie Hendeles and Randy Hatton of the University of Florida suggested in 2006 that oral phenylephrine is ineffective as a decongestant at the 10-mg dose used, arguing that the studies used for the regulatory approval of the drug in the United States in 1976 were inadequate to prove effectiveness at the 10-mg dose and safety at higher doses.[10] Other pharmacists have expressed concerns over phenylephrine’s effectiveness as a nasal decongestant,[1] and other clinicians have indicated concern for regulatory actions that reduced the availability of pseudoephedrine.[11][12] A subsequent meta-analysis by the same researchers concluded that there is insufficient evidence for its effectiveness,[13] though another meta-analysis published shortly thereafter by researchers from GlaxoSmithKline found the standard 10 mg dose to be significantly more effective than a placebo.[14] Additionally, two studies published in 2009 examined the effects of phenylephrine on symptoms of allergic rhinitis by exposing sufferers to pollen in a controlled, indoor environment. Neither study was able to distinguish between the effects of phenylephrine or a placebo.[15][16] Pseudoephedrine[15] and loratadine-montelukast therapy[16] were found to be significantly more effective than both phenylephrine and placebo.
As far as I’m concerned, phenyephrine is useless.
Moral lesson? The War on Drugs is ineffective against illegal and dangerous drugs, but highly effective against formerly safe, legal and effective drugs.
Comments
5 responses to “An “effective” war on drugs means war on drugs that are effective!”
The last two times I had horrible colds I resorted to good old vics — that standby of childhood (at least for me.)
I agree with you completely. The fake sudafed is worthless. I stopped buying it and the real stuff years ago. I stopped buying the fake stuff because it doesn’t work and the real stuff before I don’t need a background check for cold medicine.
ridiculous.
-A
Sudafed is – or was, anyway, it being some time since I was in that community – the only decongestant approved by the Navy for divers that will not result in loss of dive status.
It’s not simply that it works, it works without adverse side effects, and works reliably and predictably under pressure – literally. Many medications become unpredictable at several atmospheres. I always keep a package of it in my dive bag.
The purpose of these prohibitions is not the reduction in illegal drug use. It is to inconvenience the ordinary Joe/Jane with a cold in the nose so that it can be seen and felt that something is being done.
While we’re advocating legalizing cold remedies that work, maybe we try relegalizing toilets that work as well.