[livius drusus]

I saw a rerun of Frontline the other night that discussed the ever-expanding range of methamphetamine. It's a little out of date (the program debuted in February 2006), but still very much relevant, especially in its treatment of the history of the drug's production.

You can watch the program here, and read the riveting series in The Oregonian which is the foundation of the episode here.

The Oregonian calls the meth epidemic an "unnecessary" one, because as with quaaludes, a particular chemical is required to produce the drug. You can't just grow it like coca or opium poppies, so if you kill production of the chemical, you kill the drug.

From the Frontline FAQ

Unlike heroin and cocaine, which are distilled from plants grown across huge areas of Asia and South America, meth requires ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, two chemicals used to make asthma medications or cold and cough remedies such as Sudafed.

Only nine factories in the world manufacture the bulk of the world's supply of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. Tightening control over the supply of these chemicals has been pursued on and off over the past 18 years, but the regulations have contained loopholes which meth traders quickly exploited. Nevertheless, each time there have been new regulations it has made a real difference, as The Oregonian's investigation showed: the drug grew scarce and rehab centers saw fewer meth patients. What still has to happen is the implementation of sustained controls by government that could stop meth's continuing spread.

Gene Haislip, number 3 guy at the DEA during the 80's was interviewed for the program. He thinks the epidemic could have been stopped in its tracks back then had ephedrine and pseudoephedrine been banned. The pharmaceutical industry and their government shills (including himself at one point, he freely admits) got in the way.

Today I read in the NYT that meth is expanding its foothold in Europe now too, spreading out from the Czech Republic. No superlabs there, apparently, but huge numbers of small cook operations entirely dependent on over the counter cold medicine purchases. Europe Fears That Meth Foothold Is Expanding

Generally speaking I'm in favor of drug decriminalization/legalization, but at this point, I can't tell you how much I'd prefer the production of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine were regulated into quaalude-irrelevance rather than the ugliness of meth continue to spread.