WE'RE LOSING THE DRUG WAR ON TWO FRONTS

A new army of conscripts have been enlisted to fight the war on
drugs, and right about now they are feeling fairly mutinous.

This is cold and flu season, and the troops are sick of the sacrifice
they are making, particularly since our generals seem to be losing the fight.

Most of us want to do our part to undermine the spread of illicit
drugs, and there are few more deadly than methamphetamines. But when
the tradeoff is our health, or at least some relief from nasty cold
symptoms, those of us in the rank and file have to question whether
what has been gained is worth our misery.

What has been gained by taking many common cold medications off the
shelf is lawmen have been able to deprive meth makers of essential
ingredients they need.

One of the casualties of this initiative is nasal decongestants that
contain pseudoephedrine (PDE) have been severely restricted by state
and federal law. This is the good stuff. Now you can't just pull
these medicines off the pharmacy shelf and you almost feel like a
criminal asking for them.

Those of us who need this medicine to fight head colds don't want to
be considered draft dodgers, with no sense of duty, but certainly
we're having second thoughts.

The problem is that the stuff replacing pseudoephedrine doesn't
really work, or doesn't work very well. (Some less versed in
diplomatic skills would say they are totally worthless, but we're
being polite here.)

But don't believe us about this, we who stumble down pharmacy aisles
without medical degrees but with red eyes and desperate attitudes.
All we have are ugly anecdotes.

Ask the experts. The British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and the
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology published articles
reporting the same thing.

In the British Journal, Dr. Ronald Eccles writes that phenylephrine
(PE) is a "poor substitute for pseudoephedrine" as an orally
administered decongestant, and that (PE) and its "efficacy as a
decongestant is unproven."

Or check with Jennifer L. Boen who covers health and medical issues
for the McClatchy-Tribune Information Services and the Fort Wayne
News-Sentinel. She reports that six other studies showed little
difference between phenylephrine and a placebo.

But the pharmaceutical industry is unduly proud of this switch.

One bottle of night time cold medicine even has a flag on its front
that proudly proclaims: New Formula-Pseudoephedrine Free. It might as
well be championing its ineffectiveness. The old formula worked. This
one doesn't.

So what we have here is easy availability of what doesn't work and
difficult availability of what does work.

Maybe it would be worth it if the trade was helping to control the
illegal drug problem. That's hardly the case.

Several law enforcement officials have said that because of the
restrictions on these cold medications, there are fewer meth labs in
the region.

Unfortunately, instead of making it here, the drugs are now being
shipped in from elsewhere, including Mexico. Not only that, but a
purer grade of meth called "ice" is quickly replacing meth in the market.

So restrictions on cold medications haven't solved the problem, only
mutated it.

As Dr. Eccles points out, citing several studies in the U.S.,
"restricting the sale of PDE to the public as a medicine has had
little impact on the morbidity and number of arrests associated with
methamphetamine abuse."

From the perspective of a cold sufferer: We're not making ourselves
feel better; We're not winning the war against narcotics and street drugs.

We're making ourselves miserable and for no good reason.

While the world of legal cold medications has gotten less potent, the
world of illegal street drugs has gotten stronger and more sophisticated.

The wrong folks are suffering and have plenty to sneeze about.