Have you ever wondered why you can’t by Sudafed at the chemist without a hassle? Sudafed and related medications contain a drug called pseudoephedrine which helps dry up your filthy snotty nose. Useful, but heavily restricted by the Australian government. Why?
Because
- Pseudoephedrine can be used to manufacture methamphetamine, although I don’t believe this has ever been a problem in Australia. But we have the laws because…
- Australia signed up to a free trade agreement with the USA, and one of the conditions was restricting the sale of pseudoephedrine. This condition was there because the US states had problems with meth, although over-the-counter pseudoephedrine probably wasn’t a major problem in the past…
- But now after many years of restriction on the sale of a useful and safe drug, it turns out that it hasn’t really made an impact on methamphetamine production and may in fact have made it worse with the result that it is now largely controlled by organised Mexican crime gangs.
- Nice one.
- Enjoy your snotty nose.