November 16, 2004
Have A Hart
Hunting season, or rather, slug-hunting season is wrapping up today in the regions surrounding The Outpost. Since my cow-butchering photos drew such a fine response, I thought you might like to see some additional dead animals destined for the freezer and then the dinner plate.
Here, my neighbors Todd and JJ show off some of the fine specimens that their hunting party bagged over the weekend:
A closer look:
Me? I was too busy trying to start my meth lab to go hunting. At least that's what the lawyers for Target Corporation must have assumed. On Sunday, we decided to take a family trip to Target. The VP and The Governor in one cart; The Senator and I man another. This way, when The Governor starts acting up, we can separate him from the rest of the crowd. I continue shopping, and we still get out of the store in under an hour.
So half-way through our trip, The VP and The Governor split off and I finish up with The Senator. We start checking out and the clerk's computer screen starts flashing messages at her and refuses to ring through my Triaminic Cold & Cough Softchews. Why? Because she has alredy scanned two other cold products containing Pseudoephedrine. Target (or at least Target stores in Wright County, meth capital of Minnesota) have a policy of not selling more than two products containing this much-desired ingredient.
Is there a chemist in the audience? I have no idea how much pseudoephedrine one needs to produce meth but apparently the .15mg per tablet (I was trying to buy 54; 3 boxes of 18) is enough to set off alarms.
The clerk was very apologetic. No problem, I said. Here, keep this box. Just then The VP and The Gov show up with a few items to purchase.
Hey, can you give him the box? Can he buy it? We're married, though. The drug will be going to the same household.
The clerk smiled and rung it through. "Different customer," she said.
That's it, girl! Stick it to the man. So with some inside help, I managed to foil Target and come home with my stash of cold meds.
I had more to post on the weekend, but I'm off to go look at the proofs of the family photos we took last week.
One last photo...just for my PETA friends.
Gee, thanks for more dead animal photos. Luckily I didn't have to shoot 'em. I really hate doing that even though I know it ends their suffering when they're injured, it still sucks (sorry mom). As for the meds - did they also contain dextromethorphan (DXM)? That's a nasty ingredient that kids are now abusing by taking whole packs of cold pills-- anyway, interesting policy but probably only affects honest people, 'cause the ones making meth and certainly not buying the stuff, they're stealing it!
Posted by: Sis at November 16, 2004 02:38 PMYeah...the cough & cold tablets did have the dextro-- ingredient in them! Wow. Now I'm surprised Target didn't have me followed out of the parking lot.
Sorry about the deer picts. Knew you'd object. :)
And would you mind if I sent that last thought about the drug policy affecting honest people to Target's headquarters? That's great.
Posted by: Cathy at November 16, 2004 03:32 PMNothing like a few dead animal pictures to brighten the afternoon. I will take a shot at the chemistry question, the yield of meth is probably equal to or at most double the starting weight of the Pseudoephedrine. Most of what people are buying to get high are the toxic by products of the chemical reaction. The good news for the druggies is that it doesn't take much of the real stuff to get high. It was a better world when high school kids could just score a 12 pack of 3.2 at the grocery or bait store.
Posted by: DaveP at November 16, 2004 04:39 PMPETA = People Eating Tasty Animals !
Posted by: noodles at November 17, 2004 12:20 PMAlmost all stores that sell cold and allergy products limit your purchase of pseudoephedrine containing products. While the reaction to make methamphetamine can be done on any scale, it's not really cost effective to do a small amount, and it's so dangerous a reaction that you don't want to be doing it that frequently anyway (well, no rational person would anyway). At about $20 a hit however, there is enormous profit to be made. I think the limits were chosen on the basis of what an average person would reasonably need at a time. I run up against it too for my allergies. I'd love to be able to buy up a three month supply at a time, but no...
jan
(Yes, I'm a chemist.)