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The main thing about P2P meth is that there's so much of it (2021)

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Re: The main thing about P2P meth is that there's so much of it (2021)

#11

Post by LocalH »

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #3

Fantastic write up. I think the biggest takeaway for me is just how insanely ineffective banning pseudoephedrine over the counter was. Price went down, usage went up overdose went up, seizures went up, the production just changed quickly and there wasn’t even a blip. Billions of uses of bullshit decongestant products that didn’t work at all… and to get the good stuff you still need to buy it from behind the counter a…

Human society has a massive issue with blindness towards n-order effects (they barely consider second-order effects, never mind thinking further out)

Re: The main thing about P2P meth is that there's so much of it (2021)

#12

Post by meowkit »

LocalH wrote: post #11
SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #3

Fantastic write up. I think the biggest takeaway for me is just how insanely ineffective banning pseudoephedrine over the counter was. Price went down, usage went up overdose went up, seizures went up, the production just changed quickly and there wasn’t even a blip. Billions of uses of bullshit decongestant products that didn’t work at all… and to get the good stuff you still need to buy it from behind the counter a…

Human society has a massive issue with blindness towards n-order effects (they barely consider second-order effects, never mind thinking further out)

I don't think its innate though - most people I've met can think of higher order consequences or at least understand them.

The real issue is actually measuring results. I think we have to design society to factor higher order effects in. That means a fundamentally new approach to things like voting and tracking accountability.

Is it even possible? Who knows. Sometimes I think our problems have outstripped individual life spans which makes them intractable.

Re: The main thing about P2P meth is that there's so much of it (2021)

#14

Post by therobots927 »

keepamovin wrote: post #10

The ephedrine (or pseudoephedrine) synthesis is a one step using phosphorus/iodine reduction directly to methamphetamine. It’s simple and clean in that only an acid base extraction is required, and only one set of NP solvents. All these others syntheses with multiple steps up the chances of weird toxic solvents or contaminants creeping in. I think it’s a contaminant issue that’s exacerbated by the drug use. The gover…

[flagged]

Re: The main thing about P2P meth is that there's so much of it (2021)

#15

Post by arcfour »

trhway wrote: post #6

>He points out that “old” meth was made from ephedrine and that “new” meth is made from a chemical called Phenylacetone or P2P the new is just the old that came back. The old meth, "biker meth", was P2P. Then was ephedrine, and with a crackdown on ephedrine - back to P2P. Another noticeable thing - the recent shortage of ADHD medication while supposedly illegal meth production has been growing. Demand is present in b…

In the former case, you have government artificially suppressing supply and acting to dissuade pharmacies from keeping almost any extra stock, which is unfortunate.

Re: The main thing about P2P meth is that there's so much of it (2021)

#16

Post by asdff »

School-Cotton wrote: post #13
f33d5173 wrote: post #2

Tried clicking the fivethirtyeight link halfway down the article, and was immediately reminded of what abc decided to start doing today. What an asshole move.

What are you referring to?

ABC deleted all the old 538 archives and refused to entertain selling the IP back to Nate Silver and prefer to let it die.

Re: The main thing about P2P meth is that there's so much of it (2021)

#17

Post by soupfordummies »

School-Cotton wrote: post #13
f33d5173 wrote: post #2

Tried clicking the fivethirtyeight link halfway down the article, and was immediately reminded of what abc decided to start doing today. What an asshole move.

What are you referring to?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48152553

Re: The main thing about P2P meth is that there's so much of it (2021)

#18

Post by fwipsy »

therobots927 wrote: post #14
keepamovin wrote: post #10

The ephedrine (or pseudoephedrine) synthesis is a one step using phosphorus/iodine reduction directly to methamphetamine. It’s simple and clean in that only an acid base extraction is required, and only one set of NP solvents. All these others syntheses with multiple steps up the chances of weird toxic solvents or contaminants creeping in. I think it’s a contaminant issue that’s exacerbated by the drug use. The gover…

[flagged]

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. "Go read this book" ain't it.

Re: The main thing about P2P meth is that there's so much of it (2021)

#19

Post by milesvp »

RajT88 wrote: post #4

The insane thing for me is seeing how tightly meth purity correlated with the airing of Breaking Bad.

I was thinking the same thing, though I couldn't remember the timeline. Makes me wonder if there was something already in the zeitgeist, or if it was fueled by the obsession with purity in the series. I could totally see Breaking Bad causing chemists to want to up their game, or causing chemists to get clowned for having low purity.
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