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December 30, 2003
Ephedra Ban
So ephedra's been banned because it's been linked to "as many as 100 deaths"....primarily teens and a few well-known athletes. Well, give 'em a button. [/sarcasm]
If the Bush administration wanted to do something effective to stop drug-related deaths, why don't they ban psuedoephedrine....or at least return it to its former prescription-only status? You know what psuedoephedrine is, right? The main ingredient in Sudafed, available very cheaply OTC.
One of the unintended consequences of making it available without a prescription, and cheap to boot, has been the explosion of meth across the country. Because it's also one of 3 primary ingredients for making meth. And as such has arguably caused considerably more than 100 deaths....though none of famous athletes that I can think of offhand.
So if you really wanted to stop the widespread use of a deadly drug, that would be the one to ban or heavily restrict its availability.
If you really wanted to do something effective, that is.
Posted by Rita at December 30, 2003 12:17 PM
Comments
The people who died from using ephedra were most likely misusing it - not following recommended dosing guidelines on the label. Good point about pseudoephedrine. More people have died of Tylenol, which toxic to the liver and can be fatal in an overdose, than would ever die from abusing ephedra. So why not ban Tylenol too...
Posted by: suzi at December 30, 2003 11:21 PM
Good point Suzi...you could also make the same argument against aspirin I suspect.
Posted by: Rita at December 31, 2003 08:16 AM