So yes, I am doing the old fart waving a fist in anger…OK, not so much anger as simply amazed at how things are out there and not always smart or an indication of progress.
I have not had a sinus attack in ages which is weird when you realize I live in hot humid Florida and next to a lake to boot. It was an old school brain splitter, so I knew the usual meds found at the 7-11 check out counter next to the cookies and the condoms would not do squat.
I have heard that the good stuff requires to have it picked up at the Pharmacy counter, but I had never experienced that particular Federal regulation joy before. And to add to the pleasure, the Pharmacy had experience some sort of computer glitch and there was some issue with the prescriptions which led to long frigging lines.
While waiting and bored out of my school, I saw a couple of things that made me shake my head heard. First, that some people actually need these products:
I guess the level of trust among humans living under the same roof or related to each other is rather low. Face it, if you are doing drugs, you do not need a test to know, so its application is to find out if somebody else is an addict or user, something happened that made the inherent trust disappear. I guess the Nicotine test is to see if a kid is vaping because plain smoking is rather obvious and easy to detect.
And this one is a monument to gullibility.
I saw this and thought “Well, I have thickened the occasional sauce and I know you make gravy thick by adding flour or cornstarch.”
Guess.
Yup, Cornstarch.
I had to check with Walmart:
The top is $0.66 per ounce and the Wally world is $0.07 per ounce. Nine times higher at the pharmacy because it is packaged and sold differently. I don’t think heroine or coke have the big of a mark up.
OK, old fart rant mode is off.
I’m 31 and I have been shaking my fist at “todays youth” for nearly a decade now.
The individuals get smarter – but society as a whole seems to get dumber.
Oh good. I’m NOT the youngest old fart here.
I got you by a good six or seven years. ?
Still feels sometimes like I’m born in the wrong century, although I am very fond of refrigeration, medicine, and fast communication.
Sooo. is the pharmaceutical grade cornstarch, used to cut the heroin used by the street dealers? ?
When you get older like me, you will just shake your head and say ‘some people do not have the sense they were born with’ It makes life less frustrating 🙂
It’s the same thing for so-called “dry mouth” lozenges. It’s around 7 or 8 bucks for a pack of lozenges. If you read the label, you’ll realize it’s just sugarfree candy. Absolutely no special ingredients whatsoever. Nice racket they have there.
Another golden rip-off. Little plastic “on the go” garbage bags for diapers.
If you buy the ones from the infant section at Walmart or other retailer, you’ll pay a fair bit.
Or, you can go to the pet section and get twice as many doggie doo bags for a quarter the price.
The doggie doo bags are fancier too – they come with a pawprint on them.
It’s all marketing. Someone will pay $$$ for “medical grade” food thickener, but balk if it’s labeled for what it is, cornstarch. Folks will shell out the moola for a “guaranteed to reduce odor”! plastic bag to hold a blowout diaper, but just want something to protect their hand and tie up so they can get rid of a dog shit in the city park.
People are funny and gullible.
Regarding the decongestant: I seem to recall that, several years ago, someone published a process for making pseudoephedrine from readily-available street meth.
And, yes, Big Brother is tracking your pseudoephedrine purchases. It’s an easy felony rap, should you buy enough for your immediate household.
Meanwhile, phenylephrine is approved for on-the-shelf sale, despite being entirely ineffective.