This post is to educate you on the lengths the DEA and pharmaceutical industry have gone to prevent the world’s supply of PSE (pseudoephedrine) and EPH (ephedrine) from becoming meth. They even stopped Mexico from using it as precursor years ago, which essentially was the end of the good shit. So before you get all “breaking bad” and ask how to extract Suzy from cold pills, let’s recap…

The combat Meth Act of 2005 was the driving force that created a whole new product- where the manufacturers of OTC cold medicine had to comply with an unprecedented number of regulations concerning the formulations. From then til now…the addition of all these various deterrents, coupled with mandated federal regulations- pretty much all but eliminated pseudo(ephedrine)from the meth equation entirely.

For all to see on Google’s patent website, Thousands of formulations have been successfully developed, tested , approved and applied to the composition of these cold pills that make extracting its main ingredient basically impossible. Well, maybe not impossible but difficult as fuck. And then, if by some miracle you crash a few crystals out of this brew I can guarantee you that it will not react properly in a hydroxyl cleavage/reduction. It’s I wonder they still work as a decongestant.

These deterrents work so well that many of the manufacturers of other narcotics (like OxyContin) effectively adopted and even employed similar techniques. Essentially feeding this monster until it became the standard of production. Now the cold medicine manufacturers have mandated “compositional” requirements that outline a multitude of specific combined deterrents. It’s not just one or two, it’s a minimum of usually half a dozen different ones. Everything from the hardness of the pill to the molecular modification of the active ingredient’s weight and solubility in alkaline and acidic solutions.

Then the big win in court came that shocked many. It was ruled that there would be limitations placed on the amounts that could be purchased weekly monthly and annually. In addition, requiring it to be behind the counter rather than “over it. Starting around 9 g a month, they pushed and pushed, actually lowering it to (what it is currently) a measly 7.2 grams of any isomer/salt of ephedrine per person a month.(this total’s approx 2 boxes of pills) All sales has to be supported by a valid state ID. This was a haymaker that really put a leash on cooks.

As if that wasn’t enough, forced compliance was echoed throughout solvent manufacturing companies, and into related “precursor” industries. Requiring companies like Coleman to change their fuel, Diamond to alter their Striker strips and iodine antiseptic products to limit and record purchases. The struggle was now very real, and we all had front row seats to the shit show. The result was as intended… absolutely halting domestic meth production. Simply making it impractical, uneconomical and worse- unsafe to attempt a conversion of PSE —> METH.

Then just as quicky as workaround hacks were discovered by clever meth cooks, the pharma chemists reformulated and rolled out the improved versions, having their finger on the pulse of the drug scene through forums like the original hive website.

You have to understand they have more money than the federal reserve. They own the entire world. Unlimited funding and infinite resources. They are the Apex drug dealers of this world and the alphabet boys are just the hired help. They might casually list these “inactive” ingredients on the box, but I can guaran-damn-tee you that those are the most important things in it.

Even shake and bake stood as the workaround for a while, but not for long. What’s disgusting is that LE doesn’t scrub the internet of these deathtrap concoctions and instructions, but rather leave them online to suggest that it is still possible. . Hundreds of patents employed in lithium battery manufacturing, cold pack technology, and even compounds created in situ that gobble up any electrons. They have literally thought of everything, and you cannot outsmart a team of highly paid and motivated chemists. Some of which that have spent their whole career working on these formulations.

This multifaceted, well-planned attack on domestic meth manufacturing (paired with some very lengthy prison sentences) was the beginning of the end, to what the old heads refer to as the “golden age” of Tina.

Sadly, it remains the reality of the PSE/EPH landscape. It’s a fools errand that is plagued by repeated failures and an inevitable waste of time. It’s nostalgia at best, and a romance that the flame has extinguished. Focus your energy on any of the various routes one can choose to preparing phenyl acetone. It will be far more rewarding in the end. And by then you’ll understand why.

Stay bizzy guys