WV Creates New Black Market

West Virginia's legislature just passed a law creating a black market for cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine (PE).  Well, that's not what they are calling it (I just coined "PE" as the official street name for the substance!), and they don't realize they have created a black market, but in their vigilance in the war on drugs, the WV legislature has just made its problem worse, not better.

Under the new law, there is a limit on the number of such cold medicine units any one person may buy within a one-year period.  Basically, they have limited the amount a person can buy to an amount far less than what is required to create the dangerous and addictive drug methamphetamine, known on the street as glass, crank, or simply meth.  Before, someone running a clandestine meth lab could purchase as much of the cold medicines as they needed, and they would purchase a lot, because it takes a great number of cold medicine units to compile the requisite amount of PE for making meth.  There was no black market for the PE because anyone could just buy as much of it as they wanted legally at any grocery or convenient store, and it's relatively cheap, as far as illicit drugs and drug ingredients go - a few bucks per unit.

Now, however, meth lab operators will not be able to simply purchase what they need over the counter for a few bucks per unit.  I hope our legislators aren't so naive as to think that the lab operators will simply close up shop!  No - what they'll do is turn to others to help them compile the amount of PE they need.  Instead of purchasing it legally, the drug makers will purchase it illegally through others.  This will undoubtedly increase the overall number of people purchasing PE, and the people playing middle-man, buying it for others, won't do so for free.  Instead of paying what the store charges, the drug makers will have to pay a little (or a lot) extra in order to get others to buy it for them.  This will make purchasing PE for others a venture that results in a profit, however small it may be.  Where there's profit, there's greed and competition, and where the product involved is illegal, people will need to take matters into their own hands to settle business disputes - they can't simply call the police if someone steals their drug money or backs out on a PE deal.  And the price per unit of the meth will increase because the makers will have to pay more for the key ingredient.

So, in their infinite wisdom, our fearless leaders have created a black market for PE where none existed before, bringing with it the inevitable violence, theft, increased prices of drugs and drug ingredients, and crime that goes along with any black market industry, especially drugs.

I can't even say that I hope I'm wrong because I know I'm not.  It's prohibition and economics 101.  I just wonder how much it will cost me as a taxpayer to help fund the administration of this new government-created black market in PE.  I'm sure there will be entire new task forces devoted to clamping down on the problem they just created.  New weapons, new vehicles, new training, new uniforms, new agencies, new heads of new agencies, new consultants for new agencies, new equipment for new agencies and new task forces, etc.  And it's just a matter of time before citizens who are otherwise law-abiding are ruined for venturing into the new PE middle-man business.  I wonder, per year, how many new warrants will be issued, how many more residential doors will be kicked in, and how many more non-violent people will be occupying jail cells around the state.

Sometimes I think Inspector Clousseau is running things in Charleston.

Article from MetroNews:
http://www.wvmetronews.com/news.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=51552