Talk:1618: Cold Medicine

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How hard would it actually be to turn street drugs back into cold medicine? Benjaminikuta (talk) 05:41, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

- I'm unsure on the actual scientific accuracy of this, given it is a fake paper, but http://heterodoxy.cc/meowdocs/pseudo/pseudosynth.pdf 108.162.221.13 05:49, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

This is in reference to recent studies that have proven that Phenylephrine is no worse than a placebo. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylephrine http://www.annallergy.org/article/S1081-1206(10)60240-2/abstract 162.158.2.138 06:53, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

- I keep hearing about this Placebo. It seems like a very potent medicine that is good for everything. Where can you buy it? 162.158.90.213 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Just get anything that is labeled 'homeopathic'. --162.158.153.101 10:55, 18 December 2015 (UTC)
In more than 100 countries it is manufactured under the brand name Tic Tac and available even in supermarkets. -- Hkmaly (talk) 13:41, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

I don't think it's suggesting turning meth back to medicine. I think it's a reference to heroin and at least a handful(?) of other now-illegal drugs originally introduced purely as medicinal products. Xseo (talk) 12:13, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

- i respectfully disagree, i reckon its exactly suggesting that ... Need cold medicine so bad i would buy illegal drugs made from cold medicine and seek to reverse the process. Obviously not the most practical way of getting cold medicine ... but thats the joke.Plm-qaz snr (talk) 13:08, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

Codeine was originally a cough suppressant. It was and is the most effective and reliable cough medicine available and very safe in the usual quantities. You can't get it, though -- for an ordinary cough -- because some people like to use a lot of it for fun and sometimes get addicted to large quantities of it. You could synthesize it or an analogue of it from heroin or oxycodone about as safely as any kitchen chemistry because they share the same opium base.

The principal cold medicines are cough suppressants (codeine is best -- other things work but much worse), decongestant (pseudoephedrine works great, phenylephrine is no more effective than a placebo), mild anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen, and antihistamines for anti-sneezing (there are many good ones based on Seldane like Claritin). Most people like to combine those at nighttime with a good mild tranquil sleep promoter -- I recommend whisky or rum. Note that pseudoephedrine is banned in some states of the USA such as Oregon. 108.162.216.65 13:58, 18 December 2015 (UTC)


I take the title text differently - that since buying pseudoephedrine-containing drugs legally in a larger than minimal quantity (e.g. to stockpile them at home to have them at hand when you need them) already makes you a criminal suspect with 100% certainty (because you have to show your ID), it may be safer to buy illegal drugs on the black market, where you have at least some chance of not being caught. As for turning meth back to PE - it is possible for sure, since all chemical processes are reversible in one way or another, but I am not versed enough in organic chemistry to say if it is easier or harder than the other way round. -- 162.158.90.224 12:33, 18 December 2015 (UTC)

Burning is chemical process. Creating wood from ash is generally considered unpractical. -- Hkmaly (talk) 13:41, 18 December 2015 (UTC)
Yes, it is impractical. However, due to one of the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics being the fact that information can't be destroyed, only obfuscated, scatter, maybe even left out of reach, but never destroyed, all the information needed to turn the ash back into wood is still in the universe. All that is left to do is retrieve all that information and figure out a way by which everything can become uncombusted, and you have it turned back into wood. Sure, it would be easier to use the ash as fertilizer to help grow another tree, but it isn't impossible.Mulan15262 (talk) 14:50, 18 December 2015 (UTC)