Gangs using cold capsules for meth
By Wei Ran |
April 14, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE cold medicine Contac NT has fallen into short supply in east China's Shandong Province because drug dealers are buying it en masse to make crystal meth, the Qilu Evening News reported yesterday.
Police found that two of the five drug gangs they busted on Thursday made more than 60 grams of crystal meth by extracting a chemical from Contac NT capsules. It was the first case of manufacturing crystal meth from the cold medicine in Shandong.
Crystal meth, also known as methamphetamine, is made mainly from pseudoephedrine. China strictly controls ingredients that can be used to make drugs. To get the raw material, drug gangs are taking the chemical from cold medicines such as Contac.
Although the State Food and Drug Administration decreed that only five packs of cold medicine may be bought at a time, the two drug gangs bought nearly 1,000 packs in Shandong by asking people to spread out to different drugstores, according to the police.
The economics worked well for the gang, allegedly headed by suspects surnamed Chen and Jiang. Each pack of Contac capsules cost no more than 15 yuan (US$2.38), and the gangs could make more than 1 gram of meth from every 10 packs. This meant the gangs made a gram of meth at a cost of about 100 yuan. They then sold 0.8g of the meth for 800 yuan.
Contac NT capsules contain the highest proportion of pseudoephedrine of all non-prescription cold capsules.
Police found that two of the five drug gangs they busted on Thursday made more than 60 grams of crystal meth by extracting a chemical from Contac NT capsules. It was the first case of manufacturing crystal meth from the cold medicine in Shandong.
Crystal meth, also known as methamphetamine, is made mainly from pseudoephedrine. China strictly controls ingredients that can be used to make drugs. To get the raw material, drug gangs are taking the chemical from cold medicines such as Contac.
Although the State Food and Drug Administration decreed that only five packs of cold medicine may be bought at a time, the two drug gangs bought nearly 1,000 packs in Shandong by asking people to spread out to different drugstores, according to the police.
The economics worked well for the gang, allegedly headed by suspects surnamed Chen and Jiang. Each pack of Contac capsules cost no more than 15 yuan (US$2.38), and the gangs could make more than 1 gram of meth from every 10 packs. This meant the gangs made a gram of meth at a cost of about 100 yuan. They then sold 0.8g of the meth for 800 yuan.
Contac NT capsules contain the highest proportion of pseudoephedrine of all non-prescription cold capsules.
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