For those of us who are fans of the series of “Breaking Bad,” this is a story that may hold particularly interest given the lessons of Walter White on the production of his “blue ice.” CVS customers are being asked to produce identification before they buy nail polish because the product contains acetone and can be used to make methamphetamine. While store employees are quoted as blaming federal and state laws, there is no such requirement under federal or state law. Rather it is a company policy that strikes me as perfectly moronic even when the store is openly selling “Blue Ice Nail Polish.”
CVS says the rule is an attempt to curb the making of illegal methamphetamine:
“Because acetone is an ingredient used in the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine, we recently implemented a policy that a valid ID must be presented to purchase acetone-containing products such as nail polish remover. Our policy also limits the sale of these products in conjunction with other methamphetamine precursors and is based on various regulations requiring retailers to record sales of acetone.”
“Because acetone is an ingredient used in the illegal manufacture of methamphetamine, we recently implemented a policy . . .”
Here’s my question. How does this make a meaningful difference since there is no record kept of people buying nail polish. Most adults will simply flash their identification and buy the polish. As for kids, they are clearly able to buy nail polish through third parties and, if they are clever enough to manufacture Meth, I am pretty sure that they are clever enough to buy nail polish.
It is also not clear what CVS will do with a customer who buys beyond what is deemed a necessary amount of nail polish. If this were the standard, my daughter and her friends would appear the biggest meth dealers in her elementary school.
What they need is my favorite character and fellow attorney, Sam Goodman, to simply grab the kids at the CVS and use his signature line: “Look, let’s start with some tough love. You two suck at peddling meth. Period.”
Besides, if CVS wants to deal with its Meth production problem, it may want to start carding those men buying “Blue Ice” . It is just an attractive nuisance for those middle aged Heisenberg wannabes.
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signing for anything over the counter that you normally chose or decided upon to purchase for whatever reason be it cleaning valuable coins (yep they get it cheaper at cvs / Walgreens and wally world when they have it). It is not about the meth? or the low life degenerates that use certain items for whatever reason, it is about control. cvs has issues, it seems to ,me they make more money in their other business if they put the bath tub boys out of business. they just go out on a limb without law enforcement, as new policy just because they sold an extra few bottles of nail polisa remover 2 months in a row. Those in corporate offices don’t give two rat turds about what you buy or use it for as long as you buy. Now cvs is like what now a new type of security guard doing the work of the gov. payed for free so the other’ can hide behind KK and DD eating free donuts and watching kiddie porn out of the kindness of their hearts while (loosing business) , sure.
Look away look away for they draw your eyes away from their true motive. Today sudo, and polish remover, tomorrow maybe Cat-Nip and Candy bars. You will see soon enough it is control the gov. wants and control is what they seek. More change is on the way, just like the dumbing down of our children in the schools, if you haven’t noticed it yet try paying attention to your children and the core curriculum. Just more sneaky sh*^.
ROFLMAO! Things that come to mind:
1. Real meth makers buy industrial sized Acetone from the local hardware store.
2. Things that make the register beep: Acetone, Alcoholic Beverages, Air in a can, Camping Fuel, Spray Paint, Heet, Butane, Cigarettes, and the newly added menace…Nail Polish Remover sold at CVS.
3. The government does NOT like competition: The sale of Meth reduces the government’s profits from the sale of Cocaine.
The policy is a publicity stunt as far as I am concerned. There is no reason to believe that those producing large quantities of meth are buying their supplies from CVS.
The problem really comes down to the “war”. It is unlikely to be the case that humans will stop seeking intoxicants and it is very likely that those same humans will continue to seek new ones that will be outside the immediate control of the law.
This REALITY must be dealt with in a different way. Turning large numbers of people into felons in a misguided attempt to change human nature is both pointless and destructive. Since 1980, the population of the United States grew by 33%. In the same period, the prison population grew 800%. This is a pathetic circumstance.
Once convicted of a felony, even a person of good moral character without regard to drugs (not a moral issue to me) is permanently damaged and will find the remainder of his or her life very difficult. It used to be the case that a person could move and start a new life where past deeds were unknown to the community. But our society has change driven largely by the technology to better track people.
The following axiom cannot be logically or morally refuted: Without forgiveness there is no possibility of redemption and without redemption there is no hope and without hope there can be no change.
Removing all hope means dealing with the crime and poverty that accompanies hopelessness.
Why do I think this was devised in the PR dept.
Implement Policy —>Release Policy to Press—->Hope a Quasi Humanitarian label sticks—->Either way, the letters CVS gets bounced around the media more than usual—–>Once it fails to make a substantive difference quietly end policy.
Meanwhile dream up new consumer protections policies to begin anew once the said policy runs it course
Yes I am cynical
Just for fun, I may attempt to buy nail polish or nail polish remover at the local CVS using my China drivers license for ID. The license has my photo and birth date which should suffice, but my name is rendered into a 3-character Chinese name.
that’s what i love about cvs and walgreens. they’ll hand you hydrocodone or diazapam at the drive through but you have to go in show I D and sign for a box of sudafed.
Steve, No biggy and forgotten already. I only need products w/ ephedrine this time of year for ragweed allergies. And, I don’t like having to sign and produce ID. How much has this cut down on amateur meth labs, I don’t know. But, putting the fly by night meth labs out of biz is more about not poisoning houses, soil, double wides, and killing innocent people. The process of cooking creates a highly toxic and explosive byproduct. As I’ve said, when I worked in Leavenworth, an inmate could get whatever drug they wanted. That’s why I detest the War on Drugs.
seamus,
I’m also really impressed with the change in the Jesse Pinkman character. From wastiod tweaker, he’s transformed into the thoughtful conscience of the show. I’d have never predicted that in the beginning.
seamus,
Yes it was. As much as I hated the wait for the second part of the season, the payoff was spectacular. Possibly the best show on TV. Ever. From a narrative standpoint, it may also be unique too. Most shows are predicated on a status quo of sorts and the character arcs only deal with character change in a fairly superficial manner. You watch “Cheers” or “NYPD Blue” fully expecting that Sam Malone and Andy Sipowicz are basically the same guys every week as they were when the show started. “Breaking Bad” is up there with the best novels for character development and substantive change. There is no question now that – as Vince Gilligan described the story in pitching it – that Mr. Chips is gone and Walter White is now Scarface. Possibly scarier because he’s not an over the top coked out maniac.