Candy Meth

The Dallas Morning News recently ran an article, "Danger in disguise: candy-flavor drugs", on candy flavored methamphetamine, which I read with a mixture of amusement and irritation: amusement to see politicians and police drag out the tired old myths they have been recycling for about 150 years, and irritation that they believe we still fall for them.
Police see candy-flavored amphetamines on the market and make the unwarranted assumption that the purpose is for marketing to kids, an assumption they make with no supporting evidence. However, drug dealers don't market to kids; if a kid with money comes along, a dealer will sell to him, but not as a major effort. First, kids don't have enough money to be interesting, and second, they come with dangerous baggage like parents, teachers, and police. Joe Camel can spend millions giving t-shirts and ball caps to kids, confident that RJR will be around in five or ten years to profit when those kids are old enough to smoke. Drug dealers don't invest in the long run. They know they will be either dead or in prison in five years, so their business is strictly cash today.
Strawberry meth is strictly utilitarian. The flavoring (and there are several other than strawberry on the market) is used to disguise the heavy chemical taste of amphetamine when it is sniffed, making the product more palatable to consumers.
It has the secondary effect of product differentiation: just like corn flakes or car dealers, meth dealers want market share. If their pink product has a reputation for potency or purity, it will sell well until others copy the trademark.
The same thing happens with other drugs. Around Houston Ecstasy buyers for years insisted on "blue dolphins" because they were the best. In the East Coast heroin market for years, heroin glassine envelopes with marked with logos and trade names. For a while in Baltimore, heroin dealers would circulate a neighborhood early in the day giving out small samples so the customers would know the quality of what he would be selling later that day. Whole specialty markets exist for premium marijuana plants.
Drugs are just like any other market; the same rules of economics and marketing apply, and trade names do appear.
As far as protecting children goes, amphetamines are a minor threat, ranking at most a distant fifth. If we want to protect children from the harms of drug misuse, we should concentrate our efforts on the big four, in terms of numbers of users and of harm resulting: alcohol, tobacco, antidepressants and anti-anxiety products, and prescription pain killers. Only after these major problems are under control, can we spare additional efforts for the minor ones.
Word count: 356