08:08 – I see that the FDA is proposing to reschedule Vicodin, Oxycontin, and other drugs that contain opioids in combination with acetaminophen from Schedule III to Schedule II. Now, granted, acetaminophen is an extraordinarily dangerous drug. I won’t have it in the house. But hydrocodone and oxycodone? Come on. They’re benign, and shouldn’t be subject to any controls at all. In fact, nothing should be subject to any controls. We should be able to walk into a drugstore and buy a kilo–or a metric ton–of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, or whatever we want. It’s our business, not the government’s. And if you doubt that, just look how well their “war on drugs” has worked out, not just for them but for all of us.
I just got a query from someone who wanted us to ship a science kit to Bolivia, and asked if we could do it via DHL. Apparently, theft is rampant in the Bolivian postal service, and any kit we shipped by USPS Priority Mail would likely be pillaged by Bolivia Post and arrive empty. I told the guy that unfortunately we can’t ship via DHL, UPS, FedEx, or other private carriers, both because it’s an administrative nightmare and because of the extremely high shipping charges and additional fees charged by all of the private carriers for international shipments.