Editing 1618: Cold Medicine
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
| − | + | [[Cueball]] is, in this comic, probably representing [[Randall]], who as anyone else living in {{w|Geographical zone|The North Temperate Zone}} is very likely to have a {{w|Common cold|cold}} at this time of year (released in December). The way the title text is phrased makes this even more likely, see below. Also it is only two weeks ago Randall posted another comic about a cold works: [[1612: Colds]]. It thus seems that he is suffering from a long lasting cold, that he just can't get rid off. | |
| − | + | Cueball is evidently suffering from a cold and he is searching the shelves labeled cold and {{w|Influenza|Flu}} at a {{w|pharmacy}} for any kind of '''cold medicine''' (hence the title), to alleviate his symptoms. Note that this all he can hope for, as there are still {{w|Common_cold#Management|no cure}} that really helps getting rid of the cold faster. All medication can do is help relieving the symptoms until the body's own {{w|immune system}} takes care of the relatively harmless cold virus. | |
| − | After looking at several different options Cueball is clearly unsatisfied with what he finds. Either he doesn't feel that any of the unmonitored drugs available on the serve-yourself-shelf is useful, or he is actually too sick to properly ascertain which medicine he needs. In the end he approaches the counter and asks the {{w|pharmacist}} ([[Ponytail]]) to give him one of every kind of cold medicine which requires an ID to purchase. | + | After looking at several different options Cueball is clearly unsatisfied with what he finds. Either he doesn't feel that any of the unmonitored drugs available on the serve-yourself-shelf is useful, or he is actually too sick to properly ascertain which medicine he needs. In the end he approaches the counter and asks the {{w|pharmacist}} ([[Ponytail]]) to give him one of every kind of cold medicine which requires an ID to purchase. ('''Warning''': Taking lots of different medicines together could harm, or even kill you, because certain combinations of medications interact in ways that make them dangerous or even lethal). But that is not the message that Ponytail tries to give him, instead she tries to warn him that he would end up on some watchlist, presumably one of the government agencies ({{w|DEA}}, {{w|FBI}}, {{w|CIA}} etc.) But she never get to finish her sentence because Cueball is beyond caring and tells her this. |
| − | + | In the USA, cold medicines containing {{w|pseudoephedrine}} are kept behind the counter and IDs purchasing them are monitored, because pseudoephedrine can be used to make the illegal drug {{w|methamphetamine}} or meth (a more potent version of {{w|amphetamine}}). However, it is also an extremely effective {{w|decongestant}} (a pharmaceutical drug that is used to relieve {{w|nasal congestion}}/plugged nose), much more so than the common substitutes {{w|phenylephrine}} and {{w|oxymetazoline}}. This could be one reason why Cueball just requests all kinds of cold medicines of amongst other this type; he does not appear to care what exactly he is purchasing, believing that his one criterion will provide him medicine powerful enough for his illness. It may also be that he is just too sick to care or realize that this will arouse suspicion of him being a drug dealer, or to recognize the need to select only one medication of these type, to avoid a potentially deadly overdose. | |
| − | + | This could be a reference to the medicine with the brand name {{w|Sudafed}}, sold as an over the counter decongestants with pseudoephedrine as the active ingredient. Now they also sell a different type of medicine for decongestants with the same brand name but without pseudoephedrine, but with for instance phenylephrine, which has recently been deemed only as effective as {{w|placebo}}... If you can buy this from the shelf (because it does not contain the drug precursor) then you could easily get home with the once effective Sudafed, only to realize later that, since you bought it on the shelf it does not help you at all. This could offer another explanation for Cueball's request and outburst in the final panel. | |
| − | + | The title text seems to be Randall's own comment on how badly he is affected by his cold. He thus, humorously, suggest that he is now ready to purchase illegal drugs (this would then be ''meth'') in order to turn it back into a cold medicine (i.e. pseudoephedrine). This would not be feasible or safe to do, but may may be a reference to this spoof paper: ''[http://heterodoxy.cc/meowdocs/pseudo/pseudosynth.pdf A Simple and Convenient Synthesis of Pseudoephedrine From N-Methylamphetamine''], a take on the long-going joke on the recent difficulty in obtaining pseudoephedrine, i.e. it is now easier to get your hands on the illegal drug made from it... It is a humorous exaggeration of how far Randall is willing to go to get the best cold medicine, and the potency of the drugs needed to treat his apparently debilitating illness. There are many illegal drugs that when first synthesized were planned to use as a medical drug, but then later abused by drug addicts, but given the subject of the comic, the title text obviously refers to meth. | |
| − | + | ==Transcript== | |
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:[Cueball is standing in a drug store, with a drug in his hand he has taken from the shelf he is standing next to. The shelf is labeled.] | :[Cueball is standing in a drug store, with a drug in his hand he has taken from the shelf he is standing next to. The shelf is labeled.] | ||
:Cueball: *Sniffle* | :Cueball: *Sniffle* | ||
| − | :Label: Cold & Flu | + | :Label: Cold &Flu |
:[Cueball is standing alone, examining some medicine he is holding up, while having some other medicine in the other hand.] | :[Cueball is standing alone, examining some medicine he is holding up, while having some other medicine in the other hand.] | ||
| − | :Cueball: *Cough* | + | :Cueball: *Cough* |
:Cueball: *Sniff* | :Cueball: *Sniff* | ||
