Drug use on rigs driving oil prices up

[rabid_nerd]

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/26315212-3f33-11da-932f-00000e2511c8.html

Workers abusing and producing methamphetamines have left oil producers struggling to fill jobs, causing delays in projects and helping push up the price of oil and petrol in the US and around the world.

The problem was a big challenge in states such as Texas, Colorado, Louisiana and Oklahoma, industry insiders said. Ron Walsmith, director of oil & gas training at the Mid-Continent Oil & Gas Training Center, said entire rig crews of up to 12 people had been fired for making or using the drug. Methamphetamine labs have even been found on rigs, which is dangerous because both are highly explosive.

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Just a strange headline and article...

It's not profit taking! It's those darn druggies making us price gouge you!

[Selteri]

1. As lame excuses go

I'd say this is the top of the barrel - THey're just using any excuse they can to price gouge, it's not like this could be just a suddent epidemic, it's been going on for years and years.

[populistdriven]

2. They should allow them to take the same drug pilots take legally

Actually I am sure they are, all they have to do is ask their physician for it if they work odd shifts it is usually prescribed.

Unless meth is the only thing that fights the "Black Virus" :D

[Kolesar]

3. A pinhead reporter in London produces an unsourced article

"analysts said", "industry insiders said". NPR "On the Media" did a good segment on drug-reporting on Saturday. The hysteria they try to create is ridiculous. Meth use has actually not skyrocketed lately, like they want you to think.

[ozarkvet]

4. Made it hard to buy Sudafed

Being an allergy sufferer, all I know is that I feel like a criminal when I buy decongestant now.

Have to give ten forms of ID and then blow a nasty boogey-filled kleenex for the pharmacist to inspect (last part a bit of an exageration).

[spindrifter]

6. Sources?

Just curious--any data on the assertion that meth use hasn't gone up? Are you thinking of a particular time frame?
I noticed that the LT writer identified a couple of her sources, but agree that she did not provide links to any recorded--as in written-- version of a statement.

[Kolesar]

7. Meth to the Madness

The story is up on OTM now.

Meth to the Madness
If you believe the coverage, Americans are using crystal meth at epidemic rates. Stories depict a killer drug that is instantly addictive, easy to cook up at home, and poised to tear apart families and communities. But Reason editor-in-chief Nick Gillespie is among the critics who say that the media are the ones with the drug problem. Gillespie makes his case for Bob.

http://www.onthemedia.org/

[Boomer]

11. It's NOT just hype

I live in the West Virginia panhandle, the prosperous part of West Virginia that is within a 20-minute drive of Maryland or Virginia. And everyone in our neighborhood was horrified to find out that a guy just a few doors down from my house had turned his RV into a meth lab, letting his 5-year old son and all his friends run in and out of the place like a playhouse.

This all came to light when a woman overdosed in his house and the police descended and carried away the body, his computers, lab equipment, cookware, you name it.

He went to jail, his son was bounced back to his alcoholic stripper mother, and our entire neighborhood got a cold shock of reality.

So yes, I do believe there is a BIG meth problem in this country.

[brainshrub]

5. Oh, so now they are trying to blame high fuel prices on drug use?

Ironically, it is addiction that is creating our problems: Oil addiction.

www.brainshrub.com/heroin-fix

Just as an addict is blinded to the pain he causes others in his desire for more narcotics, most Americans are blinded to the problems we are giving our children in the quest for unlimited consumption. So great is this addiction, that many citizens ignore what politicians are doing to our open spaces at the behest of oil companies.

[blindpig]

8. nothing like a little speed to crank up productivity

Sounds like Outlands to me.:evilgrin:

They are indeed scraping the bottom of the barrel if they expect this lameness to cover their asses.

[Kolesar]

9. I remember that movie!

I was thinking about free coffee concessions, but free stimulants is much better for productivity.

[phantom power]

10. My god, rush another tax-cut to those long-suffering saintly oil barrons!