Thoughts while shoveling snow…

(the ones that can be printed!)

Like: “How to make money 
selling drugs… legally!”

Perhaps due to being confined inside during recent frigid snowstorms… my mind pursued this thought:  people are expected to turn in their unused medications to a central drop off site or get rid of them someway.

BUT… why shouldn’t the person dropping them off get paid for them? Like when you return a product.

  Other businesses give refunds. So why not the “Big Pharma folks”?

Kind of an incentive to get drugs out of a potential robbery or accidentally in the hands of a curious child.

What about trust?

Plus: how do I know I can I trust that the medication “picker upper” person isn’t reselling them?

“Street value…”

I wanted to check out the “street value” of some of these drugs on the internet.  But then I thought I might get in trouble if someone was spying on my site.  And you might be suspicious if I stopped by and asked to use your computer!

So I was guessing $20 - $32 a pill for oxycodone. 

Now the folks I know who have had them legally prescribed don’t want to get addicted so they ration them pretty carefully.  

And if they don’t use them - they might have a good amount of money to gain.

Facebook…

I posted this question on Facebook and got some interesting replies.  I also reminded everyone that I don’t take meds at this time so don’t come checking me out! 

Researching these drugs on the internet showed that some of them could be passed on to third world countries where their access to meds is limited.  

And the effectiveness of some meds might not be as outdated as their labels would suggest.

Safety issues?

But a concern would be that the unused meds might have been tampered with.  So that would rule out capsules I guess.

Local drop off site

Cannon Falls has a drop off site for left-over meds situated inside city hall and next to the police department.  

Checking with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) they had some suggestions: like putting them in an unappealing product or flushing them down toilets or putting them in plastic bags in your trash.  But some folks don’t like these ideas because they still can potentially pollute the groundwater, etc.

With more snow in the forecast…

I'm expanding on this idea. Other businesses give refunds or take their product back. So why not the "Pharma folks"? 

With the result that you'd be getting drugs off the streets... or out of bathrooms - for some to steal or accidentally be used by curious toddlers.

Any other ideas friends? 

Or just some warmer weather…

Help for “friends” surviving

 dangerously cold temps!

     

                                                             (Photo by Kari Moline)

Although she had loved blue birds since her first day in kindergarten when her teacher put pictures of birds on each locker… Kari Moline had never seen a real live one until she moved to Cannon Falls, Minnesota in 1986 as an adult! 

The house she and her husband bought came with an old birdhouse tacked onto the big oak tree in their front yard, Kari explained.  And it was quite a surprise the next spring when she spotted her first pair of bluebirds building a nest in it.  They’ve been there ever since.

Surprise!

But it was another surprise when her husband spotted a bluebird in their yard one cold January day.  Kari had thought they were supposed to migrate south in the fall.

The next year she noticed a few staying over winter again.

So Kari researched on the internet and found that “bluebirds will winter over in cold climates if there is enough food available. Also, approximately 12% of bluebirds do not have the genetic code to migrate south.”

Worms, worms and more worms! 

Finding that bluebirds like meal worms, Kari began feeding them that.  But after a few years - and many dollars - she began to raise her own.

Instructions

“After watching a few on-line videos”, Kari learned that “the worms eat wheat bran, which is relatively inexpensive to buy in bulk. I purchased some plastic bins about 5" tall and followed the instructions to fill the drawers with 2-3" inches of wheat bran, then add a few peeled carrots for a moisture source for the worms.  

“I found an on-line source and ordered 5,000  live meal worms, placed them in the bins and checked them about once weekly.  Then added more carrots or wheat bran if necessary and checked on their progress. I was now a meal worm farmer!” 

Meal Worm Farmer Extraordinaire!

“Meal worms start their life cycle as little beetles,” Kari explained. “The beetles mate and lay eggs which then grow into adult meal worms. From there, the adult worms changed into pupae, then into beetles.  

“Occasionally  a few beetles escape the plastic bins. I just gather them up and return them to the worm farm. The beetles are harmless and don't bite.”

.