Re: Polar Pure water purification crystals used by meth labs

Federal agents say 88-year-old Saratoga man's invention is being used by meth labs
By Sean Webby

Posted: 11/21/2011 03:31:41 PM PST

Eighty-eight-year-old retired metallurgist Bob Wallace is a self-described tinkerer, but he hardly thinks of himself as the Thomas Edison of the illegal drug world.

He has nothing to hide. His product is packaged by hand in a cluttered Saratoga garage. It's stored in a garden shed in the backyard. The whole operation is guarded by an aged, congenial dog named Buddy.

But federal and state drug enforcement agents are coming down hard on Wallace's humble homemade solution he concocted to help backpackers purify water.


http://www.mercurynews.com/saratoga/ci_19385037

Here's the Justice Dept article on what crystalline iodine is supposed to do.

http://www.justice.gov/ndic/pubs1/1467/index.htm

I didn't quite get what iodine was supposed to do from the article. I looked it up, and supposedly crystalline iodine can be used to make hydriodic acid. This method seems to require elemental iodine (which iodine tablets like Potable Aqua are not) to produce the hydriodic acid and it produces a fairly pure illegal drug once mixed and heated with red phosphorous and pseudoephedrine or ephedrine. I guess one serious problem is that rather toxic phosphine gas is produced in the process.

I've had to buy my pseudoephedrine decongestants from behind the pharmacy counter, along with having to show ID. I remember when I used to be able to get large boxes of it from right on the shelf at any variety of stores. Right now, only a pharmacy can sell it, because it's kept behind the counter. When I can't breathe through my nose due to swollen sinuses, pseudoephedrine works better than anything else. I wondered by the DEA never cracked on ephedrine sold as a dietary supplement, which I heard could also be used to make crystal meth. Eventually the FDA cracked down on it because people were getting the shakes and a few people even died.

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y_p_w
I've had to buy my pseudoephedrine decongestants from behind the pharmacy counter, along with having to show ID. I remember when I used to be able to get large boxes of it from right on the shelf at any variety of stores.

Yeah, and it used to be cheap.

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eeek

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y_p_w
I've had to buy my pseudoephedrine decongestants from behind the pharmacy counter, along with having to show ID. I remember when I used to be able to get large boxes of it from right on the shelf at any variety of stores.

Yeah, and it used to be cheap.

I recall a generic could be as cheap as $5 for a pack of 96 20 mg tablets. That was 48 doses. It's still not that expensive. The stuff I bought for my current cold was $6 for 20 120 mg tablets. It's still a pain. If I come down with cold symptoms and the pharmacy is closed, I can't get any of it. Phenylephrine doesn't work for me, although it makes me really dizzy.

And now they're only available for retail sale in blister packs. I don't recall buying it myself any other way, but I do remember it came in loose form in bottles of 100 or 200.

I heard that large amounts of psuedoephedrine were bought by those making meth. They preferred the big bottles because the ingredient could just be poured out compared to pressing out each tablet. I'm sure that a lot of the big illegal drug makers are just getting their supplies from Mexico where it's still pretty cheap and they don't have any problem selling it in bottles.

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y_p_w

I recall a generic could be as cheap as $5 for a pack of 96 20 mg tablets. That was 48 doses. It's still not that expensive. The stuff I bought for my current cold was $6 for 20 120 mg tablets. It's still a pain. If I come down with cold symptoms and the pharmacy is closed, I can't get any of it.

You don't have a pharmacy that's open 24 hours a day that's driving distance from your home?

Where I live there are CVS and Walgreen pharmacies that are open 24 hours a day within seven miles of my home. They're not the nearest CVS and Walgreens from my home, but they are just an easy 10 minute drive away at night if I need to get something from a pharmacy.

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