88-Year-Old Inventor Hassled By the DEA 757
New submitter Calibax writes "30 years ago, Bob Wallace and his partner came up with a product to help hikers, flood victims and others purify water. Wallace, now 88 years old, packs his product by hand in his garage, stores it in his backyard shed and sells it for $6.50. Recently, the DEA has been hassling him because his product uses crystalline iodine. He has been refused a license to purchase the iodine because it can be used in the production of crystal meth, and as a result he is now out of business. A DEA spokesman describes this as 'collateral damage' not resulting from DEA regulations but from the selfish actions of criminals."
That's a very nice product you've got there... (Score:5, Funny)
It IS helpful! (Score:4, Funny)
Is this guy bald? (Score:5, Funny)
Also, make sure there's no Los Pollos Hermanos close by.
Iodine isn't freely available (Score:5, Funny)
Iodine isn't available [ebay.com] without a license from the DEA.
Not here [ebay.com], or here [ebay.com], or even here [unitednuclear.com].
In fact, I can only find 32 results in the first web site I thought to look in.
Looks like the system works!
Re:Not just meth (Score:2, Funny)
especially fertilizers... they can be used to make rocket fuel! imagine all those farmers engaging in criminal activities all over the world!
think of the children people!
Re:Not just meth (Score:5, Funny)
Because, dear god, no one knows how to use a search engine. If they did, they wouldn't see the abundance of links that reference nitrogen triiodide. And forbid the thought that they could figure out where to source the other ingredient. (hint: anywhere that sells cleaning supplies.)
If I remember right, it's in the Anarchists Cookbook, when I read it about 20 years ago.
But, I seriously doubt the guy would be selling it as an explosive. If he made any quantity, he'd most likely blow himself up trying to transport it.
The war on drugs... The war on kids blowing their fingers off trying to make explosives... I guess the later is a better reason than the former.
I never made it When I was a kid (like around 12-ish), a friend got a hold of crystalline iodine, and we *were* going to do it. It sat around for a while, while I contemplated the fun of *not* blowing myself up. Then I discovered something. Girls are pretty, and nice to touch.. Yippie! Hormones saved the day!
Thinking about it, and reflecting on two divorces, maybe I should have stuck with making unstable compounds. It would have probably been safer than unstable women.
Re:Not just meth (Score:5, Funny)
Why should it be nameless?
Because "triiodide" is extremely awkward to say.
Re:Yet Another Terrible Flamebait Slashdot Summary (Score:4, Funny)
From the summary: "He has been refused a license"
From the article: "He has been rejected for a state permit"
"He was supposed to pay $1200 for a license to handle this chemical and refused."
Strikes me as that's a high price for the privilege of signing a register when you pick the stuff up at a supplier.
"He was asked to keep tabs on who bought the product to the extent that he would report "suspicious" bulk purchasers. He refused."
He couldn't give what he didn't have; instead he offered the names of the outfitters he sold to.
"He also does not appear to be able to tell the difference between the DEA and the TSA, as the article points out. This does not suggest he is good at dealing with bureaucracy."
He might not be good at 'dealing with bureaucracy' but he seems to know who they are well enough. He called 'em "thickheads" which I think well characterizes the mentality, no matter the alphabet-soup agency. You'd have to ask him, but I suspect he full well knows the difference between the DEA and the TSA.
The article points out that two noted sales spikes were just before end of 1999 and after post-tsunami Fukushima. Isn't the demand for meth steadier? The comments from DEA seem enough to talk to Wallace so as to verify he's not in the meth business, but nowhere near convincing enough to shut him down. The statement from Barbara Carreno is straight out of the Ministry of Truth handbook.
I think it's a simple case of over-reaction based on the inability of thickheads to reason. Like you, I admire Wallace and his sense of humor.
Even if he's allowed to continue making Polar Pure, he won't be able to unless he can find a supplier not intimidated by DEA.
Re:Not just meth (Score:5, Funny)
Both can cost you an arm and a leg.
Re:Not just meth (Score:5, Funny)
Why should it be nameless?
Because "triiodide" is extremely awkward to say.
Actually if explosives were your only worry the best thing would be to give free access to Iodine. The terrorists are much more likely to blow themselves up before getting out of the lab with nitrogen triiodide than almost any other explosive.
Re:Not just meth (Score:5, Funny)
especially fertilizers... they can be used to make rocket fuel! imagine all those farmers engaging in criminal activities all over the world!
think of the children people!
Ammonia bird in a guilty cage
Re:Not just meth (Score:3, Funny)
You forgot the NO CARRIER
Re:Not just meth (Score:5, Funny)
Daffodils are fucking hardcore.
Re:Not just meth (Score:5, Funny)
I'm guessing you don't live in the UK where this kind of reactionary "OMG someone got hurt let's ban something" vote-chasing by our politicians is a daily fact of life.
I do -- but I don't read the Daily Mail.
Re:Not just meth (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Not just meth (Score:5, Funny)
We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... Also, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge, and I knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon.
Sorry, couldn't resist. One of my all-time favorite quotes. :-)
Re:Not just meth (Score:2, Funny)
SHHH You'll give our secret away to the Gorn. Sheesh, loose lips get our starships destroyed by advanced beings
Re:Not just meth (Score:4, Funny)
Nope, that's the ether that causes meth labs to explode.
This is also a problem when modern network equipment burns, as the combusion causes its constituents to separate. Net isn't a big problem, but the Ether given off certainly is.
Some have suggested going back to Token Ring [wikipedia.org] for safety's sake, but while both Toke n' Ring are harmless when separated, paranoia about the former's Cannabis-related uses have stopped the introduction of this potentially life-saving measure.
So instead the proposal is that we go back to Econet [wikipedia.org], running on BBC Microcomputers [wikipedia.org].
What?!!