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88-Year-Old Inventor Hassled By the DEA
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."
Also, make sure there's no Los Pollos Hermanos close by.
http://dilemma.gulecha.org - My philospohical short film.
Iodine isn't available without a license from the DEA.
Not here, or here, or even here.
In fact, I can only find 32 results in the first web site I thought to look in.
Looks like the system works!
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.
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
Why should it be nameless?
Because "triiodide" is extremely awkward to say.
I explicitly release the above into the public domain.
Both can cost you an arm and a leg.
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.
Daffodils are fucking hardcore.
It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
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.
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. :-)