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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."
I want to say something about this, something clever, something snarky...but I'm at a loss. I mean, this is a facepalm of such epicness it is nearly unfathomable.
That's okay because the kind of man who would seriously use a word like "snark" in a sentence is probably wearing a dress.
It's a word like "snookums" that lovers might whisper to each other trying to be cute but that's about all. It just sounds gay. I know you Europeons don't realize that just like you don't understand that pizza should not be boiled but there you go.
He was supposed to pay $1200 for a license to handle this chemical and refused.
Paying for the 'license' keeps this chemical out of meth labs... how?
He was asked to keep tabs on who bought the product to the extent that he would report "suspicious" bulk purchasers. He refused.
It doesn't sound like he was 'asked', since when he refused, they forbade him the chemical. Asking implies that you have the choice to say yes OR no.
The DEA asked him for proof that he has security where his product is made to keep people from stealing the active ingredient.
Don't you think he might start worrying about security if he starts getting this stuff stolen?
...doesn't want to deal with the government bureaucracy...
The bureaucracy that requires him to pay money, add security that he doesn't seem to need, and force him to snitch on customers?
> Bob Wallace is a drug dealer. (...) If you don't agree with me, you may not have seen first hand the damage that meth does.
Well said, captain logic!