Polar Pure Maker Can't Buy Iodine

[BJStuart]

Thought some people might find this interesting:

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

"The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and state regulators say druggies can use the single ingredient in [Bob Wallace's] "Polar Pure" water purifier -- iodine -- to make crystal meth."

"Wallace said the new rules ordered him to pay a fee, get permits, and keep track of buyers. But his iodine distributor -- warned by the DEA -- won't sell to him."

[Jeff]

Interest article...Polar Pure is "collateral damage" and no longer available to hikers.

[Spokes]

All the better reason to switch to AquaMira.

[Just a Hiker]

Hikers couldn't ever find Polar Pure because Meth Lab criminals were going to Outfitters along the trail and buying it all up. Meth has gotten so bad here in NE Tennessee, that a person can't even buy Cold Medication without a police escort.

[Fiddleback]

I ran into this here in the Missoula region about five or six years ago. Iodine had been pulled from the OTC shelves at the local WalMart and I had to go to the pharmacy window to order some. They took a bunch of personal data and then they took some time to get it into their pharmacy. They called about three days later to tell me it was ready for pickup. Had to show ID, etc. to get it into my hands.

That was for two small 1oz bottles. Curiously, the local farm and ranch store still had pint bottles of the same stuff on their shelves. I haven't checked since then but I imagine that's gone too.

FB

[ekeverette]

i don't understand... how do you convert iodine into meth?, or is it just one of the ingredents that you use to make the stuff?

[bfayer]

Iodine is just one of many ingredients in a long list.

I guess that means Coleman fuel, lithium batteries, and Draino are next then. They are not going to solve the meth problem by making my life difficult. They need to start seriously hammering the cookers and users and leave the rest of us alone.

Until then I will just have to live with a stuffy nose, short bettery life for my GPS, and buy a new plunger :)

[ALLEGHENY]

Is it all iodine or only the crystal iodine? I just bought some Betadine 10% povidone-iodine no problem.

[Odd Man Out]

i don't understand... how do you convert iodine into meth?, or is it just one of the ingredents that you use to make the stuff?

Iodine is used to make hydroiodic acid with red phosphorous. This is needed to convert pseudophedrine or ephedrine to methamphetamine.
The iodine doesn't end up in the final product. It is the reducing agent.

Don't worry that I might be teaching something someone how to make this stuff. It's all on-line. The basic chemistry is covered in the Wikipedia page (but not step by step instructions).

[Tabasco]

Iodine is just one of many ingredients in a long list.

I guess that means Coleman fuel, lithium batteries, and Draino are next then. They are not going to solve the meth problem by making my life difficult. They need to start seriously hammering the cookers and users and leave the rest of us alone.

Until then I will just have to live with a stuffy nose, short bettery life for my GPS, and buy a new plunger :)

or just legalize it all. release the non-violent drug crime inmates. prohibition didn't work with booze and it sure ain't working with the war on drugs either.

[Sarcasm the elf]

or just legalize it all. release the non-violent drug crime inmates. prohibition didn't work with booze and it sure ain't working with the war on drugs either.

Oh, if only this were a different message board...


Is it all iodine or only the crystal iodine? I just bought some Betadine 10% povidone-iodine no problem.

I was curious about this myself, does anyone know the answer?

[Tabasco]

Just ask Walter White

[Iceaxe]

This is really sad.
I met Bob Wallace and his wife at their "factory" in Saratoga as I live nearby.
He is about as friendly and mercurial personailty as you could ever meet.
He built all his own equiptment to package, label and bottle Polar Pure.
This is not as simple as putting iodine crystals into a bottle.
He silkscreens the label and instructions onto the glass bottles and exposes them to ultraviolet light to cure them so they can never rub off.
He also built equiptment to dab a phosporous thermometer onto each bottle so the user can determine the proper dosage for the given temperature.
I asked him why he bothered to go to all the trouble and not just print out an instruction sheet.
He looked shocked and said that paper instructions get thrown away. It is impossible to lose instructions printed on the very glass bottle that contains the product.
Just so this is clear, I have two bottles of Polar pure right here and it is almost impossible to scrape the silkscreened instructions off with my knife.
At 20 bucks per bottle and each bottle making up to 2000 liters safe to drink he never was getting rich off his product. It was a labor of love for he and his wife. They made a product in their garage with their bare hands.
Here is a direct quote from Bob Wallace when i saw him last year: "Heck, a bottle of polar pure lasts so long the only way i sell a second bottle to the same customer is if they break the Dam thing."
Before i left Bob's Polar Equiptment "Factory" (house) he tried to pawn off a bunch of old stuff laying around on his front porch.. Quite a character!

[Pedaling Fool]

This is a good example of the govt going too far in its attempts to save people from themselves. At some point we just gotta let idiots kill themselves.:mad:

[Pedaling Fool]

This is a good example of the govt going too far in its attempts to save people from themselves. At some point we just gotta let idiots kill themselves:mad:

[moytoy]

This is a good example of the govt going too far in its attempts to save people from themselves. At some point we just gotta let idiots kill themselves.:mad:
I agree with you but there are problems with letting them kill themselves. Meth labs are dangerous to anyone around the lab including children. Huge fire danger in those places.

[bamboo bob]

if it was legal only the users would kill themselves and labs would be in factories. The War On Drugs is a scam to increase jobs for cops and sell cop gear. No more use than the previous War On Beer.

[bamboo bob]

if it was legal only the users would kill themselves and labs would be in factories. The War On Drugs is a scam to increase jobs for cops and sell cop gear. No more use than the previous War On Beer. 

[Fiddleback]

Without getting into the right or wrong of the war on drugs, i.e., should drugs be legal, the war itself has been fought wrongly. If you truly want to shut down a black market (basically what the illegal drug trade is) you go after the customers (users), not the suppliers. Increase pressure on the providers and you raise the price of the supply and the potential to make money (increased risk leads to a bigger potential payoff). But start hammering the users the demand and the lure to use starts to drop.
My bottom line, punish the users at least as much or more than the suppliers. The rub, of course, is there are so many users from nice families...including those that make the laws... :rolleyes:
FB

[d.o.c]

^this....................

[d.o.c]

thats a pretty ignorant statement fiddleback

[Fiddleback]

thats a pretty ignorant statement fiddleback

The way to fight black markets..? That's pretty much simple economics.

None the less, let's not emulate Congress and instead keep the discussion civil and mature if we want to keep it going.

Happy Thanksgiving,

FB

[Mags]

While the stopping of Polar Pure is hiking related article, lets not get too deep into the WOD debate. Ok? No good will come of it.


Happy Thanksgiving all...

My homemade pies are baking for dinner later today and the gear is packed for an outdoor outing from Fri-Sat.

:)

[handlebar]

I'd suggest everyone on Whiteblaze, pct-l, cdt-l, etc. contact R. Gil Kerlikowske, Director of National Drug Control Policy, using this URL: http://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/contact.

Express your concern that this policy will/has effectively put the maker of PolarPure out of business. Incidentally, I believe the reason REI doesn't carry AquaMira is that one of its ingredients too can be used to cook meth. I doubt Mr. Kerlikowske has any idea of the unintended consequences and would expect the very least he can do is arrange for one of his staff to assist PolarPure in meeting the overreaching requirements that the bureaucrats have undoubtedly put in place.

[Lion King]

it wouldnt matter if we all stood outside the DEAs door. for the most part they are just another link in this considerably lengthening chain of fear mongering and hypocrisy to gain control of the stupid people.

its time to slip them a mickey :D

[tdoczi]

This is a good example of the govt going too far in its attempts to save people from themselves. At some point we just gotta let idiots kill themselves:mad:

i of course agree 100% but also find it funny that when the discussion was whether we should let idiots kill themselves by going hiking in supposedly dangerous conditions, you said no we shouldnt.

[Lion King]

I never filter or use any chemicals anyway, so this has no effect on me. lol
I hate that good people are getting screwed by the man again though

[JAK]

Is it true that boy scouts are only allowed to use manufactured stoves, and are not allowed to use homemade stoves. Read that in wikipedia. That seems pretty messed up to me. I can understand that many homemade stoves were pretty dangerous, like the old buddy burner, but that shouldn't stop boy scouts from learning important skills, and safety lessons, by making their own stoves.

Not suggesting they make their own drugs. Just alcohol stoves, and maybe alcohol. lol

[Pedaling Fool]

i of course agree 100% but also find it funny that when the discussion was whether we should let idiots kill themselves by going hiking in supposedly dangerous conditions, you said no we shouldnt.I'm drawing a blank, can you link the post?

[tdoczi]

I'm drawing a blank, can you link the post?

i may be thinking of someone else, it was related to the discussion of the GMNF closure order.

[No Belay]

While the stopping of Polar Pure is hiking related article, lets not get too deep into the WOD debate. Ok? No good will come of it.


Happy Thanksgiving all...

My homemade pies are baking for dinner later today and the gear is packed for an outdoor outing from Fri-Sat.

:)Have a great Thanksgiving Mags and hope you get some fresh snow for your jaunt.

Savor Happy!

TaTonka

[ATN]

Essentially shutting down a fine example of entrepreneurship and one of those politically-championed 'small business owners' with a real American-made product is truly a disgrace and those behind such actions should indeed be ashamed of their inability to combat the real bad actors with any semblance of effectiveness.

That being said, the real danger of the cottage industry drug problem to most interested here would be the 'labs', caches, or marijuana gardens themselves and the very by-products they generate and pollute with, as mentioned previously. The Forest Service in recent years released several alerts over warning signs and dangers of said illegal labs and gardens and this in fact is my primary concern over some areas I visit here in east TN, east KY, WV, etc.

The Boone National Forest and its fragmented ownership leap out as a significant example of a place that entices visitors like us but not without significant danger of water contamination from toxic chemicals that no filter or feasibly portable treatment could overcome or worse yet, booby traps or other perils of war which might be the last thing one would expect to find on a pleasant hike in a less traveled area near to the trail.I personally have encountered boards studded with rusty nails laid across trails, old bear traps, improvised laboratory ware leaking into technicolor puddles, deadfalls, barbed wire snares and freshly made camps of obviously non-hiker caretakers who may have stepped out for a moment or a day.

This problem is not something you can set aside in your mind as a self-limiting loop which will consume users and suppliers on its own, as the waste streams they produce both human and environmental are broad.

Link from the Ottawa NF from 2010, since the most recent AT-covered GW/J NF link escapes me:

http://bit.ly/sXGDwp

[atraildreamer]

I guess that means Coleman fuel, lithium batteries, and Draino are next then. They are not going to solve the meth problem by making my life difficult. They need to start seriously hammering the cookers and users and leave the rest of us alone.

Automatic, no appeal, death penalty for all drug producers, smugglers, users and the people who fund the operations. :eek: Shoot down/sink the planes/boats used in the transport of the stuff.:eek::eek: Execute any survivors.:eek::eek::eek: Send the military after the cartels that are attacking across our borders. Show no mercy. :eek::eek::eek::eek:

BTW, I am really a nice, usually gentle, easygoing guy.:confused: I just hate the illicit drug trade and hope that the powers-that-be will eventually grow a pair and go after these people that are destroying our nation. :mad:

[Fiddleback]

Automatic, no appeal, death penalty for all drug producers, smugglers, users and the people who fund the operations. :eek: Shoot down/sink the planes/boats used in the transport of the stuff.:eek::eek: Execute any survivors.:eek::eek::eek: Send the military after the cartels that are attacking across or borders. Show no mercy. :eek::eek::eek::eek:

BTW, I am really a nice, usually gentle, easygoing guy.:confused: I just hate the illicit drug trade and hope that the powers-that-be will eventually grow a pair and go after these people that are destroying our nation. :mad:

The 'War on Drugs' is what we have after 40 years of such emphasis.

Since the Nixon Administration we have devoted billions to the interdiction of drugs and persecution of the smugglers. The result is obvious and has been obvious for decades; increased drug flow into the States, domestic development of alternative and more potent drugs (e.g., higher strength strains of marijuana in CA), drug farms on our public lands leading to assaults on those trying to enjoy those lands, multiple law enforcement casualties, extreme violence on and crossing our borders and in our cities, diversion of our military resources to civil crime problems, the growth and strengthening of cartels followed by the destabilzation of multiple governments, rising popularity and spread of alternative drugs, on and on and on. Do a Google search on the economics of black markets and you'll find virtual unanimous agreement; harsh opression of black markets, i.e., actions like that above, results in stonger, more wide spread, more violent suppliers among other undesirable unintended consequences. If one believes certain drugs should be 'illicit' and should be 'stopped', then one must hit demand at least as hard as supply. Programs must make drug use unacceptable and high risk. Governments must penalize the user harshly. To concentrate only, or as lop sided as we have, on supply only increases the profit potential of the successful suppliers and motivates them to ever increasing extremes to supply their product. And, of course, keeps the demand at a high level encouraging those suppliers to keep on keepin' on.

When the Congress woman's son goes to prison, when the Presidential candidate becomes a convicted felon, when most civil rights and personal freedoms are lost because of convictions for drug use then demand will start to drop. There will be no change...no progress against the illicit drug trade...without an emphasis on attacking demand.

If one wants to maintain the 'illicitness' of illicit drugs.

FB

[Mags]

The 'War on Drugs' is what we have after 40 years of such emphasis.



Further posts will be edited. Plenty of forums to discuss the WOD.

This ain't it.

thanks.

[malowitz]

This is too bad. I switched to Polar Pure in Franklin in 2010 and used it the rest of the way north. It worked out well and it didn't taste bad. Loved being able to just add it and let the bottles "treat" while I hiked on.

I didn't even realize it was being manufactured in Saratoga (I grew up between Albany and Saratoga).

[malowitz]

I was at the NOC outpost in Gatlinburg this past Saturday. They still had 2 bottles of Polar Pure on the shelf.