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.

[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

[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.

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...
FB

[d.o.c]

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