Hairyjoe, I cannot tell you exactly "what happens", I am not from the USA and my judgment on the environment there is mediated. There has been an acticle on related issues some time ago, at The Hive, which is down. I won't be "bad Lagen" this time so I am including the full text of that article further into this post. I will provide some info here on how it works in my country, as I am more familiar with that. The following is my translation of a post from a Czech explosives forum, so please excuse possible awkward language...
<BLOCKQUOTE>SNIP ...
The tendencies over the past several years have shown a rather reasonable trend to adopt European legislation in the area of controlling and monitoring the flow of certain chemicals. This necessity is a logical consequence of the quite real threat that people would start manufacturing nuclear weapons in their homes. It has been proven that pervitine (a methamphetamine manufactured locally from ephedrine on a large scale) is increasingly saturating the Western markets and that certain hard drugs from Western Europe on the other hand penetrate the Czech territory more and more seriously.
From the practices of terrorist groups like IRA (Semtex) and more notably Ohm-shin-reekyo (sarin) it became obvious to most governments that counteraction was necessary. This gave birth to the philosophy of "precursors", i.e. substances that can be used in the manufacture of explosives, chemical weapons and drugs. This philosophy has arrived to the Czech Republic as a result of extended contacts with Interpol, which has even trained numerous Czech chemists working for the former Czechoslovak criminal police. They have been instructed on the various common procedures of drug manufacture and the "fingerprint" scheme used to investigate which lab, chemist and process was involved in the production of a particular drug.
In certain developed countries there is already a common practice requiring that chemical dealers sell materials designated as "precursors" to renowned chemical businesses only and still every transaction is reported to criminal police. The police records the transaction in their database and as soon as the computer finds it likely that a certain individual has accumulated the necessary makings for some goody, the policemen will go to see him and check his good health. Individual countries still differ in their legislation regarding precursors, but many common solvents and, for obvious reasons, acetylation agents are always listed.
Even final products showing biological activity which lend them the character of drugs are freely associated with the precursor lists. This is a difficult area to cover by any legislation, since a taxative listing of substances sets any law enforcement agency well back behind dealers with the so called "designer drugs", who update their range constantly with newly designed products showing the desired activity while still unknown to the police. Individual countries adopt different attitudes to the problem. In the Czech Republic this area is covered by the Bill on the International Control Regime. ...
BIG SNIP
... The simplest criterion to tell if a particular substance can be sold freely, is determined by the so called "Lists of additional codes of the Harmonized customs List of Numeric Nomenclatures". Every chemical can be more or less precisely assigned to a certain item in the international list used to classificate all trade items upon crossing country boundaries. The additional codes determine whether the substance can be handled freely or under restrictions. The restricted substances and mixtures thereof are subject to trade licenses, quotas, registration, inspections and a drastic tightening of the regulations for waste disposal. The Numeric Nomenclatues are specified in the version of the List of Additional Codes published in the legislation journal ("Sbirka zakonu" in Czech) valid to the date. Fortunately there is professional software available, accredited at the respective ministries and customs offices, which can assist in classification of a certain product with respect to the cathegories set forth in the valid legislation or a Regulation related to the Customs Bill, valid to the date.
The law enforcement recognizes the following cathegories of controlled substances: exceptionally toxic substances, narcotics, psychotropes, precursors and accessory substances, other poisons and carcinogens, hazardous materials, nuclear material, radioactive material, pharmaceuticals and hazardous waste. It should be noted that among the items which are subject to licensing for crossing the border are such "common" substances as sulfuric and hydrochloric acids, potassium permanganate, benzene, toluene, chloroform, carbon tet, methyl iodide, ether, acetone or acetic anhydride. The controlled substances and products and admixtures containing them, are registered upon manufacture or import, and during trading or using them proper evidence must be maintained. An increasing emphasis is being put on waste disposal documentation. It is beneficial that the GLP/GMP guidelines, the requirements of ISO9000+ and ISO14000+ require documentation of both inputs and outputs. What an uninvolved observer may consider as bureaucratic fuss, is usually a bare requirement of the law, which sets forth the allowed manner of manipulation and use of a particular substance and what documentation must be associated with the manipulation. Chemists, who wish to preserve their former "privilege" to handle certain controversial substances, must obey these rules too. This is the only way to temporarily suppress certain political pressures (initiated by chemical laymans) to completely ban certain substances, as mentioned earlier in this post (well, snipped).
The recent developments prove that the law enforcement is aware of the difficulty of defining the terms from this area. Therefore the government cooperates with experts from universities, the Academy of Sciences and the Czech Chemical Society for consulting and commenting on future legislation so that it fullfills its purpose and at the same time avoids banning chemicals per se. ...</BLOCKQUOTE>
So, I am pretty sure that the "recording in the database" thing and centralised checking of the combinations is in effect here. A list of suspect persons surely exists too and is cross-checked against the precursor list. Over here you can get on the list not only by purchasing something, but also through suspicious activity on the Internet. (Also please read my piece on this in \misc\cro3.) So, I am constantly asking myself about every possible "suspicious" combination (like oleum, nitric acid, toluene) the same question - which substance have I purchased with the provision of personal data? Can I purchase this or that and showing my ID without it forming a suspicious combination with something I got three years ago? It is slowly driving me paranoid and I guess the only way to counter this will be writing some SW equivalent to the pigs' one.
Another thing you must watch out for here besides combinations are controlled substances of which the possession alone is a serious offense. If you, for example, get a substance like potassium dichromate, or sodium azide from a chem supplier by deception ("I know Mike, he usually orders for our company, you surely know him, now we have a deadline for this experiment on Monday, could you deliver it to my home address instead?") and if they sell it to you, the police WILL knock on your door. At least the supplier will want to cover their own ass after they realize what happened. This IS true: A few years ago, one chem supplier company disappeared after I ordered sodium azide (a big quantity) from them. After a LONG time I got a strange mail from them saying like "Hold on, we're still processing your order, but we need you to reconfirm it in writing..." I believe the pigs sent that. I didn't respond and nothing happened. I was real stupid until that time, and needless to say, this experience scared the shit out of me. Maybe in a few years I will get charged or something. I was lucky, because I didn't get the stuff, and they will have a hard time trying to prove I wanted to do something illegal with it. But should the police have been more clever and "sold" it to me in the first place... You must also refrain from publicly saying anything about any such substance that would link you to it.
Here's the Hive article:<BIG><BLOCKQUOTE><PRE>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Buying Chemicals, Glassware and Lab Equipment
By Igor
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This first part won't be of any use to the non-Americans, but there are
probably enough American bees out there to keep it from being a waste of
time. I hope that a lot of people can benefit from the "how to buy" parts
in the second half of this message, no matter what their nationality. On
with the show!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WHERE THE PIGS ARE
The US federal regulations relating to the purchase of chemicals and laboratory
equipment/glassware are not difficult to find, but more than a bit ambiguous
when you do find them. I've been surfing the web for a few days now, and have
found many interesting things. Some of you probably know this stuff. Others
probably don't. For those that don't, here's my compilation:
First, let's look at what the DOJ means by List I and List II chemicals.
This is in 21USC Sec. 802. That's the US Code, and you can search and read it
yourself at http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aaces002.html. (http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aaces002.html)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the US Code, current as of 1998:
(33) The term ``listed chemical'' means any list I chemical or any list II
chemical.
(34) The term ``list I chemical'' means a chemical specified by regulation
of the Attorney General as a chemical that is used in manufacturing a controlled
substance in violation of this subchapter and is important to the manufacture of
the controlled substances, and such term includes (until otherwise specified by
regulation of the Attorney General, as considered appropriate by the Attorney
General or upon petition to the Attorney General by any person) the following:
(A) Anthranilic acid, its esters, and its salts.
(B) Benzyl cyanide.
(C) Ephedrine, its salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical isomers.
(D) Ergonovine and its salts.
(E) Ergotamine and its salts.
(F) N-Acetylanthranilic acid, its esters, and its salts.
(G) Norpseudoephedrine, its salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical
isomers.
(H) Phenylacetic acid, its esters, and its salts.
(I) Phenylpropanolamine, its salts, optical isomers, and salts of
optical isomers.
(J) Piperidine and its salts.
(K) Pseudoephedrine, its salts, optical isomers, and salts of optical
isomers.
(L) 3,4-Methylenedioxyphenyl-2-propanone.
(M) Methylamine.
(N) Ethylamine.
(O) Propionic anhydride.
(P) Isosafrole.
(Q) Safrole.
(R) Piperonal.
(S) N-Methylephedrine.
(T) N-methylpseudoephedrine.
(U) Hydriodic acid.
(V) Benzaldehyde.
(W) Nitroethane.
(X) Any salt, optical isomer, or salt of an optical isomer of the
chemicals listed in subparagraphs (M) through (U) of this paragraph.
(35) The term ``list II chemical'' means a chemical (other than a list I
chemical) specified by regulation of the Attorney General as a chemical that is
used in manufacturing a controlled substance in violation of this subchapter,
and such term includes (until otherwise specified by regulation of the Attorney
General, as considered appropriate by the Attorney General or upon petition to
the Attorney General by any person) the following chemicals:
(A) Acetic anhydride.
(B) Acetone.
(C) Benzyl chloride.
(D) Ethyl ether.
(E) Repealed. Pub. L. 101-647, title XXIII, Sec. 2301(b),
Nov. 29, 1990, 104 Stat. 4858.
(F) Potassium permanganate.
(G) 2-Butanone (or Methyl Ethyl Ketone).
(H) Toluene.
(I) Iodine.
(J) Hydrochloric gas.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(back to igor)
That's it for the definitions of what constitutes a List I or a List II
chemical. Analysis of further information follows.
- Wholesalers/retailers are required to obtain a DEA permit if they are going to
be selling any listed chemicals. The DEA is, not surprisingly, particularly
uptight about primarily mail order businesses. In order to get a permit a
business owner must fill out an application for a DEA permit specifically
listing the controlled chemicals he or she wishes to sell. This application is
sent to the main DEA office for processing, and if it is pre approved then a DEA
agent will visit the owner/company to review the application, evaluating the
personality, facilities, professionalism and abilities of the owner/company, and
advising the owner/company about potential hazards and problems with selling the
listed chemicals. After all this, the DEA still has to approve you; it doesn't
mean that you're going to magically get a permit.
- A company should never apply to sell listed chemicals that do not directly
relate to their stated business; they can, but the DEA will look long and hard
before approving it. The fewer listed chemicals you want to sell, the better off
you are. Also, there are more than a few stupid people who apply for permits
just so they can buy ephedrine (or whatever) to divert for personal use. Very,
very, very bad idea. A DEA agent on the West Coast told a friend that this is
not uncommon, and that the DEA will see right through you. It's one of the
things they're looking for when they do their little pre approval interview.
- They seem to focus heavily on PPA, ephedrine and pseudoephedrine in their
regulation of precursors. This means that they care a lot about methamphetamine
(perhaps because it's cheap to make and so immensely popular in this country),
but don't seem to be quite as tuned in to the manufacture of other amphetamines
or phenethylamines. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT THEY WON'T BUST YOU FOR MAKING MDMA,
MESCALINE OR 2C-B!! They will, and they'll probably send a dozen jackbooted and
heavily armed thugs to harass you while the guys in protective suits are walking
around bagging your hexamine and two gallons of sassafras oil (what the FUCK
were you thinking when you bought that, anyway?) All I'm saying is that I think
you're safer if you don't try buying any of the List I or II chemicals,
ESPECIALLY ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and PPA. There are regulations regarding
the quantities that dictate when something should be reported. If you're small
scale then you probably won't hit these thresholds in a month anyway, even with
List I stuff, but don't push it. No sane person would sell List I's to you
anyway, and they would quite reasonably be very careful about List II stuff.
- Distributors are REQUIRED BY LAW to report any suspicious activity or
purchases. The government has no specific regulations on exactly what
constitutes "suspicious," but the DEA suggests the following as a starting
point. From the DEA's DMCA FAQ at
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/programs/diverson/divreg/divchhp.htm: (http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The reporting of a suspicious order is required by the Controlled Substances
Act and is of primary importance to DEA in limiting the availability of listed
chemicals in the illicit traffic. Each regulated person is most familiar with
its customers and the circumstances surrounding the orders it processes. The
chemical industry must use its best judgment in identifying suspicious orders.
The following are provided in order to assist the industry in identifying
suspicious orders:
1. An individual who desires to pay cash and wants to pick up the chemical(s).
2. An established customer who deviates from previous orders or ordering methods.
3. A new customer or unfamiliar representative of an established customer who
orders listed chemicals.
4. A customer who has difficulty in pronouncing chemical names.
5. A customer who is vague about its firm's address, telephone number, and
reason for desiring a listed chemical.
6. A customer who wants a listed chemical shipped to a post office box or
address other than the usual business address.
7. A customer who prefers to pay by cashier's check, postal money order, etc.
8. A customer who will not furnish references or who is vague about furnishing
references for credit purposes.
9. A customer who desires listed chemicals for reasons at variance with
accepted legitimate industry practice.
10. A customer who is not a member of a trade, professional, or business
association.
11. A customer who furnishes false or suspicious addresses, telephone numbers,
or references.
12. A customer who refuses or is reluctant to establish a credit account or
provide purchase order information.
13. A customer whose communication either by telephone, mail, or other means is
not conducted or prepared in a professional business manner.
14. A customer who requests unusual methods or routes of shipment or who
provides unusual shipping, labeling or packaging instructions.
15. A customer who purchases unusual quantities or combinations of chemicals or
glassware in contrast with customary practice and usage.
16. A customer whose stated use of listed chemicals is incompatible with
destination country's commercial activities or consignee's line of business.
17. A customer with little or no business background information available.
18. A customer using a freight forwarder as ultimate consignee.
19. The use of intermediate consignee(s) whose location or business is
incompatible with the purported end user's nature of business or location.
20. Evasive responses to any questions, or responses that indicate a lack of
basic knowledge of the industry, or inability to supply information on
whether listed chemicals are for domestic use or export.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As you can see, a lot of stuff can be suspicious. If you're going to buy stuff
from a distributor then don't be a stupid jerk. Meet these requirements so you
won't screw it up for the rest of the people ordering from them. For example, if
you shiftily ask for large quantities of acetamide, and want to pay cash, then a
smart source will report it. (If they don't, and if they OR you are caught, they
could face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison for what the DOJ perceives as
their recklessness.) So they report it, the DEA comes knocking on your door, and
then they might do an audit of the supplier because he was stupid enough to sell
it to you.
Or say you were smart enough to be professional and cooperative with the
chemical supplier, but the DEA busts up your lab and finds receipts (credit card
statement, purchase order, invoice, whatever) tying you back to that supplier.
Well, guess what? You might have just fucked several unwitting bees who were
smart enough to be inconspicuous to the business owner, but who are still on
file at that business as having purchased potentially suspicious chemicals.
Thanks a lot, dumbass. There will be a long line of angry bees waiting outside
your cell to hit you with a lead pipe once you're inside. And I hope that you
enjoy being brutally raped by psychopaths who are mildly bitter about facing a
lifetime incarceration.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MORE ADVICE ON THE ACT OF BUYING STUFF
Many of the chemical/glassware companies that sell to private individuals
realize that some (many?) of their customers are buying stuff for use in
clandestine drug manufacture. They probably don't want to report you. Don't give
them a reason to. In fact, try to make them think that it was insane of them to
ever suspect you in the first place. ("He was such a nice boy!")
Be courteous, knowledgeable and professional on the telephone. Burn your
receipts. Scrape labels off of chemical bottles and burn them, too. Dispose of
containers where no one will ever pay attention to them, like in a dumpster in
the city public use landfill. (But be environmentally conscious at the same
time.) Be smart about receiving chemicals. You know the drill. Don't fuck it up
for everyone else. This is not a joke. By being careless, you could
inadvertently send a bunch of people to jail, not the least of which being the
guy who owns the chemical supply business. See Dick Drug. See Dick Fuck Up. See
Dick Die at the hands of Bubba the Child Molester. Don't be a Dick.
What do I think about buying chemicals? The best advice I've found is by POPeye,
and it is archived at Rhodium's site:
http://www.lycaeum.org/~rhodium/chemistry/popeye.zwit.txt (http://www.rhodium.ws/chemistry/popeye.zwit.txt)
I am totally, irrationally paranoid about being caught, and I usually proceed
accordingly. Here's the trade-off: provide as few clues as possible to your real
identity, but remain inconspicuous. For what it's worth, I might not have any
experience with the actual manufacture of drugs, but dammit, I have bought so
much stuff (some of it suspicious, and some of it from big time suppliers, too,
not just the companies that sell to individuals) that I have a good bit of
experience pulling off my purchases.
All you have to do is apply some common sense to what you're doing, and know
enough about your reputed subject to fool the average person taking and filling
the orders at a chemical supply company. Know how to pronounce a chemical before
you ask for it. Know correct pronunciations of words like "isomer", "carbonyl",
"claisen adapter" and "ketone." This shit comes up. Seriously.
Be able to spout off your SSN, driver's license number, street address, business
name/phone/address, birth date, etc., immediately upon being asked. And don't
just make them up on the spot. Have them (fake or real, whatever) memorized. If
you're picking up in person, print up some business cards and take them along
with your PO and fake ID.
Other things: when purchasing chemicals, don't let on that you know anything
about the processes related to clandestine manufacture. Pick a legitimate area
of organic/medical chemistry or chemical engineering research -- how about
pesticides, improved delivery of orally administered drugs, solubility
variations with temperature and pressure? Know where you got "your" under-
graduate degree and maybe "your" graduate degree. Know when "you" graduated.
And don't pick a big school, either. Pick a smaller university in another part
of the country, because if you don't, then Murphy's Law says that the person to
whom you are speaking will have attended the same big school that you did, and
will ask something about the campus, faculty or town that you won't be able to
answer. Even better, pick some place that you have visited and with which you
are relatively familiar. If you used to date a guy who went to Podunk State
University in Southern Kansas, then PSU-SK sounds like a great chemistry
department for you.
Did you learn a really believable Australian accent by watching Paul Hogan, a
good Massachusetts accent from old videotapes of JFK, or a great Belfast accent
from your granny? Hmm. That might be useful. But if you're going international,
you'd better know something about where "you" came from, then. Referring to a
Scottish or Irish person as English could cause him to put his fist down your
throat. Koreans are not Chinese. Perth is on the west coast of Australia, Sydney
and Melbourne are on the east. People who live in San Francisco will often call
SF "the city" in conversation. Cambridge and Boston are not the same town.
Orange County is not LA, at least not to people who live in LA. Dallas and Fort
Worth have individual identities; people in Forth Worth DO NOT live in Dallas,
and God help you if you think otherwise. The Netherlands is a country, not a
region. Ukrainians are not Russian. Pakistan and India are not the same country.
Be friendly, loose and confident, but don't be too talkative. If you've
volunteered all of this information before they've even asked you to name your
first item, they're going to be suspicious. If it comes up in conversation while
they're processing your order, great. If you can laugh, or you can make them
laugh, great, but leave the subject matter as something that isn't particularly
memorable. Stay away from any kind of conversation about controlled substances,
even if you're just joking around or poking fun at "those fools trying to make
drugs." If they bring it up, say something appropriately disdainful about "those
fools." For example, if you're standing in front of the person, you might roll
your eyes and say "yeah, sometimes I think that the gene pool could use a little
chlorine." Whatever you do, don't take the opportunity to get on your soapbox
and wax poetic about the unfairness of our ridiculous War on Drugs. If you do:
BING BING BING! Red flag. Just hope that they don't call the police while you're
waiting for your acetic acid, 2.5L of hexane, and your condenser.
For walk in purchases, try to be inconspicuous. Wear something nondescript. A
polo shirt and khakis. Button down shirt and slacks with a subtle tie. A fairly
plain sweater and skirt. Try not to have the mascot of the some distant
university on your jacket, or a "I Took Second Place in the Main Street 5K Run!"
t-shirt. If you're going to shave your beard, cut or color your hair, or get new
glasses, maybe this is a great time to stock up on potassium hydroxide, LAH and
hydrochloric acid.
Let's say that, God forbid, you are forced into conversation. (This happens a
lot for walk in business, not so much for telephone purchases.) Little things
mean a lot in conversation, especially if someone wants to be suspicious of you.
DO NOT go looking for conversation. Be polite, be friendly, but get the fuck in
and then get the fuck out. This includes both telephone conversations and walk
in. If you are forced into conversation, and the opportunity is presented, take
an opportunity to mention how many non-standard ground glass stoppers you've
accumulated in the stopper drawer at the lab. Bitch about an incompetent co-
worker. Comment about how the inspection guy came around yesterday to check the
fire extinguishers. Talk about the person you met on the ride up the office
elevator that morning. Complain about how you're going to have to pay $2500 to
have your rotovap replaced because one of the lab assistants pushed it off of
the bench. Praise your graduate advisor for her tireless work in developing
delivery mechanisms for antibacterial drugs. Etc. You get the idea.
Developing a convincing and complicated lie is an art form. Practice. Know your
entire fake life's history before you start using it. If you're married in your
fake life, don't refer to your girlfriend, even if you're not at the same place.
If you played soccer, don't talk about how you hate sports. Be consistent.
So, IMHO, the most important things are:
- Be calm, confident, consistent, professional and knowledgeable.
It's no big deal for you to be buying THF, acetone, chloroform and
250 ml boiling flasks. These are common fixtures in a lab, and you
do this all the time. Really.
- Know what you want. When you're out of something in a lab, you know
what it is, you make a list, and you pick up the telephone and order
it. You don't flip through a catalog going, "and, um, some pentane,
and... let's see, 500g of NaOH, and 50g of LAH... no, make that 250g
of LAH...."
- Spread out your business. If you simply must have all of the stuff to
make a particular drug, and you must have it now, then buy from four
or five different suppliers. This is just as suspicious if someone is
watching you, but the suppliers don't usually communicate with each
other, so they don't know to raise a red flag.
- Don't be particularly memorable. Unless it's unavoidable, keep
unnecessary chatter to a minimum, but don't be brusque, rude or
dismissive. If you do talk, stay calm. Sound like you do in everyday
conversation. As a culture, Americans are very friendly and outgoing.
So are Australians. Canadians and Europeans tend to be a bit more
reserved. Educated people from Georgia are very polite, saying "yes
sir" and "no ma'am." People from New York are more abrupt but still
professional. Fit the mold. Always fit the mold.
- Have documentation. If they ask for your driver's license, you'd
better have one. If they ask for a faxed PO, you'd better have a fax
machine close by. Don't give them everything up front, but if they
want it, don't be a jerk about it. Be prepared.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------</PRE></BLOCKQUOTE><SMALL>
[This message has been edited by Lagen (edited August 12, 2001).]