It's always exciting when you read about someone you know in the news. A friend from college made the local news over the weekend. 

The story seemed a bit overblown and sensationalized, complete with pictures of the Haz-Mat team in their spiffy yellow suits. The reporter lists toluene, dimethylamine, and "caesium hydroxide" as chemicals seized from my classmate's apartment and it was then insinuated that these chemicals could be part of a "makeshift, low-quality methamphetamine operation". Now, I was in class with Billy for many years and his lab skills were top notch. He was one of the more dependable students in lab, held a job in industry outside of school, and was never one who had to be watched over. Billy was a student who had an innate ability to work well in a laboratory setting. It just didn't ring true that he would be part of any low-quality operation, especially when it came to chemistry. 

The overreaction of the police department is understandable considering methamphetamine use has exploded over the past few years. But domestic makeshift meth laboratories have decreased since the passage of the 2006 Patriot Act. Legislation contained in the 2006 Patriot Act limited the sale and storage of over the counter medicines containing psuedoephedrine or ephedrine. Since then, it has been more difficult for domestic meth producers to obtain the preferred ingredient for efficient synthesis of methamphetamine. The chemistry is simple in theory, but dangerous in application. The gap in domestic production has been filled by Mexican drug trafficking organizations, who are more than happy to provide a drug that is so cheap and quick to produce and which is in high demand in much of the country. Now 85% of meth comes from super-labs in California and Mexico.

Pseudoephedrine is remarkably close in structure to methamphetamine.

methamphetamine

pseudoephedrine 

Using pseudoephedrine as a precursor is easy because hydrogenation of the hydroxyl group (the OH) is all that is required to change pseudoephedrine to methamphetamine. Iodine and red phosphorous are required to assist in the hydrogenation. The danger comes from the evolution of phosphine gas, PH3, which is spontaneously flammable in air under certain conditions. Another method of producing methamphetamine is by a Birch reduction using lithium extracted from rechargable batteries and anhydrous ammonia. This method is not much safer since anhydrous ammonia may boil explosively when the reagents are added.

The chemicals allegedly found in Billy's apartment were toluene (a common industrial solvent, found in things like inks, perfumes, dyes, paints, and lacquers), dimethylamine (a gas at room temperature, used in the manufacture of detergent soaps or as an attractant for boll weevils), and cesium hydroxide (corrosive, but used as a catalyst in polymerization reactions of cyclic siloxanes). None of the listed chemicals sound any more dangerous than things any one of us could purchase at a hardware store. I don't know what Billy was doing with these chemicals, but manufacturing methamphetamine seems highly unlikely.

It is known that drug use is a great problem in society. The use and manufacture of methamphetamine is especially troublesome. The side effects to the users are unpleasant.

The medical and dental costs to treat meth addicts are high. And cleanup of just one makeshift lab can cost law enforcement around $2000 or more. Meth lab explosions present a danger to the amateur drug makers and their neighbors.

 Despite the 2006 Patriot Act, methamphetamine continues to spread and instead of being a mom-and-pop production, it has now become an underground industry, a source of income to fuel criminal organizations. Drug policy in this country has failed to prevent the spread of drugs and has led to the incarceration and leveling of criminal charges against otherwise law-abiding people. Drug laws are filling our prisons, wasting our money and doing little to stop the use of illegal drugs.  

Billy seems to have been caught up in the hysterics associated with our drug laws. I seriously doubt he was trying to synthesize any drugs. I still had his cell number from when we were in school so I sent him a text to make sure I wasn't going to have to bring him cookies in prison. He said he was okay and the whole thing was blown out of proportion. The newspaper did not accurately report the chemicals he actually had which helped to sensationalize the story. Much of what he had is commonly available at hardware stores. He seemed annoyed at the inconvenience and as I suspected, he found the most upsetting thing to be that the paper reported he was running a "low-quality" operation. "If I was doing illegal chemistry, it would be done well, dammit!" 

Drug arrests are not only inconvenient, but life destroying. It can hinder one's ability to become employed and affects one's ability to qualify for student loans. In the event someone with a drug record wants to improve his or her life, the arrest record is a ball and chain that must be carried along with them on their uphill journey to a normal life. I hope my friend will be alright and not face serious charges. 

I also hope that the next administration rethinks drug policy in this country. Few people see drug offenses as crimes requiring incarceration. Addiction should never be treated as a crime in the same way that assault is treated as a crime. The legalization of drugs would eliminate the black market that persists no matter how many billions of dollars are thrown into the War on Drugs. We will never see any kind of victory without more sensible policy.