pip
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chemical acquistion
i want to begin some experiments with my new glassware how do i find a real way to know if somthing i wish to order is "a good idea" ie is this
compound going to get my house raided i have nothing to hide as i am doing nothing illegal but guns to the face and a distroyed house is no fun. like
pyridine i heard this is hot but it comes up all the time as a solvent in the liter quantities should i order like 6 liters to make one order or
should i order 6 times 1 liter? i don't really need 6 liters but more like 3 but there is allways loses in synthesis and having extra is never bad.
also i need hydroquinone is this harmless or no?
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ScienceSquirrel
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Mood: Dogs are pets but cats are little furry humans with four feet and self determination! 
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Can you try and rephrase your question?
Using capital letters, punctuation and paragraphs in the right places would be lovely and try and order your thoughts.
PS: Stream of conciousness type writing is fine in post modernist fiction but generally frowned upon in science 
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Baphomet
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Pip who cares? If you have nothing to hide then order whatever you need.
Raids are only done after they have gathered clear evidence of illegal activity. So someone snitched on the manufacturer, or he placed a stupid order
for something that has a very red flag.
Like, I don't know, safrole..
\"Who ARE you? You\'re like the drummer from REO Speedwagon - nobody knows who you are\" from \'Employee of the Month\'
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zed
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Don't imagine innocence is an adequate defense. You don't want uninvited company.
Your average door smasher isn't a chemist. They come, they take everything, and they arrest you. Later, hardly impartial government chemists, test
your stuff and study your notes. They have vivid imaginations, and are not above stretching the truth a little bit.
It's best to keep a low profile.
Sometimes though, the boys may just drop by for a little chat. This chat could result in your being arrested, or not.
It has not been unusual for the FBI to make "social calls". I used to have several friends that were subject to such "drop ins".
One was known to have extensive knowledge of explosives, another had been in Special Forces. The FEDs liked to keep tabs on these types of guys.
They just wanted to be reassured, that the boys were not planning on vaporizing the Golden Gate Bridge.
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Baphomet
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Well if you were distilling something, or had a pile of white powder in a watchglass when they came in, something like that would most certainly
result in arrest. Even if it was innocent.
But my main point is that usually before it's gets to that level the cops have testimony and/or recorded conversations, records of orders for
suspicious items, etc. It is probably exceedingly rare for genuine chemists to be raided on suspicion of manufacture.
Your friends do not have a legal obligation to allow those "drop ins". But if there is nothing to hide it makes sense to keep our friends in law
enforcement happy.
\"Who ARE you? You\'re like the drummer from REO Speedwagon - nobody knows who you are\" from \'Employee of the Month\'
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kalacrow
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Hmm. I'll have to disagree here.
I know of one person who was engaged in essential oil work (for perfume fragrances). He was very much an auto didact (In other words, he didnt have a
degree in chem, but he taught himself from books and audited a few lab courses at his local college.), and had, over time, setup a nice lab and had
been doing a lot of work playing with those things perfumers normally play with.
Just so happens some of those things (reagents, glassware, etc) look like drug things.
So, he gets a "visit" from the authorities. He has "nothing to hide" so he shows them his lab. One drug wipe later he is in cuffs, trying to explain
that the wipe is a false positive because of some oils and byproducts of his oils work. He spends a few days in the cooler before he gets a bail
hearing and makes bail. In the meantime, they have turned over his entire house looking for drugs.
many thousands of dollars and months later, he is out, has his stuff back, and a verbal apology for the inconvenience. He said to me "I am so lucky
those guys didn't plant something..I was really worried they might, but my wife and lawyer watched them like hawks."
And oh yeah, they broke about $500 in glassware "accidentally".
There are many other reasons people want to keep a low profile that have nothing to do with drug manufacture. It may sound like conspiracy theory to
some, but I would much rather spend a few months synthing, and buying everything possible for cash than have to spend $$$$$ and hassle with the legal
system like this, let alone the potential of a dirty cop planting something to get a collar.
And yes, it CAN happen.
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organicchemstudent
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kalacrow your exactly right, alot of the time in my search for "harmless" chemicals i find so many references for using them for drugs. It's Pathetic.
Sometimes an "innocent" person can order lots of drug making chems without even realizing it. But you can not blame L.E. for trying to crack down on
them druggies. damn druggies
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kalacrow
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I could care less about the "druggies" actually. The only thing that drug prohibition has done is drive the production underground. The more they
"crack down" on casual producers, the more the money goes to the big guys who can afford to divert a few metric tons of sassafras through their
contact in Indonesia.
The more they "crack down" on chemicals, the more drug production goes to the larger producers, since they OWN chemical companies. It will not EVER
stop drug distribution. There is too much money in it.
The net effect of this is to make it impossible for people to enjoy chemistry in their home labs, and has in fact caused people to suspect anyone who
even has glassware. Which is ridiculous, since I remember clearly getting my first chemistry set and loving it, and nobody cared about the glassware.
And that set had some listed chemicals in it.. a KIDS chem set.
Thats what ticks me off. Its not the casual producers that have caused this. It is the Powers That Be who've decided to make laws to make it appear
they are "doing something" when in fact they are having little to no net effect on drug use or production. So people like us, who are interested in
organic chem, get screwed over because we want a DANGEROUS chemical like Sodium Iodide.
Eesh. What's a guy have to do to purify a ketone? Bisulfite? The NaI process is near qualitative and a lot simpler but we can't get it because we're
not a "legitimate user". Buh? What happened to the innovative spirit?
Oh and I love that they've "listed" hydrogenation apparatus...man.
Apologies for the politics.
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