Teen with Home Chemistry Lab Arrested for Meth, Bombs

Teen with Home Chemistry Lab Arrested for Meth, Bombs

io9.com

A Canadian college student majoring in chemistry built himself a home lab - and discovered that trying to do science in your own home quickly leads to accusations of drug-making and terrorism.

(visit the link for the full news article)

A few days later, police admitted that Casey's chemistry lab wasn't a meth lab - but they kept him in jail, claiming that he had some of the materials necessary to produce explosives.

Before 9/11 this sort of incident would have never happened. These days however, anyone interested in chemistry can pretty much forget about home labs.

This is definitely up there on my list of signs we are devolving since apparently you can only practice science in an approved lab using approved equipment and expecting approved results.

Way to kill ingenuity, creativity and curiosity of and in science.

We should be real proud of ourselves.

io9.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 28-12-2008 by warrenb]

lol the question is once again was it legal?

If it was illegal the person who sold him fertilizer should also be in jail for aiding a fugitive or some similar charge that might apply.

After all if a crack dealer tells a cop he suspects Jane is trying to make crack because he sold her the equipment to do so I promise Jane would not be the only one arrested.

What are these people stupid? If buying fertilizer makes you a possible terrorist then why are they selling it in the first place?

Oh gee he's not making meth and he loves science and chemistry so much, not only is he going to school for it, he has also created his own little chemistry lab in the garage.

20 years ago: "Oh how cute your gonna make your parents proud one day, maybe you'll even win an award. Keep up the good work!"

Today: "Oh noes JimBob he's makin' drugs get em!", "Oh noes it wasn't drugs, wait a minute, fertilizer? Isn't that what was used in Oklahoma to blow up that there big building! He's a terrorist JimBob Throwe the book at this little punk!"

Tomorrow: "Hey you there! What you buy that for!?"
"I needed to fertilize the ground so I can grow crops."
"Grow crops what you think were stupid boy? Everyone knows food is made in a factory not in the ground! JimBob it's fertilizer he's a terrorist sympathy seeker get em!"

Edit: I should point out that fertilizer is also used to make smoke bombs which are pretty neat and work great as bug repellent. However if you don't know what your doing ya you can blow yourself up in a worse case scenario.

[edit on 28-12-2008 by Darthorious]

Originally posted by Darthorious
wait a minute, fertilizer? Isn't that what was used in Oklahoma to blow up that there big building!
.....
I should point out that fertilizer is also used to make smoke bombs which are pretty neat and work great as bug repellent. However if you don't know what your doing ya you can blow yourself up in a worse case scenario.

Hmm, sounds to me like you know too much about bomb making lol..
Sorry couldn't resist

Yeah it's pretty sad that the authorities are so hyper-sensitive.
I still remember Bush's speech after 9/11 when he said that America won't change. Yeah right...

Originally posted by yizzel

Originally posted by Darthorious
wait a minute, fertilizer? Isn't that what was used in Oklahoma to blow up that there big building!
.....
I should point out that fertilizer is also used to make smoke bombs which are pretty neat and work great as bug repellent. However if you don't know what your doing ya you can blow yourself up in a worse case scenario.

Hmm, sounds to me like you know too much about bomb making lol..
Sorry couldn't resist

Yeah it's pretty sad that the authorities are so hyper-sensitive.
I still remember Bush's speech after 9/11 when he said that America won't change. Yeah right...

I wanted to make a smoke bomb to get rid of the mosquitoes for a while out on the farm during a planned family BBQ.

It called for a specific ingredient in the fertilizer and I couldn't find anyone selling it, I was told wal-mart use to sell it so I went there. They told me they stopped carrying it.

I then decided to see if I could substitute something else for it but couldn't find anything. So I decided to read up on it and try and figure something out to make the smoke bomb work.

Turns out the fertilizer was removed from most shelves because it was the same brand Timothy McVeigh used in his bomb.

Then I come to find out that making a smoke bomb with that recipe you could blow yourself up if you didn't follow the instructions to the letter. At that point I just bought some bug repellent and said aw screw it.

reply to post by Darthorious


Funny, every time I fire up the BBQ there's always more smoke then fire. See I could of helped you out there

But yeah, you got to feel sorry for this kid...

the fertilizer today has very little of the chemical left needed for these bombs,,, because of okc,,, at least that what i've come across on reaDING ABOUT okc-----

okc a great conspiraCY,,, one many should look into more,, many interesting and weird facts and happenings

Oh yeah. Well, I have a similar story. My son (he is 11)has a Chemistry set. He had it out on the kitchen counter one day doing an experiment. The UPS asshole shows up and delivers a package.

He sees the chemistry set and raises an eyebrow, but says nothing. The very next day a friend of mine from the sheriff's office shows up and says "I here you got a meth lab right on your kitchen counter!" Then he laughs and said the under sheriff (a long time acquaintance) laughed too, but told him to come out and tell me not to leave that stuff out because the UPS/FedEX assholes think they are double knot spies since the PAT ACT.

It is a bit like the kid that built a working nuclear reactor in his garden shed!

en.wikipedia.org...

He got away with it until a China Syndrome broke out and he could not stop the reaction.

To Me, being a biochemistry major at a california university this is a slap in the face. Chemists are the future for this world and to falsly accuse an enthusiastic student for something he loves to do is just wrong.

LET ME TELL U I HAVE ALSO THOUGHT OF BUILDING MY OWN LAB AT HOME. its a great step in excelling past classmates in school and is a way of conducting the experiments done in lab at school, in your own home. i will tell u, sometimes things get mixed wrong, ingredients not added and what not causing an intire lab period to be wasted over one minor mistake. mistakes are common esspecially for learning chemists. to have a home lab saves time and gets a student prepared for what to do in lab. if i was able to do the lab at home IN MY OWN LAB, i would be more prepared for the lab at hand and more skilled in the equipment that is used

LET ME PUT THIS STRAIT! ITS NOT LIKE THE KID HAD THE SPECTROSCOPY TO ACTUALY IDENTIFY COMPOUNDS IN HIS SUBSTANCES. THINGS LIKE MASS SPECTROMETERS, GAS PHASE CHROMOTOGRAPHY, LIQUID CHROMOTOGRAPHY, INFRARED, OR UV VIS, SO MASS PRODUCTION OF PURE SUBSTANCES COULD NOT HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED.

reply to post by csuskatechem420


The main problem with all this is the fact that egotistical prosecutors are not interested in protecting the public. All they want to do is get more and more high profile prosecutions under their belt so they might someday get to DC and become a high stakes player. Anyone and everyone they step on beres the full weight of unlimited money to make sure you loose in court. The average person in a high profile case such as this can't compete finacialy with the government. Courts are no longer used to protect, they are used to stomp on anyone brave enough or ingenious enough to try to buck the system!

Zindo

Originally posted by ZindoDoone
reply to post by csuskatechem420

 

The main problem with all this is the fact that egotistical prosecutors are not interested in protecting the public. All they want to do is get more and more high profile prosecutions under their belt so they might someday get to DC and become a high stakes player. Anyone and everyone they step on beres the full weight of unlimited money to make sure you loose in court. The average person in a high profile case such as this can't compete finacialy with the government. Courts are no longer used to protect, they are used to stomp on anyone brave enough or ingenious enough to try to buck the system!

Zindo

Amen!

I guess we need to arrest the PHDs running labs at colleges. They obviously have the ability to produce explosives.