Propane tank aleet

[Tango]

ATTENTION -- Propane Tank Alert

Meth cooks are getting  the propane tanks from the exchanges at Wal-Mart,
Kroger, gas  stations, etc. and emptying them of the propane.  They  are
filling them with anhydrous ammonia (which is used in their  meth recipe).
After they are finished with them, they return  them to the store.

They are then refilled with propane and  sent back for you and me to buy.

Anhydrous ammonia is very  corrosive and weakens the structure of the tank.
It can be  extremely dangerous when mixed with propane and hooked up to  our
grills, etc.

You should inspect the propane tank for  any blue or greenish residue around
the valve areas.  If  it is present, refuse to purchase that one.'  If  you
suspect you already have one of these tanks, don't touch  it.  Notify the
fire dept, DEA, or HazMat Emergency  Response Unit immediately for
disposition.

Check out the  following website for more details.  They also have pictu  res
showing what contaminated tank valve might look  like.

http://www.npga.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=529

Recommend  widest dissemination of this  notice!!!

[RAIDER14]

Here is a news story about the problem it includes information about it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akVyDq5fM1U

[Rondar]

One nice reason to live on a farm in rural america.  I can fill my own propane tank from my own house tank.  Small town, 800 people and whole county is approx 1500 population.  Not much gets by without everyone knowing.  And people just cant wait for something to talk about.

[culero]

One nice reason to live on a farm in rural america.  I can fill my own propane tank from my own house tank.  Small town, 800 people and whole county is approx 1500 population.  Not much gets by without everyone knowing.  And people just cant wait for something to talk about.

Yeah, or just buy new tanks and visit the local propane and propane accessories store (its what I do).

If ya have any issues, just ask for Hank

[SD67]

I really do not know why they waste their time...
The reason anhydrous ammonia is used (there are other solvents, but it is by far the easiest to use for the Birch reaction) is is reactive metals like sodium or lithium is dissolved in it to create an electron pool. This then reduces the primary amine, in this case Psuedoephedrine or ephedrine to methamphetamine by removing the alpha hydroxyl group. This requires a very strong reaction since the bond is extraordinarily strong.
By storing their anhydrous ammonia in a container with a brass valve they are doing 2 things. a) They are significantly reducing the power of the reaction because the ammonia will be contaminated with ions from the brass which has dissolved into it, this will reduce the amount of reactive metal it can dissolve and directly affect the success of the reaction, seriously affecting the quality of the final product. b) They are putting their lives in grave danger because they ammonia WILL dissolve the brass fitting and it may well fail causing a sudden purging of the tank effectively killing anyone who is further than a few seconds from an exit.

[Xargos]

Scary! 

[Jackal1]

Nice of them to be on top of this since the anhydrous craze has been over for a few years.

[ZetaNine]

thankfully I am a complete BBQ snob...and I absolutely refuse to BBQ with anything other than charcoal.

[SD67]

I don't know Jackal, despite it's complexity (It's not rocket science but it's pretty easy to stuff it up) it was all the rage a few years back when the Birch became the "trendy" way to manufacture. It is now seeing a resurgence because the easier to use chemicals are becoming harder to procure. People are stealing the anhydrous from farms where it's used to treat soil, then apart from the primary precursor drug they can then get the rest of the things they need either directly or indirectly from Wally world. It's a bit of a worry since it's comparatively one of the more dangerous methods. The act of tapping an anhydrous ammonia tank at a farm at night in itself is pretty dangerous. One slip and you run the risk of being inundated with lethal fluid at -33�C that will, if it doesn't cover you, in which case you're instant history, quickly kill you unless you can get a significant distance from the source. Stuffing up the reaction itself can cause sever cold burns, suffocation from ammonia gases or an explosion from the solvents used to keep the ammonia from evaporating in the reaction vessel.
Nasty business.

[Meatwad]

Need to add a chemical to ammonia that when it is mixed with meth ingredients, it becomes lethal and kills the meth user

[SD67]

Nice idea, but unfortunately it would probably make the ammonia useless to farmers.
Anything they put in can be cleaned out. You would not believe the amount of time and research that goes into bypassing the preventative measures applied by pharmaceutical companies by the clandestine chemist community.
It'd be pretty much a futile gesture.
I've probably forgotten more about manufacturing amphetamines and their precursors than most of these so-called "cooks" ever knew. It can be made from scratch from toluene with little more than a basic high school laboratory. All the controls and blockers and inhibitors put into the pharmaceutical drugs used to source the precursors from can be fairly easily bypassed. Hell if it comes right down to it, the primary precursor can be made by anyone by the bucketload using a process exactly the same as brewing beer.
The only way to fix the methamphetamine issue is to legalise and legislate it. Take the control out of the hands of organised crime and then the situation will improve. Drug related crime will drop dramatically, street dealers and drug rich gangs will almost disappear.

[Jackal1]

In my area organized crime has little to do with the meth business. Organization of any kind has little to do with it. 
Seems like everyone and their dog is into either manufacturing or sales. The anhydrous factor doesn`t exist here anymore enough to be mentioned. It was over years ago for the most part.
Quicker and easier ways have taken over.

[SD67]

No most of the small labs are far from what could be termed as "organised"
I'm amazed many of them get more than one reaction done before they become a street party.


BTW Jackal...
Did you get "the package"?

[Xargos]

I can see a Hells Angels Clubhouse from my front yard.  With their eight foot high chain-link fence toped with barbwire and block building with boarded up windows, which have gun slits.  Enough said.

[FiLtH]

LOL Kelly!