Wtb: 2 Litre Erlenmeyer Flask

[Wolfy]

In regard to SSAPL (where I got a bunch of my science-supply-stuff).
They are a wholesale/warehouse type place so you can't just show up at the door and buy stuff, it must be pre-ordered (which I do on the phone just before driving there to pick-stuff-up).
However, you don't need to pay in advance, they have credit card/eftpos facilities that you can use to pay when you get there.
They will - of course - also deliver.

Interestingly I purchased a couple of Erlenmeyer flasks from them a couple of weeks ago without additional paperwork, questions or problems, so I suspect the email quoted above was a bit confused about which flasks are restricted.

 

[seravitae]

That email is a fairly generic email that gets sent out to some customers, especially smaller ones. You can think of it as a Pre-EUD document to effectively warn customers as to their rights to purchase.

The list of items on the list are from the PACIA drug diversion catalog which is an opt-in program for reporting certain chemical and glassware sales or attempted sales in order to curb precursor diversion. This is on top of the seperate state/fedral legal requirements.

You will notice that on the PACIA list that most equipment shown there is specifically for quickfit and vacuum equipment. This is because anything with a larger than B19 sockets is usually fairly large glassware that can be used for large volume reactions. Vacuum distillation is an important step in the 'higer purity' street drugs out there which is why rotary evaporators (vacuum style) and round bottom flasks are on the list. Flat bottom flasks like erlenmeyers impode under vacuum so they are not of the same risk.

However, speaking from my role as a chemist, the list is old/outdated and a few things don't make a heck of a lot of sense. However that is most likely because it's hard to change policy and the PACIA/LEO's are always going to be one step behind the drug cooks, who have the liberty of inventing new creative ways to perform reactions.

 

[Jay Cee]

That's crazy. I always knew the time was coming where equipment for brewers would be under scrutiny.

Could you imagine a copper stumbling across a homebrewer's gear following a neighbor's report of strange smells coming from the house next door on weekends. Test tubes, flasks, stir plates, funnels, temp controllers, slant cultures, containers marked as 'crystal', big steel vessels with pumps and hoses locked in by heavy duty disconnects, and a ton of little green things vacuum sealed in the freezer.

 

[hsb]

It really puts the heat on that whole meths lab and keen homebrewer subculture! Tough gigs to combine!

I seem to recall a thread on the US Forums about a visit from the Poleese on suspicion of being up to no good for all those reasons you list.
But in truth it'd take all of 5 seconds to clear up the misunderstanding and be gifting the copper a few homebrews maybe, just keep the Green IPA out of sight. h34r:

 

[Judanero]

Not to mention multiple fridges with wires going into them, immersion chillers, 50L stockpots, vacuum sealers etc etc :unsure:

will never forget the first time the neighbour saw all my brew gear in the garage, you could almost see the cogs in his head turning over..

 

[Jay Cee]

This is the lab depicted in Breaking Bad (for those unaware, a TV show about commercial methampletamine production)

And this is a microbrewery setup from the Flying Horse