Are any stores required to report shoppers that have the makings for Methamphetamines in their carts. Mr. coffee filters, Multiple boxes of sudafed, funnels, etc. to the police.
Can you be arrested just for possesion of this stuff?
Assuming the shopper paid cash,exactly what would the store report?
My wife worked at a local hardware chain a few years ago. They had lists of things, that when bought together, would trigger a call to the local police. My wife said she only had to call once, the buyer was on probation for manufacturing meth. The purchase was a violation of his parole and he was arrested.
A friend works in a store and they are supposed to report any purchases of more than 2 of those nasal inhalers. And while I don’t know how, she keeps track if the same person comes back and buys 2 more an hour or so later. This just came up because a well known “cooker” kept coming in, then ended up sending a proxy to buy them. AFAIK the store just refused to sell anymore of the inhalers until the police got it sorted out.
Around here the hot commodity is anhydrous ammonia. It is a common fertilizer, stored in fairly large tank trailers on practically every farm. There is a bust for transporting anhydrous ammonia in the paper at least weekly…
Which makes you wonder…this meth craze must really be big business!
The large grocery chain that I worked for had a lock on the register when someone tried to buy over a certain amount of Sudafed (It is actually any OTC drug that contained the drug I can’t remember what it is right now but someone will be along in a moment to tell us). However, it did not trigger a call to the police. IIRC it was a federally mandated rule.
Googling, I came up with pseudoephedrine. According to a couple of articles it is the only ingredient for meth that can be bought off the shelf.
The retailer that I work for limits purchase quantities at the cash register. We have also changed all of our packaging to blister-paks. I’m sure that this is a minor annoyance, but I doubt that most meth-cookers are really worried about the efficiency of their operation…
The main problem that I see is that people who cannot by more than 3 boxed of pseudoephedrine to manufacture an illegal substance will steal it. We lose boatloads of it.
One interesting note… A local meth lab was busted, and the detectives actually found a receipt. They were able to pinpoint the time, exact cash register, etc. and link with security cameras to catch the guys purchasing their supplies.