# Why are Iodine sales now restricted by the DEA? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 7, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324 "2010-12-07T20:18:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/1 "2010-12-07T20:18:13Z")
Just recently we found that we couldn’t purchase solid Iodine as usual from Sigma-Aldrich and most other chemical providers without the DEA authorization paperwork. So we’re going ahead with the DEA form (it’s not too onerous) rather than pay exorbitant shipping costs from the few providers who will still sell it without the paperwork. What’s going on? Why did the status of Iodine change all the sudden? Will there be some restriction on over-the-counter water purification Iodine tablets too? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/2 "2010-12-07T20:40:27Z")
From [wiki:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iodine) > [@](#): > > In the United States, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) regards iodine and compounds containing iodine (ionic iodides, iodoform, ethyl iodide, and so on) as reagents useful for the clandestine manufacture of **methamphetamine**. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/3 "2010-12-08T02:16:21Z")
I’ve no idea how easy amphetamine is to come by, but I can easily see a pathway to methamphetamine from that using iodine compounds. Really, what they need to curb methamphetamine production, is more restrictions on the purchase of pseudophed by cold and allergy sufferers. Colds and allergies are really just symptoms of meth withdrawal, and there is absolutely positively no way to make meth without pseudophed (exept for the method I just came up with which undoubtedly, meth dealers could never ever ever think of.) ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/4 "2010-12-08T02:49:11Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > Colds and allergies are really just symptoms of meth withdrawal,… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/5 "2010-12-08T03:00:47Z")
Blake, do you hear a loud whooshing noise? ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/6 "2010-12-08T03:11:29Z")
It’s not a whooshing noise when you hanging on the flagpole horizontal in the wind. FTR, I consider the criminalization of psuedophedrine to be the stupidity thing in the the world. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/7 "2010-12-08T04:18:44Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > Colds and allergies are really just symptoms of meth withdrawal.. This is not true. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/8 "2010-12-08T04:22:23Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Blake, do you hear a loud whooshing noise? He can’t because he has a cold and is too congested to hear anything clearly. If only there was a safe and effective and readily available treatment… ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/9 "2010-12-08T04:57:35Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Blake, do you hear a loud whooshing noise? I do now. I have been involved in several recent threads where people said things just as crazy as that in all seriousness. It only was the poster’s history that lead me to be quizzical rather than wasting effort rebutting the claim. Remember, no matter how crazy a claim is, somebody has probably espoused it seriously on these boards. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/10 "2010-12-08T04:59:02Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > He can’t because he has a cold and is too congested to hear anything clearly. > > If only there was a safe and effective and readily available treatment… Except for that hypertension thing… psuedophedrine is not a totally benign drug. It can cause hypertensive crisis in susceptible individuals. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/11 "2010-12-08T06:20:35Z")
You know, I’m pretty sure water is used at some point in the manufacture of meth. (You do need to _water_ those little blue flowers, after all…) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/12 "2010-12-08T15:53:41Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > You know, I’m pretty sure water is used at some point in the manufacture of meth. > > (You do need to _water_ those little blue flowers, after all…) I think there is a thread somewhere that turned into a discussion of whether a certain Alaskan law makes table salt illegal since it is a salt of HCl and thus (apparently) can be used in making meth. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/13 "2010-12-08T21:23:54Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > Really, what they need to curb methamphetamine production, is more restrictions on the purchase of pseudophed by cold and allergy sufferers. Colds and allergies are really just symptoms of meth withdrawal, and there is absolutely positively no way to make meth without pseudophed (exept for the method I just came up with which undoubtedly, meth dealers could never ever ever think of.) This is General Questions, can you at least put a 😉 somewhere to indicate your less-than-sincere intent? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/14 "2010-12-08T21:39:35Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > You know, I’m pretty sure water is used at some point in the manufacture of meth. > > (You do need to _water_ those little blue flowers, after all…) I swear to Gawd, **Derleth** , if you’re using my good Corningware to cook meth in again, I’ll tan your hide. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/15 "2010-12-08T21:57:04Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I swear to Gawd, **Derleth** , if you’re using my good Corningware to cook meth in again, I’ll tan your hide. You have to admit, though, the residue added a certain something to the lasagna you cooked last night. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/16 "2010-12-08T22:52:09Z")
meh, i can also make an explosive out of iodine and ammonia, we used to do it in high school when lab got boring and we couldn’t find the sodium. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/17 "2010-12-09T00:51:03Z")
Last weekend I had to report a burglary at my lake place. When the sheriff arrived to take my statement, I noticed him looking at the gram scale and assorted chemicals on my kitchen counter: potassium permanganate, powdered aluminum, iron oxide, and glycerine. I explained simply: backyard pyrotechnics. I guess he was OK with that. But he told me that KMnO[sub]4[/sub] is used in production of meth. I didn’t know that. I’m kind of glad he didn’t see my brand new container of lye that I’m going to use to make soap. I _did_ know that lye is used in making meth. Explaining away one ingredient wasn’t bad. Two might have been dicey. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/18 "2010-12-09T01:01:05Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > meh, i can also make an explosive out of iodine and ammonia, we used to do it in high school when lab got boring and we couldn’t find the sodium. And that shit is highly UNSTABLE. Like spontaneously unstable. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/19 "2010-12-09T01:11:11Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > And that shit is highly UNSTABLE. Like spontaneously unstable. [Indeed.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KlAf936E90) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324/20 "2010-12-09T16:25:28Z")
> [@Rysdad](#): > > Last weekend I had to report a burglary at my lake place. When the sheriff arrived to take my statement, I noticed him looking at the gram scale and assorted chemicals on my kitchen counter: potassium permanganate, powdered aluminum, iron oxide, and glycerine. > > I explained simply: backyard pyrotechnics. I guess he was OK with that. But he told me that KMnO[sub]4[/sub] is used in production of meth. > > I didn’t know that. > > I’m kind of glad he didn’t see my brand new container of lye that I’m going to use to make soap. > > I _did_ know that lye is used in making meth. > > Explaining away one ingredient wasn’t bad. Two might have been dicey. Now I’m thinking of starting a new GQ: Is there any chemical NOT used to make meth. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-iodine-sales-now-restricted-by-the-dea/563324.md?page=2)