Posted on 01/04/2012 10:16:29 PM PST by MamaDearest
One of Illinois' new laws requires consumers to reach for their identification as well as their cash when they have a clogged drain.
The law that took effect Sunday requires a valid identification to buy products containing chemicals listed within the Federal Caustic Poison Act in concentrations that require the warning "causes severe burns" on the packaging. Targeted substances include hydrochloric and sulfuric acids.
Purchasers also must sign a log with their name and address.
"We're looking at Drano, Liquid-Plumr -- those are the big ones," Rep. Rich Morthland, R-Cordova, said.
The law was proposed after acid was used as a weapon to cause disfiguring injuries, according to the Illinois Senate Republicans' website. State Rep. Morthland said he heard committee testimony from victims of such attacks whose horrific injuries required multiple surgeries.
Rep. Morthland said among those testifying was Esperanza Medina, of Chicago, who had acid thrown in her face in 2008 and suffered burns over 25 percent of her body.
State Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, and state Rep. Pat Verschoore, D-Milan, noted some chemicals on the list also can be used to make methamphetamine.
All three legislators said they did not like placing restrictions on residents or businesses, noting they believe most people use the products safely. They said they voted for the measure for the sake of public safety, either to minimize the potential of attacks or to make it harder for people to make meth.
Rep. Morthland said that the measure also got his vote because state groups representing retail merchants and the chemical industry got behind it. There will be an adjustment period, Rep. Morthland said, but people should be able to get used to it.
"If people use these products in a proper way, they won't have any problems," said Sen. Jacobs, who added the business community helped create the law. If the law proves to be overly burdensome, it can be changed, the legislators said.
Initial versions of the law were quite restrictive -- encompassing just about anything in the plumbing and cleaning aisles -- but the scope was narrowed, said Brad Babcook, director of legislative affairs for the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois.
The final version applies to items such as industrial-strength clog removers with substantial concentrations of lye or cleaning products containing hydrochloric acid that can clean chimneys, pavements and sidewalks, he said.
Butch Trevor, owner of Trevor True Value Hardware in Moline, said he had to figure out which products he offers are included in the law. Research let him build a partial list, he said. But he said he still had to spend hours taking a census of his other items.
"From my perspective, it's been a nightmare," he said.
Failure to comply is a business offense under to the law with fines up to $150 for the first violation, $500 for the second and $1,500 for the third and any subsequent violations within 12 months.
Mr. Trevor said people wanting to misuse the substances likely still will find a way to circumvent safeguards. He said he has heard some grumbli>g from customers, but there is not much choice right now. "If they need a drain cleaned, they are going to buy the product," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
What does the law cover?
-- Hydrochloric acid and any product with a free or chemically unneutralized version in a concentration of 10 percent or more.
-- Sulfuric acid and any product with a free or chemically unneutralized version in a concentration of 10 percent or more.
-- Nitric acid or any product with a free or chemically unneutralized version in a concentration of 5 percent or more.
-- Carbolic acid, also known as phenol, and any product with it in a concentration of 5 percent or more.
-- Oxalic acid and any product with a free or a chemically unneutralized version in a concentration of 10 percent or more.
-- Any salt of oxalic acid and any product with such salt in a concentration of 10 percent or more.
-- Acetic acid or any product with a free or chemically unneutralized version in a concentration of 20 percent or more.
-- Hypochlorous acid, either free or combined, and any product with the same in a concentration that will yield 10 percent or more by weight of available chlorine.
-- Potassium hydroxide and any product with a free or chemically unneutralized version, including caustic potash and vienna paste, in a concentration of 10 percent or more.
-- Sodium hydroxide and any product with a free or chemically unneutralized sodium hydroxide, including caustic soda and lye, in a concentration of 10 percent or more.
-- Silver nitrate, sometimes known as lunar caustic, and any product with silver nitrate in a concentration of 5 percent or more.
-- Ammonia water and any product with a free or chemically uncombined version, including ammonium hydroxide and “hartshorn,” in a concentration of 5 percent or more.
Source: U.S. Government Printing Office.
There is always a problem locally that justifies further restrictions on freedom. Perhaps if you read the law more carefully you will notice that a lot of the chemicals now tracked are useful in the manufacture of weapons as well as meth. Does that change your thinking any?
I agree with the posters above who say this is nothing but a way to curb clandestine drug manufacture. I guess now the only question that remains is how many laws and restrictions are required or desired in a supposedly free society that would virtually stop such clandestine drug manufacture. At what point of relinquishing our freedoms are we free of illegal drug use but still a free people? Oh, and before I forget, lights out after the random searches. See you all at roll call.
Meantime, the 'border invite'stands. Adios, America. . .(don't know how to say 'same' in Arabic; but may; soon enough.)
I know you're right and I have had a hard time putting up my argument.
I have encountered 3 different labs in my construction / rehabilitation carrier and have had the unfortunate opportunity to stumble upon one with a baby strapped in a car seat.
It really sours the soul and has a life changing impact on a person like you or me, one that I hope you never have to experience.
Meth Sucks! I hope you never have to find out how much it destroys
Cheers Freeper Mycroft!
We are just inmates and it appears, guilty until proven innocent, and even then, we criminals must be strictly controlled.
Brave new world...
"Show me your papers or I'll taze you... ...hmmm... seems you have an overdue library book, we will remove your children from your home...."
I have this terrible habit of clogging my drain and losing my ID on election day.....
Well, at least I can vote.
Customary 6.75% laundry bleach does not meet that strength.
I must respectfully disagree. The legal restrictions you seem to approve of have merely caused the producers of the poison to move laterally. In order to eliminate the producers of the filth, you must remove their CUSTOMER BASE.
Education is the answer to this plague. To try and “legislate away” the poison is to ENCOURAGE those who would pollute us with this utter plague. Prohibition CANNOT work, yet here we are again!
Destroying the producers by ostracizing and shaming the users is the only way to deal with this.
SHAME may be out of vogue, but it is still useful among those of us who still value family. Those who resist the reality of their choices WILL die of their own hand, with we who TRIED valiantly to show them the error of their ways wholly absolved of the responsibility of their poor choices.
It may sound harsh, but reality is not exactly the most gentle of mind-states.
You can only try to help someone for so long. After a while, you realize that they are bound and determined to destroy themselves, and all you can do is watch.
I recently had a very close friend self-immolate with booze. It was far slower than what meth does, so don’t lecture me. I also happen to work at a large hospital. I have seen things that you would never sleep again had you been there. Ask anyone you know that works in an ER about dopers. Heck, ask anyone in the HOUSEKEEPING department of any hospital about what they have to deal with.
Much as I’d like to see “thoughtfulness and love” cure these people, the only thing that MIGHT work is good, old-fashioned tough love. Anything less insults them, and they know it. They care about NOTHING but their drug.
It’s the “Love all” ideal that has created this monster, and only the REALITY A**H**E stands a remote chance of slowing it down. Stopping it is yet another dragon.
I have long advocated for restoring this kind of judgment to doctors and pharmacies with the same kind of controls and supervision normally expected for any other medication. So woes associated with "moonshine meth" are simply not applicable to such a discussion.
I have spent 25+ years of my life providing ID and signing to buy laboratory equipment and chemicals so that some moron won't make crack pipes. I have news for you. I have a neighbor who makes drug paraphernalia (lovely stuff really, qualifies as art glass). He gets exactly none of his supplies from places where he has to sign for them. I suppose that you could regulate the sale of colored Pyrex glass and inconvenience all of the art glass folks as well in your quest for a drug free society.
Regulations only annoy the law abiding but they do provide good government jobs for union hacks. I suppose that there is some social good to come of it.
Why should that matter in the libertarian pie-in-the-sky utopia? Aren’t all humans granted the right to arms? What if its my happy to blow things up?
What right does government have to deny my right to happy? Is it government’s jurisdiction to ogre itself into threatening me with the what-if oops? And so dangerous - must be outlawed - right?
If I’m reading you correctly, you’re saying that local government could plausibly restrict gun possession / ownership in the interests of greater public / social peace.
I have no other understanding of your statement other than plausibly your willingness to subject yourself to rules established by an elected ruling body of like-minded citizens.
I propose herewith: that we establish a society whereby Mitt Romney - and the likes of which - shall be now and and hereevermore forebidden. Those individuals proposing pluasibles, or otherwise sychophancy, shall be run out of town on the fever tree-rail (ungreased).
No, I don’t think you are reading me correctly.
You "deal" the cards out at the register and another form of invented job market retrieves your stuff.
I don't know how it gets to your car ... I awoke to type this.
(This fantasy brought to you by the real-life adventure to get a box of "BRONKAID" pills to help battle my "chronic bronchitis .. the kind that's sweeping the nation. A card in the "cold and flu" section sent me to the parmacy (wait in line) for it. I asked "why?" and was told "so people can't make drugs out of it"
Seriously folks, I asked the lady to repeat that and looked hard at her, and asked her to think of the words she just used and she said, "What?" .. )
Nonsense.
OK, so just about every house in the country has a bottle of this stuff. What’s the point?
How about a 30-day waiting period before you can unplug your drain? Or concealed Drano carry permits?
This has to stop.
The liberals continue on their quest to make the world completely safe. We want constant, dependable climate, and no danger. Everyone please stand still while we tweak a few things, and then it will be perfect. We will sacrifice all liberty, all originality, all creativity, all independence for the sake of safety and security. We must be protected from ourselves. As Monk would say, “You’ll thank me later.”
Acetic acid is on the list. i.e. vinegar. Brilliant. Just brilliant.
I thought this article would be about Congress and the White Hut.
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