Clerk Convicted Of Selling Meth Ingredient (10 Bottles of Cold Medicine Could Bring 10 Years)

The Oklahoman ^ | Oct. 2, 2003

[Wolfie]

CLERK CONVICTED OF SELLING METH INGREDIENT

ENID -- A convenience store clerk has been convicted of selling an over-the-counter decongestant used to make methamphetamine. Claude Allen McFalls, 70, sold 10 bottles of cold medicine to an undercover police officer at Mac's Mart No. 1 in Enid. He was convicted Wednesday of unlawful sale of precursor substances.

McFalls could face up to 10 years in prison.

McFalls testified that he did not hear most of what Sgt. Kevin Morris said to him during the sale last August. The clerk said he would not have sold the pills if he understood the officer intended to use them to manufacture methamphetamine.

Morris said McFalls initially refused to sell him more than five bottles of pseudoephedrine tablets, even though he complained he could not cook up much dope with that many pills.

"I said, 'It's kind of hard to make meth when you can only get five bottles at a time,'" Morris said.

McFalls eventually consented to sell Morris another five bottles if he went out to his car for a few minutes then re-entered the store, the narcotics officer said.

Selling pseudoephedrine is not illegal unless the seller knows it is intended to be used for manufacturing methamphetamine.

McFalls was one of seven people arrested Aug. 22, 2002, on charges of illegally selling pseudoephedrine.

McFalls' sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 2.

[CSM]

I would have never even known this law existed. I worked through college as a clerk in a party store. I would have definitely fallen for this one. This is just another example of how soon we will all be criminals and easier for the JBT's to rule!

[dfwgator]

"Can I buy 10,000 marbles please?"

[tioga]

Serious waste of time....what ever happened to good old fashioned speed traps to amuse the cops with? That old guy sounded like a real hardened criminal to me....NOT!

[Wolfie]

Here's another example from Missouri. Laws like this have been springing up all over.

[olivia3boys]

Just last night I was at Long's Drugs and asked how much cold medicine I could buy. I have 3 children that get colds a LOT during the winter and I like to stock up so I never run out in the middle of the night.

The clerk didn't know; he said the cash register alerts him when a customer is trying to buy "too many."

I bought $80 worth of medicine last night; 10 big bottles I think.

[TXBubba]

McFalls eventually consented to sell Morris another five bottles if he went out to his car for a few minutes then re-entered the store, the narcotics officer said.

This doesn't sound like he was hard of hearing.

[CSM]

My work server is restricing access to that site.....

With these laws being passed, soon we will see the approved government stores selling cold medicine. Or major taxes on it so that the only people that can afford it will be the dealers.

[Wolfie]

Here's some exceprts:

Tough Restrictions On Cold Medicines Become Law

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. ( AP ) -- Some of the nation's toughest restrictions on the retail display and sale of certain cold and allergy medicines were signed into Missouri law Tuesday in an attempt to crack down on methamphetamine production. The legislation targets over-the-counter medications containing pseudoephedrine, a decongestant that is also a key ingredient in making the highly addictive and illegal stimulant methamphetamine.

Under the retail display law, medicines with pseudoephedrine as the sole active ingredient would have to be kept behind a counter or within 10 feet of a cashier, or be tagged with electronic anti-theft devices. One such medicine is the brand-name decongestant Sudafed.

There also will be limits on how much pseudoephedrine could be bought in a single transaction.

A maximum of two packages, or 6 grams, of medicine with pseudoephedrine as the sole active ingredient could be bought at one time. For medicines containing pseudoephedrine plus other active ingredients, the single-purchase maximum would be three packages, or 9 grams.

Those provisions also would be among the toughest in the nation. North Dakota enacted a two-package limit on pseudoephedrine medicines earlier this year and prohibited sales to anyone younger than 18.

[robertpaulsen]

"Laws like this have been springing up all over."

State laws, though. Correct?

You don't have a problem with each state setting their own drug laws, do you?

[Wolfie]

Not at all. But they're still stupid laws. And setting up a 70 year old store clerk is reprehensible.

[FreePaul]

so they set up a 70 year old hard-of-hearing guy?

It's a lot safer than taking on a real drug lord. Also it's apparently a lot easier to get a conviction.

[Wolfie]

Textbook entrapment, and a new low all in one.

That won't get much play here, unless he had sold them to Rush.

[tacticalogic]

"Stupid" and "unconstitutional" mean different things, and it is quite possible to take exception to both, for different reasons.

[weegee]

I'm sorry, I can only sell you one six pack of beer at a time. Anything more than that and you or one of your buddies could get drunk and then get in a car accident and "I'd" be responsible...

[Blood of Tyrants]

And now a 70 year old man faces 10 years in prison for not enforcing stupid WOD laws for the police.

[weegee]

If 5 (or 10) boxes containing pseudoephedrine is a "dangerous threat to society" then why not just make it a prescription only medication? Regulating quantity sold is not much different than regulating all sales of pseudoephedrine.

[robertpaulsen]

Bartender: I'm sorry, I can only sell you one six pack of beer at a time a certain number of drinks. Anything more than that and you or one of your buddies could get drunk and then get in a car accident and "I'd" be responsible...

True?

[auggy]

"McFalls eventually consented to sell Morris another five bottles if he went out to his car for a few minutes then re-entered the store, the narcotics officer said. This doesn't sound like he was hard of hearing."

Do you think he actually heard the part about him making drugs with this stuff? Until, now, I would have wondered what the hell the guy was talking about making drugs. That is, if I had heard him say it. I'm hard of hearing my self. Lotsa times I just agree or whatever, when I don't full hear what someone has said. I get tired of, I know they do too, of saying, "HUH", all the time.

The old guy probably didn't know what he was even talking about.

[Gunslingr3]

"What can we do...?"
"Kill them! Kill every last one of them!"

[DonQ]

We don't know for sure how hard-of-hearing this 70 year old was, but if he's like most people his age, in a store environment, etc., he probably thought "it's kind of hard to make meth with only 5 bottles" was instead "it's kind of hard to play medic with only ..."

After all, cold and flu season is starting, and some rural Oklahoma households have several children and can only make shopping runs once a week or so, so buying more than five bottles of cough syrup at one time would not be very unusual.