Large-Scale Methamphetamine Manufacture

8.0 Keeping Out Of Trouble

If one can observe all of the following tips, one might be able to retire to a legal occupation with a good head start.

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  Work alone and keep your mouth shut. This is the most important advice this writer can pass on, and the most difficult to follow. It is tempting to share one's secret success with one's closest friend, perhaps even inviting him to help. Unfortunately, he feels compelled to tell his wife, who is secretly planning to leave him for a stockbroker and wants some leverage to facilitate her stripping your friend of all his assets. Well, you get the picture. One can crow all one wants, as I am in this document, once one has disposed of both product and equipment.
  
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  Do not talk business on the phone. Do not even call to make an appointment to talk. Every phone call, even local calls, are logged. Each log contains the originating phone number, the destination phone number, the time the call was originated, and the completion time. From this seemingly innocuous record, Inquisition Agents can weave a pattern of times, places, and connections that will look bad in court, even if fictitious. One can establish secure communications using PGP encryption software and anonymous remailers.
  
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  Never, ever, ever try to sell product while a lab is operating. This is like juggling rattlesnakes - it's easy to get bit.
  
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  Don't make this a career. All of the career dope cookers are in prison. Decide ahead of time how much dope you want to make, plan it carefully, do it, and then retire. Think of it as a temporary thing one is doing to get a leg up in life. Keep in mind that your first mistake will also be your last. There is no glory in becoming a headline, only grief.
  
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  Acquire and store all of your essential chemicals, supplies, and equipment before trying anything. This is the most dangerous activity, legally speaking, one will perform. If one attracts some heat, one can wait it out without having an operating lab to conceal. Keep in mind that the drug inquisitors do not have the time to hang around where there are no labs to busts or assets to seize. After a few months they will go away.
  
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  Use intermediaries to acquire chemicals, telling them you are just an intermediary also. Never tell anyone what you are doing.
  
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  Never front product. Once one fronts product, one is assuming all of one's customer's risks. One is better off flushing product down the drain. At least it can't come back to bite. Do not trade for stolen property or phony money.
  
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  Don't listen to your non-chemist customers on quality issues, no matter how emphatic or convincing they are. Users quickly build a tolerance for the product and feel the product is no longer full strength. In addition, many users grow to enjoy the jolt received from impurities present in much of the present street product. This jolt is not present in pure meth.
  
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  Always act like an ignorant, low-paid middleman who has to pass messages on to his superiors. This allows one to feign ignorance on all quality issues or money disputes and agree with one's customer. It also provides one with bargaining leverage, allowing one to claim that one's puny cut will be gone if the price goes lower.
  
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  Never flash cash or start buying expensive items not in fitting with one's usual lifestyle. If one is renting, rent a nicer place or buy a modest house. Buy used cars and repair them to perfection instead of new, flashy cars. Invest the profits in stocks, T-bills, and other liquid assets. Go into a legal business and live happily ever after, knowing that one has successfully defied the Inquisition and struck a blow for individual freedom