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I Am A ex-meth cook.
I went to prison twice for manufacturing methamphetamine. My two numbers are 450-261 and 379-552. I'm sober, won custody of my 5 year old from his mother and I will be graduating college in a year with a BS in geology. AMA. Edit: I'm getting off my computer for a while. I'll come up with a few more good stories when I get back on. Thanks to all for the questions, Feel free to DM if you are an addict or know one and just need to talk. EDIT: if you want to know if I am who I say I am then ask the mod, I've already provided him the proof by way of ID and my indictment papers from the courts. These crimes are both over 10 years old. Lastly, if you feel the strong urge to tell me how I'm glorifying drugs then READ THE THREAD.
furbiesandbeans471 karma
I understand an obscure geology pun on Reddit. I guess the geology classes were not a total waste of time.
hankthepidgeon1111 karma
What's wrong with your child's mother that she lost custody to a twice-jailed former addict?
The tone sounds harsh, but I'm honestly curious. Your story seems like the kind that would hold someone back greatly from such things.
Dubbs3301231 karma
Because everyone can change if they try. The judge who gave me my son because he saw I was honest with who I was and who I am and his mother wasn't as forthcoming.
SuperSmurfen941 karma
The question as to be asked. How realistic/relatable is Breaking Bad to your experiences as a Meth cook?
Dubbs3301223 karma
I think it's acurate. You become a shell of who you were and you do really fucked up shit. Other than that idk, I wasn't a superlab.
Dubbs330268 karma
No, the high was that good. It's the high not the money. money was secondary
penisairplane779 karma
How convinced were you that what you were cooking was "clean" enough for consumption? Do meth cookers have any method of "quality control" (i.e. checking the result by some reaction or such or do they just try it out)? Have you heared stories of bad cooks who consumed their product and had bad effects? If so, which?
Dubbs3301029 karma
Eventually I started using pH strips. But originally I would shoot it and if I died don't use it. Some people have a "quality control" but it's few and far between. Yes I actually shot some shit that looked like garbage a friend made. It was an aweful high and for the next few days I felt like my back was hit by a truck.
Dubbs3301088 karma
Best story comes from a bunch of us haning out out in the woods drinking and doing speed at a campfire. There were some tiki torches placed strategically around the outer perimeter of the circle. Well we were using coleman fluid as the accelerant. As everyone knows, the tops of tiki torches aren't put on all that tightly. Well a friend, Mike gets up to stumble off to piss as he moves past he bumps into the lamp knocking it over. So he bends over to pick it up and for some reason pops the lid off, (I guess to see if any spilled) My other friend Brad, trying to be helpful pulls out a lighter to hold above it to see how much fluid may have dumped. It is dark and you can't see very well. Well, when he strikes the flint on his lighter (above an open cup of what is basicaly gasoline) hillarity ensues. All at once a large fireball puffs up out of the cup that mike is holding. This not only sets his hair on fire it causes him to throw the cup...right at Brad who had just hit the lighter to see how much gas was in the cup. well this sets Brad aflame. Mike stumbles backwards, slapping at his burning hair trips and falls over the log he was sitting on. Meanwhile the front of Brads shirt is alight. he starts trying to pat the flame out but he's basically fanning the flames and they start creeping up his shirt. Thankfully I have a beer in my hand and decide smell be damned, I am going to put my friend out. I put my thumb over the bottle top and shakeand douse Brad with my beer. Greg (another friend who was with us took his shirt off and wrapped it around Mikes head. When Mike stands back up, head smoldering, most of his hair is missing (we were all hippies with long hair at the time) on the top of his head, including his eyebrows and moustache. His goatee was remakably unharmed in the process.
cited1271 karma
I worked in a burn unit. You'd be surprised how many patients are meth cooks. The last one told me he blew up from his "homemade fireworks factory in his garage". Sigh. You guys kill me.
Tortured_Sole422 karma
Asides from meths, what's your favouite dish to cook? I like chicken.
jomofo407 karma
I work in one of the meth capitals (just for context). About 4 years ago I was cleaning snow off my car and somehow managed to lock my keys inside after having started it. I had to wait in the snow for over an hour for a locksmith.
As I was waiting, I noticed three guys across the street scurry out of a house (about 100 feet from where my car was parked). They jumped in a car and high-tailed it out of Dodge. Weird, I thought, while freezing my balls off.
Shortly thereafter, a large plume of this blueish white smoke came billowing out of the backside of the house. It was one of the most god awful, lingering smells. The locksmith even commented on it when he got there quite a while later. He thought my car was making the smell.
- Did I witness a cook gone wrong?
- Was I in any danger from the chemicals and shit that were filling my nose?
The house is no longer there. The city knocked it down and now homeless folks congregate there.
Edit For those asking - Independence, MO (adjacent to KC), although "meth capital" is overused and exaggerated; probably should have left that out.
Dubbs330576 karma
You witnessed a "top popping" when you mix red phosphorus and iodine it releases gas and builds pressure in the flask. if you mix too much or use too small a flask you run the risk of the stopper coming out. once that happens it aint good. I was with a guy that misplaced his stopper adn had already mixed the chemicals. The stench was aweful. Yes that shit is BAD for you.
Dubbs330871 karma
Not really, it's portrayed accurately by the media. It tares family's apart and is the worst drug to be addicted to
muayguy214 karma
how did you learn to cook? and what's in your opinion the main reason accidents like those usually happen? (People don't know wtf they're doing? The lab conditions can cause undesired reactions? most cooks are also meth heads and get sloppy?)
Dubbs330408 karma
They are idiots and do things like smoking around the solvents. Yes meth heads are usually dolts.
Dubbs330200 karma
I sent the moderator a copy of the docket from my motion for judicial release and a copy of my id if this isn't enough then oh well
Dubbs330588 karma
Yes I did, I hate how bad my judgement was. I only did that once but that was one time too many.
Dubbs330528 karma
I think legalizing it would be a big mistake. Pot, mushrooms, and opiates I'd be fine with. Speed is a different animal. As long as the opiates were pharmy grade
Dubbs330472 karma
It stopped being enjoyable in the late 90's. It took till 2008 to get off it. I was sick of being a disappointment to my family.
[deleted]240 karma
I was hooked on pharmaceutical grade amphetamines for quite some time. That was tough bitch to beat. Congratulations on getting your life together though brother. That is really awesome. :)
Dubbs330400 karma
Money was great while it lasted, but as soon as I was busted my "friends" stole everything I owned
Portard157 karma
Well aren't they jackasses..sorry to hear.
More specifically though, how much were you earning per week?
Dubbs330518 karma
HAHA, black people don't use meth. It's a very racially divided drug. Weird!
AThousandZubats151 karma
How old are you?
How was prison?
What other drugs have you done?
What are you doing with your life now?
Dubbs330277 karma
I'm 39 years old. Prison sucks because you are so bored all ther time. That's the punishment for crime in america...boredom. I've done every drug I could get my hands on. Heroin, dilaudid, vicodin, speed, dmt, lsd.... As the title says, I'm in college at the University of Akron. Studying geology.
Dubbs330171 karma
I used from the time I was 18 till I was 35. The withdrawl lasted for a long time, It was constantly thinking about it that was the worst.
Dubbs330196 karma
When you're cooking the base down it smells very sweet, like cant almost. The cook itself in strong and sharp with a hint of ammonia.
Dubbs330234 karma
I was never a super lab. I cooked upwards of 3/4 of a pound at a time. I would sell only what I needed to re-up on supplies and pay rent. Other than that I used it all.
Dubbs330207 karma
I cooked all over Akron Ohio. Most of the houses are now condemned. But that's due more to the shitty areas they were in.
Dubbs330176 karma
I started using in the early 90's and had a friend who's mom learned how to cook out in california. My next logical step was to learn so I didn't have to pay for it.
rileyrulesu93 karma
Sorry if this is too personal, and you don't have to answer if it is, but if you went to prison twice, what did your ex wife do to have you be given custody of your child?
Dubbs330466 karma
I won't speak ill of her, She was never my wife. She's a good person but has "stability" issues. She loves our boy with all her heart and I can't thank her enough for him.
Eastixk91 karma
What was the riskiest situation?
What did you like about it the most?
What were your thoughts when you were caught?
Did your parents know?
Dubbs330284 karma
Riskiest situation. I was out on bond from my first raid (this may be my dumbest moment ever) and back at my old house (that was raided) cooking again. I was throwing down with a friend at his house earlier in the day when we ran out of solvent. His roomate was coming home and we had to pack up. We moved everything back to my place to finish. Well Dan (my friend) went back because we forgot one of the boxes of equiptment that we needed and I left to go get the solvent. About 2 hours later I get a call from someone Dan knows (Matt) telling me Dan got caught and asking me where I was and if I still needed the box of stuff and he had it for me. I hang up because I don't know him and start freaking out. I didn't know if Dan would tell or not, I was hoping he was a stand up guy. I didn't know what to do so I just sat down and tried to figure out how to safely remove myself from where I was. (mind you Im out on bond without my own transportation since it was taken in the raid) I start calling folks I knew and couldnt get ahold of anyone. I'm pacing around when I hear a knock at the door. I about shit myself, I sneak up to the door and see my friend (Tina) thank god. I usher her into the house and ask her to drive me and siad lab the hell out of dodge. She says ok and we start carrying the boxes and bags to her car. As I'm getting ready to leave the phone rings. I pick up and I hear a mechanical voice tell me, This is the summit county Jail you have a collect call from "Dan" will you accept? Yes. He gets connected and tells me in no uncertain terms that Matt got busted earlier and told on him. Then goes on to tell me as he was being arrested Matt pulls up in a cop car and asks Dan where I live. Dan says nothing. So he called to say hello and tell me that if Matt calls to direct him elsewhere. I thank him, tell him "I'm on my way to the movies anyhow" and get the fuck out of dodge. I thought "Ah Fuck" both times. They were suspicious but had no proof.
Dubbs330144 karma
I used the red phosphorus, iodine method. When mixed It makes hydriodic acid which reduces pseudoephedrine into methamphetamine.
Dubbs330140 karma
I never did the one pot. That's new to me, my last conviction was 2002. Controlling sales works somewhat, it's a pain in the ass to drive to 40 different pharmacies. When I was cooking you could go buy 100 bottles at the local dairy mart.
Jkid76 karma
Problem is that it will be difficult to get any job after you go to prison, even if you are in college. How are you going to deal with it?
Dubbs330170 karma
Eventually I will ask the governor for a pardon. I served my time and I've proved I can stay out of prison. Plus I have a trade, I was a weld shop foreman until I decided to go back to school 50,000 a year at that job. Thats been since my release.
FallingDominos72 karma
did you ever use meth? Do any of your old associates try to contact you unaware that you got busted? how old was your kid when you were in prison? and how long were you in prison for?
Dubbs330126 karma
I was a hardcore IV drug user who used most of what I made. I was in prison once for 1 year then for three. I'm lucky they didn't catch me in the act because I would have also had to do time for all the weight.
dan273731 karma
I've read that when you take meth, you don't sleep for weeks at a time and start hallucinating tiny "shadow people" everywhere you look in the corner of your eye. Have you ever experienced this?
PacmanRoss24 karma
How would you describe your clientele? The typical meth-head from television or were there any upper class folks with kids and such?
SoMuchDerp1518 karma
Lol Geology. Rocks to rocks... nice...
Also: Fucking Magnets.
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