It’s official. The law banning the possession of common chemistry equipment and chemicals which can also be used for making recreational street drugs has been overturned. This was action was started solely by DMS members in the science committee out of concern for how our very public research would be affected by enforcement of this law. The legislation was passed in the 2018-2019 state legislative session, and has been signed by the Governor, making this the new law of the land.
To clarify: Making of recreational street drugs is still illegal, and if you are caught doing so in the science area will get you banned, but having the apparatus, and precursor chemicals is legal, and can be used for other purposes, such as our current study on global warming.
Chemical laboratory apparatus means any item of equipment designed, made or adapted to manufacture a controlled substance or a controlled substance analogue, including:
a condenser
a distilling apparatus
a vacuum dryer
a three-neck or distilling flask
a tableting machine
an encapsulating machine
a filter, Buchner or separatory funnel
an Erlenmeyer, two-neck or single-neck flask
a round-bottom, Florence, thermometer or filtering flask
a Soxhlet extractor
a transformer
a flask heater
a heating mantel
an adapter tube
September 2019
SB 616 (86th Legislative Session) amends Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 481 to repeal the requirement of a permit and the offense for failing to obtain a permit. The bill retains the requirements that anyone who uses a precursor chemical or laboratory apparatus must:
Submit loss or theft reports to the department,
Maintain records and inventories in accordance with department rules, and
Allow a member of the department or a peace officer to conduct audits and inspect records.
How they gonna do that now that you don’t have to have a permit? Jack-booted storm troopers kicking in doors to check for Erlenmeyer flasks?
Yeah. That stuff can be ignored. There are no permits required. You can own glassware and chemicals. There is no list of people to audit, or related penalties. That last piece is probably written so that those that like the law or want to continue to get paid for doing a job of maintaining compliance can keep doing the same thing.
Anyone noticed we still have libraries maintained within tight city budgets even though we have the internet?
Libraries serve a different function. I think of them, and occasional enjoy them in the same way I enjoy DMS. And I think the act of physically handling books, pulling them off the shelf, browsing through them is vital in a kids development. No proof, but I’d hate to loose libraries.
Public libraries are the one part of my property tax bill I consider worth it. I live in Arlington, and don’t use it a lot, but some (DVD’s, audio tapes, and Linda.com).
My local branch has about 20 PC’s, what is nice is I see a lot of people looking for jobs, doing resumes, etc. They probably don’t computers at home - so this gives them access, good deal or everyone.
I’m like you Tom … we oldesters (pre spaceage) grew up on books. A youngster (meaning under 40) always had electronic calculator and grew up around computers. Under 30, probably had tablets and laptops in school.
Any D&O (@Lampy@Julie-Harris@mrjimmy@Scott_Blevins) with their necks on the line might want to do more than place blind trust. NAL, hope I’m wrong in pointing the following out, and not gonna get into this further, but I was able to find the following in about 20 minutes thanks to @jswilson64’s link. Edited My non-expert, non-legal opinion is that any of Science’s equipment falling under controlled chemical laboratory apparatus probably doesn’t need to be registered after reading the context of 481.080 referenced below. But, the “transfers, or otherwise furnishes” wording in that section throws the issue slightly into a grey area. For example, we do provide the equipment freely without restriction. And, if people/members are able to freely walk in and out and take the equipment one might be able to argue that we’re furnishing. I think it’d be wise to keep an inventory of this equipment and keep it under lock and key or RFID. Either way, I don’t think there’s anything to be alarmed or worried about, we just need to make sure we’re compliant and get up to code if we need to.
From DPS’s website FAQ: Am I subject to inspections?
Those who engage in transactions related to Precursor Chemical and Laboratory Apparatus (PCLA), shall be subject to inspection. Please see Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 481 to view sections 481.077 (k) and 481.080 (l).
From a related DPS page: Chemical laboratory apparatus means any item of equipment designed, made or adapted to manufacture a controlled substance or a controlled substance analogue, including:
a condenser a distilling apparatus
a vacuum dryer a three-neck or distilling flask
a tableting machine
an encapsulating machine a filter, Buchner or separatory funnel
an Erlenmeyer, two-neck or single-neck flask
a round-bottom, Florence, thermometer or filtering flask a Soxhlet extractor
a transformer a flask heater a heating mantel
an adapter tube
