EUPHORIA LAB RAIDED AT HOME

[Alfa]

EUPHORIA LAB RAIDED AT HOME


A Broward County engineer who Fort Lauderdale police said ran a drug lab in his home was arrested.


Fort Lauderdale police and federal agents raided a drug lab late Thursday, where they said a Broward County employee was manufacturing ''pounds'' of a drug called euphoria.


It was ''one of the largest clandestine labs ever located in the city of Fort Lauderdale and the southeast part of the state,'' Fort Lauderdale police spokesman Andy Pallen said.


William Hahne, 46, was arrested at his home at 720 NE 17th Ct. in Fort Lauderdale, where police and agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration seized more than a kilogram of euphoria, chemicals and other equipment.


''The value is well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars,''


Pallen said Friday.


Hahne, who lives a few hundred feet from Fort Lauderdale High School, faces federal charges of possession with intent to distribute euphoria, according to Pallen.


A CrimeStoppers tipster led Fort Lauderdale police to Hahne, Pallen said. The tipster told police that Hahne had stolen chemicals from a storage area in the Broward Government Center in June and was using them to manufacture drugs in his home, Pallen said.


''It is a very elaborate laboratory set-up,'' Pallen said. ``He was very organized.''


Pallen said Hahn works as an engineer in the county building.


Officials said he has a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech University.


Pallen said the DEA hasn't seen the drug in their labs in more than a decade. Euphoria can be injected, inhaled or taken orally. It shares chemical properties with amphetamines and ecstasy, but lasts longer, officials said.


It is used for intellectual enhancement for activities such as writing, said Rick Doblin of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies. The drug reduces appetite and keeps people awake for as long as 36 hours, but does not create the jitters as methamphetamine does, he said. Doblin agreed that it is not widely used or known.


''I don't know anybody that can find it,'' he said.


Tom Angell of the Students for Sensible Drug Policy said he has never heard of euphoria. ''We just hope that law enforcement isn't giving a name to what they found. That could create some hysteria about something that doesn't really exist,'' he said.


Investigators seized the powder form of the drug. One pound of euphoria can sell for $15,000 or much more if packaged individually, Pallen said.


Pallen said the chemicals could have caused an explosion or fire if improperly mixed. If inhaled in a gaseous state, they can be deadly.


All chemicals have been removed from the home.


''At this time, there is no danger to the public,'' Pallen said.


Hahne has been making euphoria since June , according to a federal complaint. He received a substance used to make the drug from someone in California. Hahne would ship the individual the finished product through the mail. It would be distributed and the two would split the profits, the complaint said. Hahne's neighbors said they didn't know him well.


''He kept to himself pretty much,'' said Paul Many, who lives across the street.


The bust happened in a neighborhood once riddled with crime, including crack and cocaine sales. Residents credit former Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner Tim Smith in helping to clean up. They have been doing neighborhood crime walks every Friday night.


''We solved that being vigilant and not giving up,'' Smith said.


Herald staff writer Ashley Fantz contributed to this report.

[Jucifer]

"Euphoria" eh. Does anyone have any guesses as to what this substance might be?

[red_LED]

sounds like a miracle drug. Awake for 36 hours, euphoric in nature, no jittered-feeling?

[fnord]

Pallen said the chemicals could have caused an explosion or fire if improperly mixed. If inhaled in a gaseous state, they can be deadly.

huh so cant the stuff under my sink i use for cleaning the house...

is this a real drug?or was he making some RC and the police decided it was called euporia?

[snapper]

4methylaminorex

Reputation Comments on this post:

awesome

[Nagognog2]

This should be interesting. My first guess was DOET.

[fnord]

Originally Posted by Nagognog2

This should be interesting. My first guess was DOET.

is DOET still leagle?if so he could claim he was doing animal testing to look for a new menstrual cramp drug.

[Jucifer]

Thanks snapper! 4methylaminorex, I can't believe that I've never heard of it. I just researched it on Erowid and it looks like the doses are far lower than MDMA, but has similar effects but lasts longer!

[red_LED]

Originally Posted by Jucifer

Thanks snapper! 4methylaminorex, I can't believe that I've never heard of it. I just researched it on Erowid and it looks like the doses are far lower than MDMA, but has similar effects but lasts longer!

Indeed, just read up on erowid thanks to snapper. SWIM would love to try this- the length of the high reminds SWIM of mescaline.

[Nagognog2]

DOET is Schedule I. Never hit the street, but was published by Grinspoon at Harvard as having said effects. Was a guess.

[JDreaming]

Looks like 4-methylaminorex has been schedule I since 2005 via emergency scheduling... the guy in the article is definately screwed. I don't understand why the article wouldn't make at least passing reference to the actual drug involved, given how many different things have probably been called "Euphoria" in the last 20 years... Thanks Snapper for catching it.

[snapper]

SWIM guesses they didn't want to hype the substance since they inadvertently made it sound pretty cool in the article. SWIM remembers something about some getting aplastic anemia from this drug, but it is a hard reference to substantiate, like the one about AET, and may just have been a scare tactic. SWIM has always wanted some of this but will probably never taste it due to it's scarcity and illegality. They synthesis was discussed a lot on the Hive and there is at least one write-up in the Rhodium archive. Not out of reach of the clandestine chemist (as the article confirms..).

[Beeker]

Why would anyone set up a lab in a police state?!

I never understood why they made LSD in America instead of just express mailing LSD in 1 gram batches out of China or some other place where money talks.

[Lunar Loops]

Original posting is over three years old.

[Felonious Skunk]

Originally Posted by Beeker

Why would anyone set up a lab in a police state?!

I would suspect that for every lab busted, a whole lot don't. Otherwise we'd be hearing about it everyday for how the DEA likes to go on about how smart they think they are.

And as far as the China thing: ssshhhh.

[lulz]

I don't know how much truth there is in this, but here is a quote from an article called "The Road to Euphoria - A True Story of Dealing E back in 1993"

Originally, there were supposed to be five Es: Ecstasy, Euphoria, Empathy, Epiphany, and Enlightenment, but the DEA grabbed the principal guy in Laguna before he could get all of the Es done up.

http://www.viceland.com/issues/v8n4/htdocs/the_road.php

Edit, I changed the link

[Jucifer]

Nice find Lulz...very interesting, sounds like the pyramid of the five main food groups, but of drugs...what else does SWIM need in life.

[fnord]

u4euh? just reading up on it in lyttles book psycadelics.