Many have seen the AMC TV show Breaking Bad. In the series, the main character, Walter White, creates Meth Amphetamines in order to get some money for his family while he suffers from terminal cancer. Walter creates meth that is blue and has a purity rate of 99%. I decided to do some research to see if not only this blue meth, but also a meth with a 99% purity rate, could exist. And wanted to see how accurate Walters techniques in creating his “RV Meth” where.
The first issue was the blue meth. Most Meth Amphetamines comes in a clear crystal like form, thus getting the name Crystal Meth. Would it be possible to make it blue? While meth can come in multiple other colors such as gray and pink, it is very rarely blue. It is possible though; a Kansas-city police chief said that he has come across blue meth on the streets of the United States, but it not quite the same as Walters. The meth that was found with a bluish hue was no more potent than the standard white crystal meth found most places through the US. So while it is a possibility that there is blue crystal out there somewhere, it is not quite what fans of the TV show may be thinking of. Another key thing to note is that meth created at a purer rate does not turn blue; it actually turns more of a yellowish hue. The idea of a purer type of meth becoming blue is most likely inaccurate.
The second issue is whether or not a 99% pure Crystal Meth could be created. While this I found to be very unlikely, I was shocked at what I found. According to a Denver police report, 77 people were arrested for drug trafficking, what authorities were surprised to find was meth that was in fact 99% pure. So, White’s meth is possible, and his meth may possibly have been outdone!
Finally the question of whether or not Walters’s tactics and resource could in fact provide what he needed to create good quality Methamphetamine. According to analytical chemist Jonathan Parkinson “Breaking Bad does a really great job with the science.” Most of the ideas used in Walter White’s process of cooking meth could be actual ways one could create meth. However, one critic notes that it would be possible for Walt to cook the way he does, it would be very difficult to cook it on as large a scale as he did in the show. The show also leaves out vital steps in creating the meth so viewers don’t try to go out and make some of Walters’s meth themselves. Another point to consider is that in the show Walter uses P2P in his process, however the DEA is very aware that P2P is used and has a close watch on it, so Walter probably would have struggled in his creation a little more in a real life situation.
The conclusion is that Walter actually would be a good cook. While he may not be as successful if he was a real drug lord due to his lack of resource, he sure makes for an innovative chief! Through this research it has been determined that it is possible for all three of my questions to be created in the real world. Breaking Bad did it right.
Links:
http://www.ibtimes.com/breaking-bad-chemistry-truth-behind-blue-meth-walter-whites-process-1411068
http://slumz.boxden.com/f5/may-31-meth-of-99-purity-found-during-drug-bust-in-denver-1932803/
I am currently watching Breaking Bad on Netflix so your post really caught my eye. I was wondering the same thing as what you questioned and you did a great job of explaining all of the answers. At first I assumed there was a correlation between the color of the blue meth and the quality but as you discussed this is not true. We can also conclude that color does not cause one type of meth to be any better than the next. In this cause could we say that the blue color is a soft endpoint and the quality is the hard endpoint? I also found it very interesting that it is in fact possible to create 99% pure meth, I thought that that fact was just something the show made up to make it more appealing. Great post overall!
As a huge Breaking Bad fan, I loved this blog post. It is really interesting and pretty amazing that the meth in the show has been pretty close to recreated in real life. I also have read articles about how Breaking Bad is very scientifically accurate which I think is a very unique aspect in much of today’s far-from-reality shows that are splashed across the media. Although I once thought it was an extreme thought of mine while watching the show, I always questioned whether Breaking Bad planted ideas into American’s minds. Reading this blog post though of yours, perhaps it isn’t so crazy that people have tried to reproduce that 99% purity meth that was displayed on screen. It is crazy how we watch Breaking Bad for enjoyment, but the topics in it could translate into real life issues that could potentially be very fatal. I always thought the 99% purity would be impossible to replicate, but reading your blog and learning that it has been done shows really makes me question what other ideas people are using from television shows, whether those ideas be good or bad.