Dan Rosen -- #10869-097

16 Years -- Pseudoephedrine Conspiracy


Dan Rosen, prisoner of the drug war
My wife, Bette, and I owned a wholesale distributing company in Redding, California for 16 years. In 1996 we had the opportunity to become a distributor for several manufacturers of Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine products. These are chemical compounds used in making over-the-counter amphetamine and methamphetamine.

We distributed these products along with approximately 2,000 other items to stores throughout Northern California and Southern Oregon. In time, we became Master Distributors, and our wholesale territory covered California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. Other wholesale distributors who purchased from us are now called 'co-defendants' who, the government claims, were setting up fictitious businesses with phony documents.

My wife and I did not know that these other wholesalers' documents were not legal. Our business distributorship served customers from late 1996 until my arrest on March 17, 1998. To date, the government has seized much of our property, and Bette went to trial as well. She was found guilty of all 23 counts, as I was.

We hired a post-conviction attorney for her, and by some miracle the government agreed to vacate 22 of 23 counts against her before sentencing. After almost two years in County Jail, and looking at a 97-month sentence, she was ordered to do six months of home detention, plus giving up all rights to appeal, forfeiture, and more.

As a wholesale distributor, I was in compliance with all government licensing, had a "Control Number" issued by the D.E.A. and had all my purchases of Pseudoephedrine approved in advance by the D.O.J./B.N.E., before being shipped by the manufacturers. Furthermore we had retained an attorney to work with the D.E.A. and B.N.E. His job was to interpret all the changes in the laws and keep in contact with the D.E.A. He obviously didn't do his job well, but, yet, the D.E.A. assured him we were complying with all laws.