It's 2008 in a CVS pharmacy in Los Angeles. A pharmacist in a white coat narrows

her eyes in suspicion at the man standing at the counter. He's wearing a tank top two

sizes too big. His cheeks are sunken and his teeth stained. But it's his jitteryness

is the real giveaway. The way he keeps looking around is if someone's coming for him. This

guy's definitely a meth addict. He scratches his chest and then glairs at the pharmacist.

Yo, you getting my cold medicine or what? The pharmacist crosses her arms. He wants a packet

of CVS brand Sudo-Affedrine. It's a cold and cough medicine. It's also a raw material

for making methamphetamine. Law enforcement calls people like him smurfers. They spend

their days buying cold and cough medicine for illegal meth labs that extract the Sudo-Affedrine

to make meth. You don't seem like you have a cold. Maybe if you describe your symptoms,

I could advise... You ain't no doctor. I said I had a cough. See? Irritation flashes

on the man's face. Hmm. I need to check with our computer. Federal law says we can't

sell you more than 3.6 grams of Sudo-Affedrine a day. And I'm pretty sure I saw you in here

just a few hours ago. Nah, wasn't me. The pharmacist checks the man's

details on the computer. But she already knows you will say to sell him what he wants. And

that's because CVS only tracks how much Sudo-Affedrine individuals buy in states where there's a monthly

cap and California's not one of them. She's under orders from CVS head office to do what the

computer says. And the smurfers know it. Across Southern California, smurfers are exploiting CVS's

flawed controls to load up on the medicine being used to flood the streets with meth. The computer

confirms it's okay to sell the man the medicine. The pharmacist slaps a packet of CVS Sudo-Affedrine

on the counter. The guy smiles. Wait, I got a loyalty card. Hang on. Yeah, of course you do.

But as they wait for the snaking receipt to print, they don't notice the undercover DEA agents

...