It's harder or riskier in some states than others to purchase NaOH in, but not sure about Maryland in specific. What I would recommend is that you follow
Q21Q21's Vinegar/Lime A/B Extraction Tek which uses calcium hydroxide instead of sodium hydroxide. Because of this, the tek is both significantly safer and easier, because when you have to separate the naptha out from the calcium hydroxide, it's relatively simple because you'll be working with the liquid naptha amongst the much more solid mix as opposed to trying to separate the naptha from soup (which is what you would get working with sodium hydroxide). Naptha seems relatively abundant in my state, and I would assume it is in a populated state like Maryland. I use the yellow ronsonol lighter fluid bottles that I can get at either gas stations, cigar shops, corner stores, pharmacies.....
"Science without religion is lame. Religion without science is blind" - Albert Einstein
"The Mighty One appears, the horizon shines. Atum appears on the smell of his censing, the Sunshine- god has risen in the sky, the Mansion of the pyramidion is in joy and all its inmates are assembled, a voice calls out within the shrine, shouting reverberates around the Netherworld." - Egyptian Book of the Dead
"Man fears time, but time fears the Pyramids" - 9th century Arab proverb