I could never, ever work in a pharmacy. Of course I have thought about it and drooled at the possibilities(as I'm sure most have), but I had to wait a half-hour while I was picking up my bupe at the local Walgreens, and I realized that me working in a pharmacy would pretty much be a plan for failure. It would almost definitely end up with me in jail. As hard as I tried, I know for sure that being around all those drugs all day I would never be able to completely ward off the temptation. For a really good and well written but terribly, terribly sad(at times bitterly depressing, at times uplifting) blog of this guy's experience being a nurse that got addicted to opiates and is now in recovery, check out
soma's blog at
junkylife.
As far as being a vet tech goes, I have personal experience with that. My gf was one for years, and yes lots of drugs did go missing all the time. None of the places she worked at did the log books ever actually match the dea log, and nothing ever really happened. It's pretty funny, they have all the same drugs(pretty much anything you'd want to abuse) there, mainly in a more abusable form than humans usually receive it(mainly iV solutions), yet for some reason it's not close to as strictly watched. One time though, at the last animal hospital she worked at, her boss started tweaking out about some ridiculously small amount of iv valium that was suppposedly missing, while the books for the harder drugs were way more off(She suspected her and her husband dipped into the M, it specifically was almost always short and they would sometimes "accidentally" write down a larger count). She actually hadn't taken it though. After that her boss started to lock the drugs up in a safe in her office and we moved anyways so she didn't stay there long and hasn't worked at another one since, but it was good while it lasted
NOTE: I am not advocating or suggesting someone should get a job as a vet tech simply so they could steal drugs, just sharing experience.
Anyways, unless you are as committed to them as Shulgin is, I wouldn't suggest drugs being the major motivating factor in career choice. It's true with anything, but you may not be quite so interested in drugs in ten years as you are now(I really hope I'm not). But if you are as committed as him, then fucking go for it he has done some amazing things. Maybe you'll make the next great drug, we can only hope.
jr0k