Strap in. This is long. I’ve edited it down and included some (hopefully) helpful emphases throughout.
TL;DR – People become
clandestine lab operators for a variety of reasons and motives, I would imagine. Seems to me mass producers are driven by profits mostly and they
may, or may not, have much regard for the end user and the final purity of the product. I’d like to think
most are not sociopaths and care at least enough to avoid grievously poisoning their customers, though they also likely don’t care about enantiomeric purity when racemic purity is good enough and more profitable. Small lab operators are different.
Dr. Alexander Shulgin. He’s well published in the science journals mostly during the latter half of the 20th century. Probs best known for publishing
PiHKAL and
TiHKAL that detail a couple hundred phenethylamines (PiHKAL) and tryptamines (TiHKAL) he and his lay research group tested and discovered to be psychoactive in humans, along with the synthesis used and qualitative comments.
To me, the late Dr. Shulgin and the retired Dr. David Nichols are the two
giant luminaries in this field.
This is contingent on two things:
1. that the
chemist is driven by profits, not independent research (as I assume a small minority are), and
2. that the drug in question would only show
marginal improvements upon stereoselective refinement. Obviously, as pointed out, with
dl-methamphetamine, stereo resolution to
d-methamphetamine is worth the effort, because the product will be improved significantly enough to drive extra profits.
Hmm, no, I can’t really agree with that.
It does not take a PhD to manufacture illicit products with a relatively high and consistent purity. These syntheses are not difficult logistically speaking, nor are the purification procedures. It’s avoidance of unwanted attention that can be unpredictable and tricky to navigate. I’ll grant you
though if someone is developing novel synthetic routes, a degree will help out a lot, the higher the degree, the better.
I propose to you that most PhDs have worked too hard to risk their careers on the giant, legal liabilities associated with clandestine manufacture. These people are infrequently criminals. Underground chemists are comprised of many types. On the small-scale, there are hillbilly “cooks” with a “recipe for meth”, skinheads and weird tweekers performing unsettling “shake ‘n’ bake” Birch reductions in tube-connected Mountain Dew bottles, and college kids with recent access to a University chemistry department… On up to: ex-Big-Pharma chemists with BS and MS degrees, autodidacts of varying skill levels running the whole gamut (some becoming quite proficient and accomplished despite lacking formal education, see e.g.: Jeff Jenkins, aka Eleusis), some rank amateurs who get arrested after making a rudimentary mistake, and probably a handful of PhD types you described. Though a minority, I would speculate the
PhD types solve the “how to sell it” issue by working w/their own versions of “Jesse Pinkman”, so to speak.
It’s a motley bunch.
Not necessarily.
The two skillsets don’t have to be mutually exclusive. I know a PhD in biochemistry who went back to school for her MBA in order to startup and effectively lead a new business venture in the generics industry, for example.
Also, one can
work as an independent agent and limit their contact with any crew to 1-2 people, provided one already has the means to produce on a level satisfactory to meet supply and demand needs. However, it’s maybe not wise. Orchestrating the structure of product distribution puts one at risk of being accused of leading a “Continuing Criminal Enterprise” and there are extra penalties for this that add
years to a sentence.
Yeah that Uno character never shuts TF up. Does every one of his replies have to be a goddamn novel for chrissakes? Lol
I would argue that you’re a chemist with formal education and degree(s) working in legit industry. A person with no degree is still capable of being a “legit chemist”. And for your claims of “I would NEVER [XYZ] illegal”, I’ll bet the thought has crossed your mind more than once.
May fortune bless you for this noble work. My hat goes off to you on this point. Truly.
Thank you. 
Because cancer has been taking more and more people I know, and just… motherfuck cancer. Worthy of mention / relevant: the aforementioned
Dr. Nichols has done groundbreaking work on Parkinson’s treatments as an adjunct to his studies of psychedelics.
And but we each have our own station in life, right? Thank God for you and those like you who love working on cancer drugs. Meanwhile, though not of the same life-saving importance, thank God for those of us willing to make sacrifices and take the enormous risk of clandestine manufacture of psychedelics, empathogens, and useful stimulants. Without underground chemists, we would not have these blessed sacraments that mean so much to so many of us.
The best of the best don’t go to jail. You never hear about these people of course because… they got in and got out.
Also, unless you‘re remarkably clever at hiding money, if you get busted, chances are that money goes bye bye. To be more precise,
that money is confiscated by the Feds under forfeiture laws. They keep that money and spend it on their own extra-budgetary desires.
I was incarcerated for manufacturing in the late 90s / early 2000s. I don’t want to reveal too many details, so let’s just say I had to do over a half decade but fewer than ten years. I was manufacturing MDMA, MDA, and methamphetamine primarily, along with a handful of uncommon phenethylamines like DMMDA-2 and its n-methyl derivative, 2C-i, and a few other odds and ends.
These years of crime and subsequent punishment were a pretty interesting experience when I think back and
focus on the highlights. This is true of both the clandestine operation and the experience of incarceration. But again:
highlights. The entire experience was emotionally taxing, difficult on my family, and financially—though initially thrilling in how much money
pours in—when considered along w/the period of incarceration making $0.45/hour in prison wages (read: 13th Amendment slave wages), overall it was a terrible financial move. I openly admit I made some mistakes and had plenty of time to think about them, refine my knowledge of the law and how law enforcement and prosecutors operate, and conclude that in terms of risk versus reward, future clandestine plans would not be worth it for yours truly. It takes
the right set of circumstances, sophisticated
means of deception in order to procure chemicals and equipment, a good
industry cover / decoy motive in a legit industry, and some strong
criminal defense strategies in place as contingencies just in case things go sour –
plausible deniability and such. Then, it
might be worth it for
a payout of at least several million dollars. It cannot be understated how massive the risk can be though…
I said this? When? I mean, after all, it has happened before. I think the rate of chemists going rouge, as it were, probably drops off significantly from bachelor’s degree to master’s degree, and even more so with those who spring for their PhD. But that’s just my best conjecture.
Or they’re naturally smart, know how to read and teach themselves chemistry and put effort into making sure they don’t miss any important blind spots in their self-administered education. People with formal educations sometimes find it hard to believe
autodidacts exist and can possess knowledge equal to—or sometimes surpassing—that of their own.
If we’re discussing
mass producers, then yes I agree. Otherwise, what’s the point of mass production if not profit? When discussing smaller lab operators who produce either very rare or very pure products, then I think the motivations are not solely monetary, if at all.
. Weird how it can't be noticed without a mirror or you can't feel it. Not once did I catch myself doing it or notice it.
