Wow, there is so much misinformation in that article that it is just laughable.
Absolutely. The names of the journalist & editors of such tripe should be plastered on a wall of shame for time immemorial!
Firstly, as most here know, 4-MMC has been used primarily as an MDMA replacement. The coke fanciers I've spoken to who've tried it didn't like it at all. There
is a completely unrelated coke replacement that could very well explode in popularity in this country shortly, but more on that later.
The active ingredient is methcathinone, harvested from the African plant khat, but it is mixed with other harmful substances.
If you're going to speak of anything phytochemical or pharmacologically related, then get the most basic facts right FFS! The editing staff and journalist all look like fools, and if the pharmacist who was quoted said that, he should hang up the apron and go back to school. Perhaps he missed his organic chem classes when studying 8) Most likely though, this person was misquoted through either the ignorance of the journalist/s, or some perceived need to stretch the truth in order to make a better story. Whatever, with the inaccuracies contained in that piece, it's nothing short of disgusting!!
While 4-MMC may be termed a derivative of methcathinone, it would not be manufactured from methcathinone, and methcathinone is not found in Khat. Cathinone is the parent compound and cathinone is what's found in the plant, along with cathine and similar compounds.
While 4-MMC could by synthed from methylmethcathinone, the chemistry involved would make this route analogous to travelling around Australia to get from the Gold Coast to Brisbane. Duh!
Methcathinone aka methylcathinone is a
synthetic, just like 4-methylmethcathinone. 4-MMC would be most commonly synthesised from the appropriate propiophenone. Without going into details of the synth, I'll just say it's all pretty basic org chem. However, if the required reagents were available, 4-MMC could possibly also be synthesised from a very basic, and widely available OTC starting material. If such a route does work, it may make LE efforts to limit the drug considerably more difficult.
It very well could be, but the problem is there is just no proof or research. I have used it a couple of times and I think my fingers are feet may be suffereing from this a little bit. But no conclusive proof here, just speculation. But I have also heard of the blue thing, and scarier yet it doesn't go away even after months of abstinance from 4-mmc.
Some of us have been shouting warnings about potential problems arising from 4-MMC use since it's emergence in the Neorganics products. I don't know what you need to be convinced, but I'd suggest the numerous reports of cardio-vascular related problems should be ringing alarm bells by now