It was actually due to the presence of a neurotoxin (MPTP) that was produced during the attempt to synthesize a potent Demerol (meperidine)-like molecule. For anyone interested, this link to the Lancet (not paywalled) shows the tragic effect of ingestion.
One positive from this tragedy was that it made the creation of animal models of Parkinson’s Disease more feasible, i.e by injecting them with MPTP.
Thank you, one and all, for your insightful answers.
Completely beside the point, but not that long a journey. Just fill the 3/7ths gallon bucket fourteen times and pour it into whatever container you’re collecting water in. You can leave the 19/11ths gallon bucket in the closet.
Nobody likes a smartass !!
There are many, many small indy drug companies. My Buddy is the CFO of one of them. It would be simple as pie- the “armchair biochemist” just provides the formula and the funding, and the small indy company will make the drug, which , after preliminary tests to make sure it isn’t insta death etc, can then “test” it on a number of willing participants. The devil is in the side effects… death being a rather bad one. “Yay, my disease is cured!! But I am dead…”… “the operation was successful but the patient died”…
There is no reason to make this “bootleg”. It would not be “illegal” just not “approved”, and there is no reason- and in fact the drug company would insist- to not go ahead and submit the drug to approval. Every drug company has dozens if not hundreds of drugs that are in the testing process that are not yet approved- but they are not illegal, just illegal to sell. Some of them work quite well, but the side effects are such that they can’t be approved.
However there is no such thing as an “armchair biochemist” , you need a pretty good lab to come up with anything new.
Note that most of the illegal drugs talked about here- the recreational pharmaceuticals, so to speak- were not developed in a garage, even tho they now can be made in one.
I’ll bet Heisenberg could do all this pretty well, and it would be a pretty blue color too.
A fourteen step process is seven times more complicated than a two step. It also took five weeks to find someone who could do the math.
I guess this is tangentially related to the OP (as it addresses production of “regular” illicit drugs), but it might be interesting, just to give a feel for what’s out there. I was googling something - don’t remember what - and stumbled across the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime World Drug Report 2022. Here are the Annexes to the report BUT BE WARNED that clicking on an Annex will download the file to your computer. Site (not annexes) spoilered for double click.
The period covered appears to be 2015 to 2020. Clicking on Annex 9.1 Clandestine Laboratories Detected And Dismantled will download an Excel file that you can play with. It gives numbers for labs ranging from “Kitchen laboratories” to “Industrial-scale laboratories”. The annex doesn’t name them, it just gives figures; but you can, for example, sum the column for “Industrial-scale laboratories” - which I did.
An even 250.
And those are only the ones detected and dismantled.
Interesting, eh?
j
ETA - I realized that there is possibly/probably some double counting going on in that file. For example M134-M139 sums to 48; M156 = 48; both are listed under Australia. Possible double counting - so view with caution, I guess.
Thank you, Treppenwitz, but surely the “Clandestine Laboratories Detected And Dismantled” heading in the linked report refers to labs that produce crystal meth, cocaine, heroin, ketamine, LSD, designer hybrids, and other illicit drugs.
I cannot imagine hundreds of biochemists worldwide currently producing homebrew treatments for cancer or depression or such – or that there’s a strong market for them. I can see a black market for PEDs, but for serious medical conditions? It’s equally hard to imagine a handful of for-hire biochemists who operate in the dark alleys of medicine outthinking large teams of world-class medical researchers, in any endeavor. The sophistication just isn’t there. Perhaps you are suggesting teams of private, for-hire biochemists producing copycat meds of drugs currently awaiting FDA approval, yes. But their making cutting-edge medical breakthroughs? Hard to believe.
As I said
- I just find it interesting that there were hundreds of “industrial scale” factories that were able to operate clandestinely. You posed a question about clandestine manufacture. I’m not for a second suggesting that the factories enumerated here would be up for contract manufacturing an unofficial medicine (or whatever we might call it) but at least a few of these factories have some competencies. The manufactured drugs listed include steroids, alprozalam (an anxiolytic in legitimate use), ketamine, psilocybin, fentanyl, “New psychoactive substances” - as well as the sorts of things you would expect to see on the list.
You were asking about a grey area in drug manufacturing; I thought you might be interested to hear about what grey areas have been shown to exist.
j
ETA - “grey area” isn’t the right word - but you know what I mean.
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, and lysergic acid diethylamide (MMDA, aka “ecstacy”, and LSD) respectively are not trivial to produce, and the less known members of the family group MDMA comes from (MDA, MBDB, 2ci, 2ct, 2cb etc) are not either. The fact that people are even bothering to create obscure psychoactive chemicals like 2ct shows the “hidden hand of the market” *
Yet illicit chemists do. The profit margin drives the industry.
If I was diabetic and my local dealer had insulin cheaper than the pharmacy I would be on it in a flash.
* As far as I know, all of these chemicals are illegal in most countries. Don’t try this at home.
Thank you for that information, Treppenwitz. Eye opening.
I would imagine a more interesting approach than illegal drugs - I read an article about Ozempic for weight loss that mentioned it was $13,000/year for treatment. I don’t know how the drug is made, but I’m guessing a lot of that cost is not related to ongoing manufacturing costs. I would think a “bootleg” lab could make a generic knock-off much cheaper if they were not worried about licenses or royalties. It appears to be much in demand, especially in LA. As one comedian said, “who knew so much of Hollywood has diabetes?”