We bought everything needed to make $3 million worth of fentanyl. All it took was $3,600 and a web browser
Open link in next tab
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/drugs-fentanyl-supplychain/
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/drugs-fentanyl-supplychain/
I just don't get how all the political ads are saying it comes from somewhere else but can be made and has been made in the states. Maybe we should look in our own backyard before overreaching the fence in someone elses backyard.
They're bringing in all this fentanyl and stealing jobs from hardworking ma-and-pa black market fentanyl manufacturers!
Probably both - however I think it's not unreasonable to assume that organizations as mentioned in the article at least have the Chinese government's blessing, if they're not directly controlled by it. So even if the fentanyl itself is not coming from outside the states, the precursors from which it can be made with little effort are.
That and I guess some gangs make it somewhere else and then import it, but that's another story.
Also technically, I think there's legal fentanyl being produced in the states, but that's usually not what's meant in the discussion.
Wikipedia has an overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fentanyl#Synthesis
It's not new. It was developed decades ago as a medical opiate by a renowned scientist. New, easier methods of synthesis have come around since, and abuse is exacerbated by the general opioid crisis in the USA, thanks essentially to the Sackler family.
From what I got reading The Least of Us the chemicals involved in the Gupta method are used in industry and essentially impossible to ban. There was some sort of breakthrough a few years ago that made this (relatively easy) method the standard way street fentanyl is made, although I don't remember the details. Also until fairly recently it was straight-up legal to export fentanyl from China and from there import it into Mexico or have it drop shipped to basically anyone in the USA. Direct import into the USA was illegal but easy to do.
abuse is exacerbated by the general opioid crisis in the USA
And also specifically by the war on drugs
Totally not going to mark this as read because still reading your links. Thank you so much...no sarcasm.
You're welcome, that book is actually the second in a series, the first being "Dreamland". They were both great reads (and popular enough that I had no problem getting them at the library).
Not going to make the shit but it is a nice argument point to have against people who say its all imported to ruin our country. I deal with it daily but never new someone could make it at home.
It's been awhile since I read the book (maybe I should re-read) but from what I remember, while domestic production is possible (and probably still happens to a small degree), it mostly dried up because it's soooo easy to import it to Mexico and truck it up. Or, in the case of the OP link, import the precursors, put it together in Mexico, and truck it up. Like, as a drug trafficker, you'd be a fool not to from a risk and financial perspective. It's literally not illegal in China.
Whether this is an "opium war" is another question. We never would have had an opiate crisis in the first place if not for the Sackler's aggressively pushing prescription opiates. Or if we had, you know, the social will and character to actually treat chronic pain and drug addiction.
So your telling me I can't go down to my local walmart buy supplies or whatever in my garage and make 3mil?
Heh, you can buy it online, no need to even leave the house!
One of the reasons so many people are dying from it is American dealers buy it raw and then cut their products with it using the Magic Bullet Blender. But it turns out blenders are really bad at mixing dry powders, contrary to the old wives' tales that drug dealers tell each other. So you get one pill with nothing and another pill with a fatal dose.
File this under "questions you can't ask because people will give joke answers or will seriously believe you're asking on a public Internet forum how to make hard drugs"
When I was in the south in the US. I just remember going thru my normal dealer of pot. Then one day he was all geeked or whatever you call it out. It came to the south like a bat out of hell. I was so glad I got stationed elsewhere because Walmart Wallgreens Freds started having to put shit in lockboxes that were never that way. If you had allergies you could only get 1 pack of allergy medication per month.
The title is a bit silly. You probably need like 3k just in glassware, nevermind the know how to make the stuff. It is not as easy as "making soup"
The team also procured secondary ingredients used to process the essential precursors, as well as basic equipment – giving it everything needed to produce fentanyl.
The core precursors Reuters bought would have yielded enough fentanyl powder to make at least 3 million tablets, with a potential street value of $3 million – a conservative estimate based on prices cited by U.S. law enforcement agencies in published reports over the past six months.
The total cost of the chemicals and equipment Reuters purchased, paid mainly in Bitcoin: $3,607.18.
Turning these precursors into fentanyl would have required just modest lab skills and a basic grasp of chemistry. One Mexican fentanyl cook who dropped out of school at age 12 told Reuters he learned the trade as an apprentice at an illegal lab.
“It’s like making chicken soup,” said the cook, an independent producer based in the cartel stronghold of Sinaloa state. “It’s mega-easy making that drug.”
Actually one block in the article
It’s like making chicken soup,” said the cook, an independent producer based in the cartel stronghold of Sinaloa state. “It’s mega-easy making that drug.”
They paid 3700 for everything needed, including the glassware. The article details it all, even the pill presses and new analogs that hadn't been discovered before, in the arms race against banning or restricting fentanyl precursors. The sellers themselves stated in the article exactly how to make the drug, including step by step guides, and chemical diagrams explaining the Gupta method.