
Heroin's Hidden Ingredient Is a Chemical Made by U.S. Companies - AndrewBissell
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-08-26/u-s-drug-crisis-is-made-in-mexico-with-american-raw-materials
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xkcd-sucks
These War on Drugs PR pieces make me want to tear my hair out. \- Fentanyls
and other synthetics are _already_ a bigger problem than heroin

\- Without acetic anhydride, heroin is morphine, which is practically the same
thing

\- Without acetic anhydride, morphine can be acetylated in situ with acetic
acid (vinegar) and a little bit of technique.

\- Without acetic acid, morphine can be esterified with a million other
chemical species similar to acetate. I hear dibenzoylmorphine is particularly
easy "kitchen chemistry" with common ingredients and spectacular results

\- Acetic anhydride is already a DEA list 2 chemical.

It's like what is the end goal of writing these pieces? The endgame is my
kid's science teacher gets disappeared for running the "aspirin from salicylic
acid" lab, while cartels buy fucking cellulose acetate plants and divert a few
tons of acetic anhydride into heroin in between runs of preserved wood and
plastic pellets.

On the other hand if it leads to drug-subsidized development of the chemical
industry in Mexico, maybe that's good for the environment on the Gulf coast
and Mississippi Delta

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dbsmith83
I'm always skeptical of these kinds of attempts at controlling drug
production. Methylamine and acetic anhydride are not that difficult to
synthesize

