e, 1983, 89).
The upsurge in drug use in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s created a sub culture in part dedicated to producing alternative or synthetic versions of drugs proscribed under Schedule I and II, as dangerous or controlled (see Appendix I). There is one document (See Appendix II) available on the Internet that contains much of the pertinent information regarding the synthesis of cocaine from precursors. A close inspection of this document dates it from at least 1984, with a refreshment of the exact same document in 1994. However, this was not a revolutionary process being described. It has been well known for some time that synthetic cocaine could be manufactured from ecgonine [C9H15NO3] (Considine, 1983, 89). What is different, sociologically speaking, is that the knowledge of how to produce this dangerous and addictive drug, has become public knowledge, vis a vis the Internet.
What is being described is a step by step process of double and triple replacement. The instructions break down into four sets of linked processes, each with subcategories involving synthesizing the ingredients needed to produce synthetic cocaine. In short, the author indicates that tropinone be converted first into 2 carbomethoxytropinine (meythel tropon 3 one 2 carbonate). Next 2 carbomethoxytropinine needs to converted to ecgonine and ecgonine into cocaine (see below). The instructions come with the warning that the process is not easy. Indeed, anyone not familiar with the equipment and procedures would do well to leave things alone.
This is a chemical depiction of the process:
C8H13NO > C8H13NO4 > C9H15N03 > C17H21NO4
To complete step one, the reader is instructed to buy Succindialdehyde. If this not possible, instructions are given for converting succinaldoxime into succindialdehyde. The procedure is complicated, and needs to be repeated four times to yield enough succindialdehyde to complete the formula...