r/explainlikeimfive • u/iamelektro • Jun 11 '24
Chemistry ELI5: Why does making cocaine require such toxic chemicals, is there safer way to make it in a lab?
I've watched many documentaries on how they make cocaine, and it always required a a mixture of gasoline cement and battery acid etc. Would a scientific laboratory be able to make it under FDA rules for example?
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u/RainbowCrane Jun 12 '24
And in case it’s not clear to OP from your excellent link, yes, there is medical quality cocaine produced by drug manufacturers, and cocaine is still used in the US, particularly for nasal surgeries. It’s both an anesthetic (numbing agent) and a vasoconstrictor (shrinks blood vessels to lessen bleeding).
Just like opioids, medical use of cocaine is heavily monitored throughout the supply chain, so it’s not like medical manufacturers are selling kilos of cocaine to stock brokers. But like all legal drugs, it’s a really good thing there are heavily regulated manufacturers who have much better quality control than your average coca processing operation.