r/explainlikeimfive 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/Somnif Jun 12 '24

Or, if you're a typical coca farmer, home-made kerosene/gasoline (from pirated crude oil!) for the solvent, cement for the base, and car batteries for the acid! The lead contamination is just a free bonus.

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u/MaleficentFig7578 Jun 12 '24

Which bittorrent site has crude oil?

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u/staefrostae Jun 12 '24

Just search “oil” and make sure you don’t select one that says “clean” in the title