From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.
Clandestine chemistry
generally refers to
chemistry carried out in
illegal
drug
laboratories, but can include
any kind of laboratory operation
carried on in secret because of
the illegality of its activities.
It is important to distinguish
between large and small scale
clandestine labs. Some individual
chemists work clandestinely in
order to synthesize controlled
substances for their own use in
order to guarantee purity and
quality. This is essentially an
auto-emergent safety protocol ---
something that would not be
necessary if the substances were
regulated.
History
Ancient forms of clandestine
chemistry included the
manufacturing of
poisons.
Another old form of clandestine
chemistry is the illegal
brewing and
distillation of
alcohol. This was frequently
done to avoid taxation on spirits.
In the United States in the
1920s, alcohol was on
prohibition. This opened a
door for brewers to supply their
own town with alcohol. Just like
modern day drug labs, distilleries
were placed in
rural areas. The term
moonshine generally
referred to "corn whiskey", that
is, a
whiskey-like liquor made from
corn.
Precursor chemicals
With the exception of cannabis,
and other herbal plants (like
kava kava,
salvia divinorum) every
illicit drug requires chemicals to
be refined to its final,
consumable form (e.g. the
coca plant to
cocaine, the
poppy plant to
morphine), or is purely the
result of chemical synthesis (e.g.
methamphetamine,
ecstasy, etc). Governments
have adopted a strategy of
chemical control as part of their
overall drug control and
enforcement plans. Chemical
control offers a means of
attacking illicit drug production
and disrupting the process before
the drugs have entered the market.
Because many legitimate
industrial chemicals are also
necessary in the processing and
synthesis of most illicitly
produced drugs, preventing the
diversion of these chemicals from
legitimate commerce to illicit
drug manufacturing is a difficult
job. Further, since so many
chemicals listed as illicit drug
precursors are manufactured all
over the world, international
cooperation combined with a
comprehensive chemical control
strategy is essential for chemical
control policies to succeed.
Leading suppliers of precursor
chemicals
Chemicals critical to the
production of cocaine, heroin, and
synthetic drugs are produced in
many countries throughout the
world. Many manufacturers and
suppliers exist in Europe, China,
India, the United States, and a
host of other countries.
Historically, chemicals
critical to the synthesis or
manufacture of illicit drugs are
introduced into various venues via
legitimate purchases by companies
that are registered and licensed
to do business as chemical
importers or handlers. Once in a
country or state, the chemicals
are diverted by rogue importers or
chemical companies, by criminal
organizations and individual
violators, or, more typically seen
in an overseas environment,
acquired as a result of coercion
on the part of drug traffickers.
In response to stricter
international controls, drug
traffickers have increasingly been
forced to divert chemicals by
mislabeling the containers,
forging documents, establishing
front companies, using circuitous
routing, hijacking shipments,
bribing officials, or smuggling
products across international
borders.
Enforcement of controls on
precursor chemicals
Operation Purple is a U.S.
DEA driven international
chemical control initiative
designed to reduce the illicit
manufacture of
cocaine in the Andean Region
by monitoring and tracking
shipments of
potassium permanganate (PP),
the chemical oxidizer of choice
for cocaine production. The
cornerstone of the operation is an
intensive PP tracking program
aimed at identifying and
intercepting diverted potassium
permanganate; identifying rogue
firms and suspect individuals;
gathering intelligence on
diversion methods, trafficking
trends, and shipping routes; and
taking administrative, civil,
and/or criminal action as
appropriate. Critical to the
success of this operation is the
communication network that gives
notification of shipments and
provides the government of the
importer sufficient time to verify
the legitimacy of the transaction
and take appropriate action. The
effects of this initiative have
been dramatic and far-reaching.
Operation Purple has exposed a
significant vulnerability among
traffickers, and has grown to
include almost thirty nations.
According to the DEA, Operation
Purple has been highly effective
at interfering with cocaine
production.
Acetic anhydride (AA), the
most commonly used chemical agent
in
heroin processing, is
virtually irreplaceable. According
to the DEA, Mexico remains the
only heroin source country that
has indigenous acetic anhydride
production capability, producing
87,000 metric tons in 1999 alone.
All other heroin producing
countries must import large
amounts of acetic anhydride. The
diversion of this chemical to
Colombian heroin laboratories is a
continuing problem. The DEA
reports that in 1999 three major
hijackings of tanker trucks
containing acetic anhydride
occurred in Colombia. A total of
95.9 metric tons of AA was stolen,
an amount sufficient to supply the
Colombian heroin trade for the
next five years. However, the
largest markets for diverted
acetic anhydride continue to be
heroin laboratories in Afghanistan
and Burma. Of particular note was
a March 2000 seizure of 72.8
metric tons of AA in Turkmenistan,
en route to heroin laboratories in
Afghanistan. Authorities in
Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan,
Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan
routinely seize ton quantity
shipments of diverted acetic
anhydride.
DEA's Operation Topaz is a
coordinated international strategy
targeting acetic anhydride. In
place since March 2001, a total of
thirty-one countries are currently
organized participants in the
program in addition to regional
participants. The DEA reports that
as of June 2001, some 125
consignments of acetic anhydride
had been tracked totaling
61,890,222.85 kilograms. As of
July 2001, there has been
approximately 20 shipments of AA
totaling 185,000 kilograms either
stopped or seized.
The methamphetamine situation
changed in the mid-1990's with the
entrance of Mexican organized
crime into production and
distribution. According to the DEA,
the seizure of 3.5 metric tons of
pseudoephedrine (the primary
precursor chemical used in the
production of methamphetamine) in
Texas revealed that Mexican
trafficking groups were producing
methamphetamine on an
unprecedented scale, with
potentially serious repercussions
for drug abuse throughout the
United States.
In countries where strict
chemical controls have been put in
place, illicit drug production has
been seriously affected. For
example, few of the chemicals
needed to process coca leaf into
cocaine are manufactured in
Bolivia or Peru. Most are smuggled
in from neighboring countries with
advanced chemical industries or
diverted from a smaller number of
licit handlers. Increased
interdiction of chemicals in Peru
and Bolivia has contributed to
final product cocaine from those
countries being of lower,
minimally oxidized quality.
As a result, Bolivian lab
operators are now using inferior
substitutes such as cement instead
of lime and sodium bicarbonate
instead of ammonia, recycled
solvents like ether, and are
attempting to streamline a
production process that virtually
eliminates oxidation to produce
cocaine base. Some laboratories
are not using sulfuric acid during
the maceration state;
consequently, less cocaine
alkaloid is extracted from the
leaf, producing less cocaine
hydrochloride, the powdered
cocaine marketed in the United
States. Similarly,
heroin-producing countries depend
on supplies of acetic anhydride
from the international market.
This heroin precursor continues to
account for the largest volume of
internationally seized chemicals,
according to the International
Narcotics Control Board. Since
July 1999, there have been several
notable seizures of acetic
anhydride in Turkey (amounting to
nearly seventeen metric tons) and
Turkmenistan (totaling
seventy-three metric tons).
The
Multilateral Chemical Reporting
Initiative encourages
governments to exchange
information on a voluntary basis
in order to monitor international
chemical shipments. Over the past
decade, key international bodies
like the Commission on Narcotic
Drugs and the U.N. General
Assembly's Special Session (UNGASS)
have addressed the issue of
chemical diversion in conjunction
with U.S. efforts. These
organizations raised specific
concerns about potassium
permanganate and acetic anhydride.
To facilitate the international
flow of information about
precursor chemicals, the United
States, through its relationship
with the Inter-American Drug
Control Abuse Commission (CICAD),
continues to evaluate the use of
precursor chemicals and assist
countries in strengthening
controls. Many nations still lack
the capacity to determine whether
the import or export of precursor
chemicals is related to legitimate
needs or illicit drugs. The
problem is complicated by the fact
that many chemical shipments are
either brokered or transshipped
through third countries in an
attempt to disguise their purpose
or destination.
The
International Narcotics Control
Board (INCB) has opted to
organize an international
conference with the goal of
devising a specific action plan to
counter the traffic in MDMA
precursor chemicals. In July 2001,
the INCB requested the assistance
of DEA in planning an
international conference on
preventing the diversion of
chemicals used in the production
of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS),
including ecstasy (MDMA)
and
methamphetamine.
Despite this long history of
law enforcement actions,
restrictions of chemicals, and
even covert military actions, it
must be noted that in the United
States most illicit drugs are as
or more available, purer, and less
expensive than at any time since
drug prohibition was imposed in
the early 20th century.
Amphetamines
Clandestine chemistry made its
mark in the late
1960s when
amphetamines became illegal.
Biker
gangs including the
Hell's Angels took control
over the manufacture of
amphetamines using standard
laboratory equipment.
Methamphetamine was a favorite
among
biker gangs. But after
phenylacetone became a
Schedule II controlled immediate
precursor in 1979, it was harder
for
underground
chemists to manufacture
methamphetamine.
Frustrated, underground
chemists searched for alternative
methods for producing
methamphetamine, and figured out
how to convert
ephedrine into
methamphetamine. At the time,
ephedrine was not a
watched chemical, and
ephedrine pills could be bought by
the thousands without raising any
kind of suspicion.
In the
1990s, ephedrine became a
closely watched chemical by the
DEA, effectively making it harder
for underground chemists to
produce methamphetamine.
In
2002, there were over 15,000
methamphetamine lab busts, mostly
in poor areas of the West and
Midwest.
Modern
Clandestine chemistry does not
limit itself only to
drugs, it is also associated
with
explosives, and other illegal
chemicals.
Nitroglycerin is one chemical
that clandestine chemists are
known for producing on a small
scale. Other, simpler explosives
are commonly made by people for
"fun", including
acetone peroxide.
Uncle Fester is a writer who
commonly writes about different
aspects of clandestine chemistry.
Secrets of Methamphetamine
Manufacture is among one of
his most popular books, and is
considered required reading for
DEA Agents. More of his books deal
with other aspects of clandestine
chemistry, including explosives,
and poisons. Fester is, however,
considered by many to be a faulty
and unreliable source for
information in regard to the
clandestine manufacture of
chemicals.
Alexander Shulgin and his wife
Ann Shulgin wrote two
extremely important volumes to the
world of illicit chemistry
entitled
TiHKAL and
PiHKAL. Their research has
been of paramount importance to
the clandestine world. It should
be stressed that their work with a
degree in chemistry along with the
proper government permissions is
the only sure way to study illicit
chemicals safely.
Other forms of clandestine
chemistry have gained popularity
among some
teenagers. Since the rise of
the
Internet, some
teenagers have access to
information on topics such as the
extraction of
dextromethorphan (DXM) from
over the counter
cough medicine. Some
teenagers have also gained
knowledge regarding the
manufacturing of
explosives, the most popular
of which is
acetone peroxide. But due to
the lack of reliable information
on the Internet, deaths have
occurred in a small number of
these amateur chemistry
experiments.
