You can synthesize a useful precursor to enantiomerically pure methamphetamine from baker's yeast and benzaldehyde. It's been found in an actual clandestine dru

You can synthesize a useful precursor to enantiomerically pure methamphetamine from baker's yeast and benzaldehyde. It's been found in an actual clandestine drug lab at least once: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19443151 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19443151 It's rare for organized crime to resort to sophisticated precursor-manufacturing because they can buy/smuggle such chemicals more easily than doing multi-stage manufacturing starting from commodity chemicals. It's rare for solo operators[1] because most "meth cooks" are not capable bench chemists. Following simple recipes assembled by others is about all they can do. [1] Ones that get caught, anyway.