It’s just easy to synthesize and potent so it’s easy to smuggle. Manufacturers get pitted against each other and end up selling for cost + markup and a small r

It’s just easy to synthesize and potent so it’s easy to smuggle. Manufacturers get pitted against each other and end up selling for cost + markup and a small risk premium. Overall, drugs are cheap, it’s the regulations that make it expensive/difficult to acquire. Easy to interdict heroin or opium from Afghanistan, not so easy for potent synthetics coming from an export powerhouse. Safety for the consumer isn’t a concern for the regulators so you end up with this situation.