> I'm guessing that was state sponsored as a finger to the west I've heard this only from people with no experience dealing with the Chinese chemical industry.

> I'm guessing that was state sponsored as a finger to the west I've heard this only from people with no experience dealing with the Chinese chemical industry. I don't think people fully realise how hands off the state typically was in the last couple of decades - you could get Chinese contract labs or chemical suppliers to make and ship you almost anything, and they would even mislabel it to get it through customs. There were dozens of labs that were churning out batches of whatever the latest "research chemical" "not for human consumption" was, for the western consumer market. No state sponsor needed - the business was extremely lucrative for all involved, and the materials absolutely dirt cheap to produce. There was a solid 10 or so years where simply picking out a new analogue and having it manufactured to order was a de-facto licence to print money due to how long it took for a novel substance to be banned.