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119 Comments
- gravelocity, on 10/12/2007, -1/+68Who in the ***** was the first person to figure all of this ***** out? Talk about trial and error.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+63Anything soaked in gasoline must be good for you.
- Napalm05, on 10/12/2007, -5/+56Cocaine is a hell of a drug.
- WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+48@elroy
"Like the video says, what they're making is cocaine sulphate, which is pretty close to crack... The whole point of crack is to break it away from the hydrochloride ion and bind it to something that smokes a little better (biocarbonate from baking soda)."
Sorry but...you have no idea what you are talking about.
(I haven't even watched this video, but I know a bit of chemistry!)
When the alkaloid is extracted from the leaves, it is base, or naturally alkaline.
The pasta -- (paste) is usually a crude extract, often done with kerosene, or any other cheap, available organic (non-polar) solvent.
This free-base, or free alkali (alkaloid) must be converted to a 'salt', to render it water soluble, if it is to be inhaled through nasal membranes.
An alkali is converted to a salt by reacting with an acid. Generally, historically (and I go back a long way), this is/was done with hydrochloric acid, sulphuric acid, or nitric acid, resulting in, respectively, cocaine hydrochloride, cocaine sulphate, or cocaine nitrate.
The principal difference in potency, is that the hydrochloride salt of cocaine has, in the molecule, about 89-90% cocaine base, by weight, the remaining 11% being the chloride ions.
The C-sulphate form has about 75% cocaine base, bonded to about 25% sulphate ions, by weight. And the nitrate form is, if memory serves, has about 50-55% cocaine base, bonded to about 45-50% nitrate ions. (...not sure of the exact number)
This fact is due to the relative molecular weights of the ions involved, compared to the ion of 'free base', and the particular ratios in which they combine, as a fact of chemistry.
In the old days, people used to sometimes get a kind of coke with a really raunchy smell, that was called 'cat-piss coke.' It sometimes had a slight yellow color. This was cocaine sulphate, crudely made or not well purified, that often had a residue of sulphuric acid still in it. Hence, the smell.
And sometimes (late 70's - early 80's), with another kind, it might seem weak, even though it had no detectable 'cuts' (added adulterants). But most notably, if it was stored in a piece of paper, eventually the paper would turn brown and deteriorate, and sometimes the paper then looked like it had been slashed up with a razor blade.
This effect came from residual nitric acid, from cocaine nitrate that was not well prepared or purified. Remember how nitric acid turned your fingers brown, in high school chemistry class?
(So one can only imagine the results of nasally inhaling something that has a residue of one of these strong acids in it, since it was prepared in an underground lab -- often not meeting the highest standards of purity)
When these various alkaloid-salts (water soluble, snort-able form) are converted back to alkaloid, or free- base, (or... 'crack' , the crudely processed, 'commercial' form), this is done by stripping off the ion that came from the acid, either a hydrochloride, sulphate, or nitrate ion, by using another alkali, like sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) or ammonium hydroxide. The baking soda residue then must be washed away with water!
These are much stronger in alkalinity than the free-base cocaine ion.
Thus, the acidic part of the molecule is attracted to the stronger base, liberating the weaker base, in this case, the cocaine.
And not being water soluble, it naturally precipitates out of the aqueous solution.
(There...I've said too much already!)
Since it is not water soluble, it is not effective if snorted.
I guess maybe people smoke it. I wouldn't recommend it.
I learned that the hard way, long ago.
Note also, that when you 're-base' uncut C-hydrochloride, you can expect about 89-90% yield , while basing C-Sulphate will return about 75% by weight, and C-Nitrate will give the lowest yield, or about 45-50% (?)
Wow ....I gave that same exact explanation to an attorney in the Justice Dept. or DEA, many years ago, to answer their questions. lol
Of course, when 'crack' is prepared directly from the leaves, there is no need to convert the crude alkaloid extract into a water soluble form, using an acid. It only needs to be extracted, purified and dried.
The name 'crack' started from the characteristic crackling sound that it made, while burning, years ago, when it began appearing 'ready made', and was full of impurities.
Pretty disgusting! Sometimes, it smelled like burning old tires -- probably residue from crude grades of petroleum-based solvents.
That same rather crude product (crack) was called basuca (Bazooka), at one point,
in S. America...same as, or made from 'pasta' .
OK I'm done showing off...now maybe I'll RTFA! ;-) - asdfasdf, on 10/12/2007, -7/+52"doesn't everyone know how to make crack by now?"
Nobody would, because there are better alternatives.
You can buy dry poppies on Ebay and make Opium tea. This is all legal: http://stores.ebay.com/The-Poppy-Pod-Depot
You can grow Magic Mushrooms at home very easily. That's the reason the demand isn't there for 'shrooms, even though they are easier, less risky, faster and cheaper to grow than pot, not to mention less dangerous and more fun.
http://www.fungifun.org/English/Pftek
Not to mention Salvia:
http://www.Iamshaman.com
and a few sites outside the US that sell research chemicals. - Roger, on 10/12/2007, -3/+46Cool. I'm off to make some cocaine.
- Yashar, on 10/12/2007, -4/+47When you're done, give me a hand with my meth lab.
- molsen311, on 10/12/2007, -1/+39no wonder gas prices are so high...
- burnstyle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+37just watching this is making my nose bleed....
- asdfasdf, on 10/12/2007, -3/+38In chemistry, 1+1 does not equal 2. A lot of things you eat, use on your body and use to medicate yourself with involve a synthesis requiring the use of dozens of chemicals you'd never want near, let alone INSIDE, your body.
Pure cocaine is relatively safe. It is a schedule II drug, and is easier to prescribe than Marijuana. Methamphetamine is also a schedule II drug and is also relatively safe. The danger comes when people use these stimulants to stay awake for 2-10 weeks straight without eating.
The danger with stimulants is not so much that they physically do any damage to you, because they don't. The problem is that when you're on meth, and feel better than GOD for 12 hours, what are you going to do when you come down? Psychological addiction is what hurts people, but the people it hurts are people who would have been addicted to a legal drug, sugar, junk food, etc.. some people are just prone to addiction.
Meth, prescribed as Desoxyn is still prescribed widely today for ADD/ADHD and weight loss. Contrary to popular belief, Amphetamine psychosis (what the mother in Requiem For A Dream goes through) is relatively uncommon and is NOT permanent.
As for most things, moderation is the key. Too much water will, and has killed a lot of people. A lot more than Marijuana has ever killed (it killed zero..). An oxygen overdose is also fatal. - BrainInAJar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+29I'm assuming it was someone who understands chemistry...
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+33Wake me when they get to making crack rocks....
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+26lol, filtered with a rag... Brita has new competition
- smoothly, on 10/12/2007, -3/+26ahhh, about that part in the middle.... now i see where i've been going wrong!
- barryq, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24You can learn anything on the internet.
You just have to find the right tube.
I can see why that would be bad for the environment. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22I am so impressed with how knowledgeable and civilized the Digg community can be.
I've been reading too many Wii and PS3 articles I guess.. - cam0man, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22natives have chewed on the leaves for centuries, all it took was a person with a chemistry background to figure out how to concentrate it and extract the active chemicals.
it's not like some guy just loved mixing substances/putting them into his body and one day he stumbled across cocaine... - Steelfox, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23I bet figuring out you had to snort it took a while to figure out too.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+27I'm Rick James Bitch. Enjoy yourself.
- elroy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20Wow, the poster above me went on quite a rant. Here's a simpler version:
They're using gasoline as a nonpolar solvent, to dissolve the active compounds from the plant. Once it precipitates out, the gas is discarded/recycled. At the end, they say that the precipitate needs to be treated with acetone. This is to dissolve the remaining petrolium products from the product ("washing" it). The acetone is pure and volatile, and will evaporate off leaving nothing behind except the coke.
They *COULD* use acetone or ether from the start, but as you can tell from the video, this is a small operation -- gasoline is cheaper.
*Cement: I think it's used to soak up stuff... They don't need any precious coke juice staying on the floor, or inside the cells of the plant material... - indicas, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17@asdfasdf:
Please don't spread misinformation. Poppy pods are legal to have for floral reasons, but it *is* illegal to brew up and consume Poppy pod tea.
As for mushrooms: there isn't a demand? People around my parts buy 2 gram chocolates for $30. With $30 you could theoretically grow unlimited supplies of mushrooms granted you already have a pressure cooker - or skip growing and go picking in cow fields or woods (but be *sure* to have an experienced mycologist identify the mushies first). It's hard to compare the ease of growing between mushrooms and pot - they grow in completely different environments and require two completely different growing procedures. With mushrooms you need to watch the humidity, you must be sure everything is sterile, you must watch for contams, and so on. As for the danger factor, physically yeah they are very safe, but psychologically they can be extremely risky. And don't think that if you get caught growing mushrooms it won't be a big deal - cultivating any illegal plant is a felony.
To anyone interested in the plants/substances listed, *research research research* before you ingest or begin cultivating anything. - squeaker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16Anyone know what the documentary is? I'd like to see it.
- slyweazel, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18That's exactly what I was thinking.
- tony134340, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15I figured the process would've been faster being cocaine.
- retral, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15Maybe they should show this to kids in school to scare them away from using it.
- Derrekito, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Serious Gasoline.. the chemicals alone would scare some off for life. I think this would be a better tactic than telling kids they will loose their jobs live in an alley sucking dick for their next fix....
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10@ waterdragon
that is some heavy education you just laid on all of us. i think we should all get together and discuss the details over a baggie. seriously though, its amazing the knowledge one can accumulate here on digg if you dont spend countless hours debating xbox and ps3's. - chicagobiker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9All the chemicals/gasoline is just a ghetto way of extracting the one ingredient you need for the fun effects. For centuries people of that region have sucked and chewed on Coca leaves getting an adrenal "high" or rush along with the oral numbing effect.
Someone educated in chemistry figured out what the active ingredient in the leaves was and what you're seeing here is a really really low tech way of extracting just that ingredient from the plant.
If you were to allow Pfizer or another major pharmaceutical to do this there's a much cleaner and purer way to get the end result without using rags and gasoline.
If all you wanted was nicotine out of the tobacco plant and no access to a modern chemical lab, you would use a similar method of extracting it (if you had the education of how to get from plant to chemical).
I don't know the chemistry, but I'm assuming the gasoline and acid destroy the bad and separate the good without hurting it so you wind up with just the part of the plant you're looking for. - RoshanK, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12correct me if I'm wrong but dosent it say that they're mixing CEMENT with the leaves at the beginning?
- Otto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Yes, they mix it with cement, however they can really use any inorganic base to macerate the leaves. The purpose of this stage is to extract the cocaine free base from the leaves into the solvent, which is actually kerosene. Despite the video, they do not use gasoline because of the poor production levels that they'd get. Kerosene is just as cheap and works a hell of a lot better.
Anyway, the cement helps break down the leaves and gives them more surface area. This is also why they mulched them. You can do the same thing with acids, but bases are better for the next step, which is to add the kerosene. The kerosene is a solvent and draws the cocaine out. The more finely they mulch, the more they macerate, the faster this occurs.
After they have let it soak for several hours, they show them separating the solvent by filtering and siphoning. They do this several times, and what they end up with is actually completely organic. All the inorganic base is filtered out by the siphoning.
At this point, they basically have kerosene with cocaine dissolved into it. They add sulfuric acid, which combines with the cocaine to produce cocaine sulfate. More filtering and separation gets rid of the kerosene, and then they add a base to it (lime, caustic soda, whatever) to neutralize what's left of the sulfuric acid. One more separation later and they have the cocaine sulfate as a yellowish paste. - coldsnap0, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Teachers should use this in their class as a reason to not do drugs...
- Sharkee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Should the price of coke be going up as our price of gas goes up?
- baldycraig, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Yes... yes it is quite interesting...
- elroy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Like the video says, what they're making is cocaine sulphate, which is pretty close to crack... The whole point of crack is to break it away from the hydrochloride ion and bind it to something that smokes a little better (biocarbonate from baking soda).
If you smoke a hydrochloride salt... well... google "Meth Mouth" - Soniti, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Maybe when you're both done, you can help me dig my underground pot bunker...
- Foenetik, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11doesn't everyone know how to make crack by now?
- CursorTN, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7*****, that's more interesting than the Chem lab I had back in school!
- Dested, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Snort?
- mackdaddy187, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10After watching that I don't think its the coca that ***** you, it looks like all the chemicals are responsible for the ***** part.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+12What a fascinating video.. I'm surprised those men showed their faces on film.
- RiotActing, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8the CIA has the recipe...
- posneg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6How many parts gasoline again?
- DeadLikeMe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5OSHA will be all over these guys. Expect the price of coke to skyrocket once these guys comply with OSHA requirements: respirators, aid stations, chemical suits, better lunch room facilities, chemical dispolsal, etc...
- tacom8, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I read somewhere that for the longest time people that live in high mountain areas chewed on coca leaves to comabat altitude sickness. I am guessing that people eventually wised up and realised that more leaves the merrier. The locals must have had a little assitance however, I dont think anyone just starts mixing random crap and discovers he can produce cocain on the cheap.
/dammit cam0man, beat me to the punch - gridbread, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7"They kill you." :D
- WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6@ otto
"At this point, they basically have kerosene with cocaine dissolved into it. They add sulfuric acid, which combines with the cocaine to produce cocaine sulfate. More filtering and separation gets rid of the kerosene, and then they add a base to it (lime, caustic soda, whatever) to neutralize what's left of the sulfuric acid. One more separation later and they have the cocaine sulfate as a yellowish paste."
Your explanation was cute and pretty succinct, and probably mostly accurate. (I still didn't RTFA)
Just to summarize, for the kiddies:
So far, they have used (besides cement) torch fuel (kerosene), and then , basically, Drano (lye, caustic soda, used as a drain cleaner), and car-battery acid! (sulphuric acid)
Note, the drain cleaner is added to remove the battery acid residue.
And if it is not the exact right amount (and surely it is off by a lot, since they can't count molecules)...you end up with drain cleaner (lye, caustic soda, sodium hydroxide) in the final product that they sell you. Do you really want to put that stuff in your body?
If you don't learn the chemistry, and know ALL about purity, you are just playing a deadly game.
It's like f**king around with high voltage wires when you are not an electrician! - MooMaster716, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Well according to my dad, who's from Tabasco, Mexico( The very south jungle part of Mexico), the native people(Indians) used to consume the coca leaf like gum because it gave you a boost of energy to work. I think he said the native Indians still use it to this day for this specific reason seeing as how using the coca leaf as gum gives you no sort of extreme Phycidelic high or anything and its been used this way for hundreds of years. My guess as to how its become the cocane that we know of today is some guy just probably wanted a longer stronger high and well maybe he was a chemist? Wasn't LSD made by a chemist?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7If I'm buying my crack they better start using 93 octane
- WaterDragon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6@asdfasdf
"Pure cocaine is relatively safe. It is a schedule II drug, and is easier to prescribe than Marijuana. Methamphetamine is also a schedule II drug and is also relatively safe. The danger comes when people use these stimulants to stay awake for 2-10 weeks straight without eating."
You, sir, are a fool and an irresponsible liar!
Methamphetamine is NOT relatively safe. The corrupt big pharmaceutical forms and the corrupt western doctors who sell their ***** might make that claim, but any responsible person, who knows anything about health, would never make such a bogus claim.
And i bet not one acupuncturist or traditional Chinese doctor in the world would ever say that....about cocaine OR about Meth.
Cocaine does seem a little less destructive than Methamphetamine, even assuming very moderate usage of either...
...but moderate usage of either -- just about never happens,
and even a little methamphetamine can be seriously destructive to a person's energy, and to their body/nervous system!
Those bogus scientists at the drug companies, and so many doctors, of the limited western 'medicine' theory (that only treats everything with 'a drug')-- don't even understand the precisse pharmacological action of cocaine, or how it produces the effects that people who use it seem to like so much..
(And NO, it's not all about releasing Serotonine!)
Hint: the varied 'desired effects' actually are produced by four trophins from the pituitary gland.
And if you keep triggering their immediate release, regularly, or too often, you run the risk of damaging the deeper processes that normally regulate these trophins, and the entire chemistry of the pituitary gland. (These processes are not known by your ignorant medical profession, or by your ignorant scientists. ...and they are not entirely 'chemical' or material processes.)
(And you won't find that in any of your stupid textbooks!)
Digg readers...beware of the fake knowledge that certain diggers spread, for some kind of stupid pride they suffer from! - BadMonkey0001, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4You're all right about the leaves being chewed. I had the chance to be around a coca plant for a while when I was younger and of course we all tried the leaves. They're meally, they make your tongue sting and they taste like sucking on an old car battery. When you're done, your mouth feels sore and tastes horrible for a couple of days.
The leaves give a shorter(!) high about 1/10th the feel of the powdery form (comparing a single leaf to a single line). I bet processing it wasn't to concentrate the substance as much as to find a palpable way of ingesting it that didn't take the high away. The increased strength was probably a bonus. -
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