Thanks for your responce.
Just thought I would clarify my position even more.
I said it's a precursor to many things. Insect repellent. SSRI's. Blood Pressure Meds. And opiates. I said that if I was pushing a new synthesis for that precursor, I'd probably choose the drug industry because of financial reasons. It's a "bugaboo" for me I must admit(a point of personal contention with the way things are legislated and why). When I was a kid(9 years old) I was already ordering reagents from chemical supply houses and doing extractions of amines(for soaps and perfumes) and making various pyrotechnical stuff.
Anyway, I simply couldn't do that today as the chemicals are on various watch lists. Things like Petroleum Ether, Nitric Acid, etc. I find it sad because someone trying to do chemistry is hindered by these laws whereas you can buy heroin on every street corner for less than the price of a Coke(I live in South Africa)
I believe the same situation exists more or less in cities worldwide. So here's a breakdown of my stance, if anyone cares lol.
I believe a) that these lists create more harm than good. Criminals are gonna do what they do anyway. I'd rather they be able to order Petroleum Ether than use petrol which they cant fully evaporate. leaving impurities that result in drugs like Krocodyl so named because they cause flesh to fall off the user's body. I guess that's a different conversation but basically, I believe:
a) that the evil "normal" chemist gone bad and trying to order watched chemicals for drug synthesis is largely a myth.
b) The real cartels etc have access to all the chemicals and professional chemists they could ever want.
c) The experimenter that tries to create this stuff in their basement is not on any scale that is or ever has been a concern. This is why anything even approximating that happening IRL has become a series(breaking bad). That's how unusual it would be, and you can see why -> they would be breaking into a cartel-controlled scene and probably have a very short career.
d) I believe that obscuring knowledge is not the answer. More knowledge is the answer. For example research on K opioid receptors (and drugs affecting them), that can relieve pain without classic morphine symptoms.
e) New generations should have the freedom to follow along with science channel experiments without being put on a watch list for ordering some benign chemical that happens to be a reagent used IN MANY DIFFERENT syntheses. Which is obviously absurdly common in organic chemistry. Lewis Bases/Acids, Propionyl Chloride, Aniline etc. In many districts, these UBIQUITOUS chemicals would get you unwanted attention.
I feel like we need to absolutely not help(as you pointed out) in stuff that would make one morally and ethically culpable. But also let's have these conversations and not exclude(by proxy and legislatively) large swaths of the population(let's face it mostly non-whites and young people are affected as they are most likely to be stopped and listed when buying glassware for example) Which often are people we would like to see having the resources to get into chemistry, which is hands-on. One needs to actually experiment and do things to learn. We should make sure this is still possible instead of being led to ban and legislate everything due to(fearmongering and) a tiny minority who, I assure you, would be doing crime anyway. That's what criminals do.