OTC-DRUG-SYNTHESIS

Humans use over-the-counter drugs to alleviate sickness, relieve pain or attain the euphoria of contentment without a doctor's prescription. OTC medicines have undesirable side effects, for instance, hallucinations, addiction, societal problems. Different states criminalized psychoactive drugs in 20th century for similar reasons (Julian, 2011). According to Julian (2011), they include Cocaine, Heroin, Ecstacy and LSD... To extract cocaine from coca leaves, one needs kerosene, solid sodium carbonate, distilled water and 5% sulphuric (VI) acid. Other reagents include 10% ammonium hydroxide, 37% hydrochloric acid, 6% potassium manganate (VII), diethyl ether, 5 kilo bags of coca tea and acetone. Dissolve sodium carbonate in 9.5 liters of water. Add the coca leaves and kerosene and leave for three nights. Separate the kerosene from the leaves and add H2SO4. Add KMnO4 every 5 or ten minutes and wait for 30 minutes after the last addition. Add NH4OH and keep the pH at 10. Precipitate the..