Again, the only real issue worth considering is how to get precursor. The equipment will run you a couple thousand dollars, which is really nothing in the grand scheme of things, considering how much you can profit off a successful synthesis. The synthesis itself is only marginally harder than something like MDMA, the precursors for both are schedule I in the USA, and all the other chemicals involved are easy to obtain or synthesize. Yet they’re treated completely differently. If you want to synthesize MDMA, everyone is helpful and encouraging, but the moment you mention LSD all you get is “forget it bruh, it’s wizardry, you need 8 pHds, 12 eons of experience and a magical wish-granting unicorn”.
Can you do it in your kitchen without proper gear and experience with chemistry? No. Is the precursor easy to obtain? No. Should you do it without understanding the dangers associated with the chemicals and procedures involved? No. If you can clear those hurdles however, it’s easy. And by “experience with chemistry” I don’t mean 20 years of formal education either, any wannabe chemist with the proper motivation and determination can learn the required practical skills and theory in a couple of weeks of serious study using e-books and videos. This is the Internet era, it’s not 1970 where your only method of learning stuff like this was indeed a collage education.
When comparing it with something like MDMA, the precursors are equally difficult to obtain, the equipment involved is pretty much the same, the level of difficulty for the synthesis itself is pretty close, yet they’re treated completely differently. Did you stop to consider that the reason for LSD being so rare when compared to MDMA is precisely because of the difference in treatment despite the comparable level of difficulty? What do you expect will happen if everyone that tries to learn about LSD synthesis is told pretty much “forget it, it’s impossible” from the get-go? They’ll either give up entirely or make something else, which in turn contributes to your statistics and relative rarity of LSD.
If we ever hope to improve the situation, the process needs to be demystified instead of treated like sorcery, and people need to be provided with actual information instead of being told to give up the moment they mention it. Even if only a small percentage of the people interested attempt it and succeed, it’s still better than no one even attempting it in the first place. With that attitude it can only become more and more rare, and possibly disappear entirely.
