Stage one of production affects the quality of the raw cocaine paste made by farmers in the jungle mountain "pasta" labs. Paste purity content varies from farmer to farmer based on the recipe that they use, and whether they make it in pozo pits with acidic solutions or metal drums using gasoline and ammonia. Or whether they piss and shit in the paste which many do as a joke on Americans.
With the 90's murder of Escobar, the cartel's power and the manufacturing process declined. The farmer's raw pasta of 30% to 80% cocaine undergoes the second stage in processing being refined in "base" labs run by thousands of clandestine mom and pop labs rather than Escobar's large centralized labs. These labs take the paste and turn it into cocaine base. The final and most important stage occurs in the larger "crystal" labs where the base undergoes crystallization into cocaine hydrochloride. These labs are more sophisticated and tend to be somewhat centralized. All use recipes with minor variations and no organized national overseeing of quality control exists. The shoddy processes they use guarantees that the contaminating cocaine alkaloid impurities remain. The alkaloids are too similar to the cocaine alkaloid and can only be extracted with very expensive scientific equipment. For this reason, base cocaine received by these labs needs to have a high percentage of cocaine or it is rejected. …show more content…
The DEA imposed choke points with chemical importation limits on two key chemicals for purification: acetone and magnesium permanganate or it's substitue sodium permanganate. The kerosene or gas used to dissolve the leaves would normally be washed out with these two chemicals. The best non pharma process today is lucky to achieve 92% purity. DNM that advertise 96% pure are
With the 90's murder of Escobar, the cartel's power and the manufacturing process declined. The farmer's raw pasta of 30% to 80% cocaine undergoes the second stage in processing being refined in "base" labs run by thousands of clandestine mom and pop labs rather than Escobar's large centralized labs. These labs take the paste and turn it into cocaine base. The final and most important stage occurs in the larger "crystal" labs where the base undergoes crystallization into cocaine hydrochloride. These labs are more sophisticated and tend to be somewhat centralized. All use recipes with minor variations and no organized national overseeing of quality control exists. The shoddy processes they use guarantees that the contaminating cocaine alkaloid impurities remain. The alkaloids are too similar to the cocaine alkaloid and can only be extracted with very expensive scientific equipment. For this reason, base cocaine received by these labs needs to have a high percentage of cocaine or it is rejected. …show more content…
The DEA imposed choke points with chemical importation limits on two key chemicals for purification: acetone and magnesium permanganate or it's substitue sodium permanganate. The kerosene or gas used to dissolve the leaves would normally be washed out with these two chemicals. The best non pharma process today is lucky to achieve 92% purity. DNM that advertise 96% pure are