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Sharing because I found this very interesting.

The Four Thieves Vinegar Collective has a DIY design for a home lab you can set up to reproduce expensive medication for dirt cheap, producing medication like that used to cure Hepatitis C, along with software they developed that can be used to create chemical compounds out of common household materials.

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[-] 2pt_perversion@lemmy.world 52 points 1 week ago

This is super cool and helpful as a resource but I really don't think people without a chemistry background should be doing anything more than following precise instructions, hopefully with some form of verification test at the end. The idea to have people without a chemistry background use a forked version of askcos and just run with it is a little scary.

The affordable Controlled Lab Reactor for diy is fantastic for helping people follow precise instructions to the letter just all of those instructions should be meticulously vetted by actual chemists and have some safeguard tests at the end where necessary. It seems the founder wants that vision too at the end of the conference just there's not enough of a community yet to support it.

[-] obbeel 2 points 1 week ago

I see drug lords getting into this if it is feasible and it isn't a good scenario. It would paint them as real saviors and make the situation more unstable.

[-] ArchRecord@lemm.ee 1 points 1 week ago

Technically, drug dealers are using the tech (more specifically, other people are using it, then selling the product to the drug dealers, who then sell it to their customers as a 'service' included with the drugs)

The thing is, they're not doing it to make stronger drugs, or for PR purposes. They're actually adding pre-exposure prophylactics (PrEPs) into their heroin, which then creates the side effect of preventing the contraction of HIV from the needles. (referenced about 1/3rd of the way down this article)

If people are already going to be addicted to these drugs, them not getting HIV from it is just one harm reduction measure that can reduce their risk of serious, permanent illness.

[-] obbeel 1 points 1 week ago

I don't know about where you live, but here the drug lords owns some territory. And within that territory, they take political actions like closing the nearby churches, for example. I think selling actual medication could serve their purpose very well. They already sell smartphones for a low price to the local people ($15).

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this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2024
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