[Kromm]

The specific details of these processes are not really suitable for discussion here, but we can speak in generalities . . .

While I'm a physicist and not a chemist by education, I was friends with many people my age whose parents were doing this stuff in the 1960s. Most of it starts with basic solvent extractions: find something that the desirable stuff dissolves in but the binders/impurities do not. That's the simplest process, but while it's safe when it's cold water (e.g., getting codeine out of acetominophen-codeine mixtures), it's far from safe when it's something like CCl4 stolen from the janitor's closet or an old fire extinguisher. The same goes for any synthesis involving surface catalysis . . . just bust open an old car exhaust or battery and go for it. The dangers are often more in the cost-cutting and use of poorly understood gear than in bad chemistry per se – I absolutely agree that it should be possible for total non-chemists to learn these processes, probably as One-Task Wonder perks, but that those without Chemistry can't follow up with good judgment on cleaning up the end product.