> But a human-designed synthetic process can always be human-redesigned. It happens constantly in the drug industry - the production of such a common drug as ibuprofen changed completely in the early 1990s, for example (a story for another time). For an illegal drug, that means that law enforcement will always be a step or two behind as new methods come on line. And it means that stopping the supply of such a drug will be difficult-to-impossible as well.

1) I wish he would have provided a link for the ibuprofen story.

2) With regards to the very last bit, You'll never stop the production. Ironically, "the war on drugs" has meant more and higher quality drugs.

What might be possible is mitigating the financial incentives.

It might also be a good time (read: long over due) to ask: why so many people have so much pain (i.e., physical or emotional) that they require a persistent altered state of mind (to defuse the pain)?

I'm not talking about prevention. I'm talking about a society / culture that is as good at generating customers for these substances as the producer are good at meeting those needs.