I want to buy bulk drug powders, put them in capsules, and sell them... legally

[Mahzkrieg]

Any insights?

Obviously you lawyer up and hide the kids since there's some real unclear FDA precedence on unscheduled non-supplement "drugs". Nootropics like Piracetam might come to mind in the realm of uncertainty, but that's nothing. You can start with a benzene ring and for every phenyl group you add to the molecule, you have a brand new PubMed-listed cognitive enhancer until you start hitting organic alkaloids.

There's obviously a lot of tempting position margin in the pill scene (at the very least). If you've ever ordered powders online, you know this. When the biggest American suppliers are racing to bottom and have vbscript websites with <marquee> tags and the most common question in drug forums is "Where can I buy <legal drug X> because <big supplier> looks shady", there's room for a premium. Your smartly-marketed premium.

Is this something you can tank and spank with nothing but a DBA name and some gelatin caps from CVS on your kitchen counter or do you back off til you can get a crack team of pre-law undergrads working around the clock?

 

[Jameel]

This is getting pretty popular Alpha BRAIN

But he also makes this shit... Alphanail | Nail Polish for Men and Fighters

AlphaNail - YouTube

 

[Mahzkrieg]

Alright, not much interest.

But I'll first try to add value to this thread should anyone else be interested or stumble upon it. Here's some second-hand research from last night.

I'll use Piracetam as an example since we have a thread on it and it's the perfect example of an unscheduled chemical that is not a dietary supplement or a drug. It also has a lot of buzz since a supplier got a letter from the FDA in 2010. But Kratom is another example that most of yall have probably heard about.

* Firstly, get legal counsel. Cover your ass.

* Don't make health/medical claims about unscheduled chemicals that are not dietary supplements. Just sell them.

From the aforementioned FDA letter regarding a supplier making health claims about Piracetam:

And while we're at it...

Anyways,

Case study: Cerebral Health (CH), a popular supplier among communities discussing nootropics. This is their Piracetam listing:

That "learn more" link goes to Wikipedia.

...But farther up the page, they don't seem that concerned about having a one-liner suggesting that it's for consumption. But it's far less info than their supplements like Omega-3 with a full multi-paragraph sales pitch.

* Test your chemicals for purity and test them for heavy metal content. Here's an example of what those may look like: CoA’s | Relentless Improvement High-Quality Nutritional Supplements. There's actually test compliance at the federal and/or state level. I forgot the acronyms. Which is why you'd want to talk to a lawyer. But it's pretty obvious that half the supplement industry is not compliant and plays roulette with getting audited. But they pretty much play roulette with everything.

* The FDA seems to rely on complaints, given the size of the supplemental industry, and a great volume of FDA action allegedly comes from competitors supplies making those complaints. This is probably obvious shit, but it's new discourse to me and I pretty much hear it around the internet.

CH guy himself said this:

* FDA inspections are just a way for the FDA to gather intel on how profitable it will be once they schedule a chemical, make it economically unavailable for regular citizens, and get in bed with any pharmaceutical company that wants to turn it into a prescription. Edgy discourse. Do you like it?

* Nootropics like Piracetam are new territory for the FDA. The legal stage is still setting up, but it'll take a while. The lesson here is to stay on top FDA enforcement and discourse. Is the Army/media blaming soldier deaths on your top-selling chemical even though caffeine showed up with double the volume in toxicology report?

Relevant NYT article from 20 days ago regarding DMAA in "Jack3d" supplement: Army Studies Workout Supplements After Deaths

* Whenever you hear about FDA scheduling another chemical with few side effects that does nothing but enhance cognitive function and productivity, remind yourself that alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine are legal. :xomunch: Would caffeine be unscheduled if it was introduced today? Probably not.

Hope this is interesting to someone. IANAL. Just sharing some ideas I found mostly from appeared to be small-time suppliers on random forums.

Aside: I enjoyed stumbling upon the CH owner while looking up online discussions in this matter. He's really professional, knowledgeable, and a beacon of sanity amidst the shady/unethical point of views I saw expressed during my voyage last night. He won himself a customer.

If anyone else is interested in this kind of stuff or wants a more private forum to talk about it or school me, I'm always down for a private message.

DTPM.

 

[jenzkc]

nootropics have been sold online since the internet began. it's not a new market. shit, i knew about them while I was still using dial-up BBS.

 

[TechS]

Are you interested in a building a brand?

If so there are some good case studies on nootropic marketing. AlphaBrain by onnit labs is one. The gentleman that owns the company is pretty out there, frequently on the Joe Rogan podcast as a drugs and partying philosopher of sorts. He is a very savvy marketer with the clear success of AlphaBrain which IMO was a pretty targeted strike.

Another one is of course the study of Tim Ferris and bodyquicken. Lots of info out there on this as well.

 

[Mahzkrieg]

nootropics have been sold online since the internet began. it's not a new market. shit, i knew about them while I was still using dial-up BBS.

Fair enough. I'm new to pushing product myself in general. This is the first time I'm looking up what it entails and thought I found some interesting things. In hindsight, this should probably be in my Newbie Blog in the Newbie's Corner. :banana_sml:

After stumbling upon a bunch of discussions from people selling import volume from their dorm room floor, it's not intimidating as it was when I first started this thread.

For example, all the FDA enforcement actions I've looked up so far were due to some clearly shady practices that are unequivocal no-brainers to avoid. Like listing 10 ingredients on your product that are chemical synonyms for the same molecule. Or selling anti-cancer drugs.