[cwkoss]

From what I remember from the Hamilton's Pharmacopeia episode on Ketamine, this synthesis is actually quite complex and a high-yield synthesis (which is presumably being used currently by manufacturers) is not published in publicly available literature.

However, ketamine is widely used as an anesthetic, so I think the "cheap to make" refers to Ketamine redirected from the pharma market to illicit channels, in which case "making" ketamine is just drying the solution to crystalize the sole ingredient.