[polyfractal]

While Shulgin was certainly a very cool fellow and did exceptional research, he also had a pretty unique situation. Being friends with the head of the DEA he was able to get a DEA license to work on scheduled compounds.

Your average Joe won't have those kind of connections, or even access to current literature, which rather limits you to certain fields (i.e. not anything biology, chemistry or probably physics).

[blhack]

OP isn't asking about doing things that would be normally regulated by the DEA.

I'm just using Shulgin as an example of somebody who went "screw it" and kept researching things on their own.

[polyfractal]

Yeah, fair point. And hey, this guy built a mass-spec in his garage, so a lot can be done in a non-academic environment:

http://benkrasnow.blogspot.com/2011/03/diy-scanning-electron...

[polyfractal]

Whoops, I meant an electron microscope, not a mass spec!

[AnupSavvy]

excellent!!!

[AnupSavvy]

I am really glad to see you people sharing your thoughts and comments. Every comment comes like a new idea to me. Thanks!!