Are you saying that the methamphetamine produced in Russia is racemic because P2P is cheap?
I never asserted that ANY methamphetamine was being produced in Russia. I merely noted that EMCDDA intelligence noted that Russia was a major source of PMK and specifically PMK that contained an unusual impurity, namely 1-(4-tert-butylphenyl)propan-2-one.
My best guess that the artifact demonstrates that benzyl chloride & acetonitrile were used to produce BMK via a Grignard reaction. Such reactions are generally carried out using an ether-like solvent. Furthermore, MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether) finds large-scale industrial uses that don't require it to be absolutely pure and so an impurity in the solvent resulted in an impurity in the product.
Oh, and having read hundreds of Russian/Soviet patents, while chemists in the west would use diethyl ether or tetrahydrofuran, Russian/Soviet chemist almost always use MTBE for Grignard, Wittig and other reactions that require an ether-like solvent.
That's just my opinion but I applied Occam's Razor and suggest the above represents the most likely reason because it assumes the fewest unknowns. Oh, and benzyl chloride can EASILY be made from benzyl alcohol - another commercial material used in HUGE quantities.
It seems that the Russians have VERY carefully avoided the need to use a single UNODC listed reagent or precursor. It's possible that BMK is being made on a site in which most of the staff don't know what is going on. Maybe only a handful of people on a site with 200 workers would be in on the secret. That's speculation on my part but the fewer people, the larger the split.
Oh, and obviously people producing methamphetamine seek the largest profit and if racemic methamphetamine will be accepted by the market and it's cheaper to make, that is what they will make. Only the price and availability of BMK would make the resolution/racemization methodology attractive.
I think some of those radical initiators are quite toxic. Someone presenting at an ER suffering from poisoning due to one of those reagents would strongly suggest they had been making meth. Doctor confidentiality can be bypassed simply by making poisoning due to one of those reagents a reportable situation. I don't like that last idea but abandoned labs can represent a huge hazard. Unlike most situations, victims are liable to avoid involving the emergency services.