Well, I'm a returning player, and thought for sure by no ow chemistry would be a thing. We can go to school for it.
I think this game would be a lot cooler if I could cook my own drugs. Maybe produce some even more addicting drugs and crazier compounds. Instead of flying to China to buy xanax, I could home brew some.
This is because we're crime lords.. we don't mingle with the riffraff who dirties their hands with menial labour. We buy, distribute and use.
The newly implemented rackets will provide another source of drugs and a variety of other items. Adding another source on top of all this would be unhealthy to the economy.
I think it'll hurt the economy yes. But also increase the economy in other ways. Ingredients can be hard to come by or hard to earn. It could take time to cook or grow. Even create new ways to die or end up in jail.
Say you need 5 ingredients to make xanax. But you need to create those ingredients first. Making it take days to make a xanax. And weeks to grow weed. And this could bring new strains of weed into the game. Even different types of meds and drugs. So in reality, being a cook or a grower will increase the revenue you bring in.
Oh but your first cook didn't go right. Your lab exploded. Your now in the hospital.
Oh and your grow operation was stopped by the police, your in jail now.
Idk, feel like there is opportunity for growth on this idea. Dont shoot it down because it hurts your gameplay.
The only way that I could personally see this would be like coding viruses, but with the possibility of consequences, but overall doesnt seem like it would work out