Certain posts have indicated elemental zinc as an agent in the reduction of DMT-n-oxide to freebase DMT. Elemental zinc is a component in violent explosive reactions, and thus is "watched". Online suppliers generally demand credentials for such purchases.

However, zinc oxide is a (relatively) common food additive and therefore is an innocuous, easy form of zinc to procure.

My question:
How would an unlicensed would-be alchemist cleave the O from the Zn to produce elemental zinc? Could readily available antioxidants such as ascorbic acid or alpha-tocopherol be effective?

Lots of places sell zinc to the general public. It’s not considered dangerous.

Zinc is pretty harmless on its own, and it is not D.O.T regulated.

The amount of zinc used in the lab for N-Oxide reduction is extremely small. No one will care if you buy zinc unless you buy tons of it.

Unless there’s a way I never heard of, to convert pretty much any form of zinc back into pure zinc requires huge amounts of heat. You're not going to be able to do it at home in the oven.

The heat needed to convert zinc oxide back into pure zinc is 1975 °C (3587 F).

Maybe I just need a better oven! Anyway, thanks for the info. I am certainly not going to buy kilos of zinc; the few grams i would need wouldn't raise any flags, I guess.