More on San Diego lab and suicide

Our local news station is reporting that the lab found in University City last week was in fact a drug lab. I'm still skeptical. Why did it take so long for this to come out, for example? Why did the man kill himself? The story also mentions Sassafras oil. I'm going to do some research into that one and find out exactly which drug needs Sassafras oil. The home labs that I'm aware of use extremely volatile and dangerous chemicals. Why are the police saying that the chemicals were "pungent but not dangerous". More as I hear it.

Update: A quick google search reveals that sassafras oil or safrole is an essential precursor to make MDA, MDMA or MDE. MDMA is ecstacy.