DailyDirt: Better Living Through Chemistry

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Tue, Jun 5th 2012 5:00pm — Michael Ho

Occasionally, we talk about problems with big pharma companies and how they sometimes hinder innovation. There are lots of ways to develop new drugs, and apparently plenty of people out there are willing to ingest experimental drugs for fun (and then maybe eat other people's faces). Here are just a few examples of some innovative folks doing some chemistry.

Underground chemists are making synthetic versions of recreational drugs that are technically legal to possess and sell. This has been going on for years, but recently, there have been increasing political efforts to make these "chemically-similar" drugs illegal. [url]
Amateur scientists are working on all kinds of crazy biological experiments and ideas such as rewriting the DNA of an acorn so that it grows into the shape of oak furniture. The zombie apocalypse might not come from a megacorporation, but from biology experiment gone wrong in a garage... [url]
Albert Hofmann discovered LSD had interesting effects in the 1940s, and he said that it spoke to him: "Don't give me to the pharmacologist, he won't find anything." And lots of people have tried LSD since, including Steve Jobs and Aldous Huxley. [url]
To discover more interesting science-related stuff, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]

By the way, StumbleUpon can recommend some good Techdirt articles, too.

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Filed Under: albert hofmann, biotech, chemistry, drugs, lsd, pharma

11 Comments

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Wally, 5 Jun 2012 @ 5:30pm

"Similar" drugs
"Underground chemists are making synthetic versions of recreational drugs that are technically legal to possess and sell. This has been going on for years, but recently, there have been increasing political efforts to make these "chemically-similar" drugs illegal. [url]"

K2 was synthetic Weed and it got banned in Ohio.
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Jun 2012 @ 5:54pm

Re: "Similar" drugs
The cathinone series has been going through this as well.
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Pixelation, 5 Jun 2012 @ 5:59pm

Oh look, the war on drugs is having unintended consequences.

Anyone want to bet that there will be unintended consequences in the war on IP infringement too?
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Jun 2012 @ 6:41pm

Glo-gurt today, glo-sperm tomorrow. And now what do we do with all these hulk babies running around?
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Jun 2012 @ 7:06pm

Re: "Similar" drugs
But... Does it mean people can no longer treat others with homemade willow bark containing herbal treatments (these contains Aspirin as an effective ingredient)?
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Wally (profile), 5 Jun 2012 @ 8:19pm

Re: Re: "Similar" drugs
I need to clarify what I meant by weed..... Marajuana ... Willow bark and other herbal treatments are used as holistics (home remadies) here in the US where I reside and most are actually approved substances according to the FDA. K-2 in effect, turned out to be synthetic Marjauana. Had the same side effects. Though I find Marjuana to be mostly harmless, most of the real reason it's outlawed in the US is that it bends your visual and neurological and psychological perceptions making you a bit slower to think to react on time when driving a vehicle when there is a sudden surprise.

So no Worries :-)
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Jun 2012 @ 9:54pm

Re: Re: Re: "Similar" drugs
it bends your visual and neurological and psychological perceptions making you a bit slower to think to react on time when driving a vehicle when there is a sudden surprise.

So no Worries :-)

You don't find impaired driving worrisome? That worries me.
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Wally (profile), 5 Jun 2012 @ 10:15pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: "Similar" drugs
The "no worries" I mentioned was in response to the first response to the post on "similar drugs" where the reader had asked about things like willow bark as an alternative to aspirin. :-) Impaired driving is the sole reason K-2 had been initially banned in Ohio. Then the FDA confirmed my states findings on it.
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Tim Griffiths (profile), 6 Jun 2012 @ 1:53am

Legal Highs
In the UK it's not actually an underground thing at all. A good few of my friends work in 'head shops' on high streets that sell what get called 'legal highs'.

They exploit a loop hole that means that you can sell them as products that are not for human consumption. So plant food bathsalts and such. Every one knows exactly what they are but you are not allowed to say. People get thrown out of these shops if they do.

I also know a good few people who use them. Some like them better than the real thing but mostly they are willing to pay a premium (can often cost more than the real thing) because you can safely walk in to a shop and easily pick them up. There is also the argument that it's safe because you know it won't be cut with anything.

The sad thing is that it could be even safer, with the drugs tested and regulated for consumption. It's a small peek in to a world of legalisation and it's not actually all that bad.
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Tim Griffiths (profile), 6 Jun 2012 @ 2:05am

Re: Legal Highs
Ah title was misleading. I'd like to point out that it's worrying that you take things that are tweeks on another drug and can't know if it's safe but given you can never know what you are taking when you buy any kind of real drug it's a risk a lot of people are willing to take. If one type of high is use widely by a group and no really bad effects are seen then the group can be pretty safe in knowing that if they go and buy more they'll get the same kind of result.
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Jun 2012 @ 3:46pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: "Similar" drugs
There are plenty of things that cause impaired driving that are perfectly legal. Impaired driving seems like a piss poor reason to ban something.
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