Page 14 - Demo

DESIGNER DRUGS
ARE JUST BAD KNOCK-OFF’s
The information explosion brought about by the Internet put new power in the hands of drug designers. The Internet made it easier to find legitimate chemical research, such as that in medical journals, and copy it. It also made it easier for designers to trade their chemical “recipes” with each other.
drug that gives a high like the original, but can be cooked up on demand in an illegal lab. Another purpose is to skirt laws that were written against the original drug.
Once upon a time, buying drugs was not easy. The risk of being arrested, assaulted or shot was real enough to deter many from ever trying to obtain drugs. Today, an illegal drug buy can be as simple as going on-line and placing an order for “research chemicals,” “plant food,” or some other innocuous sounding product. The buyer then simply waits for the product to arrive in the mail.
Though the term was not used until the 1980’s, designer drugs have been around much longer.
In the 1920’s, for instance, chemically altered versions of opium were created to avoid running afoul of existing opium laws. The response of authorities was to expand the laws to cover the new substances. Thus began a legal game of cat and mouse that continues today. Rogue “chem- ists” now manufacture new varieties of not only opium-based drugs, but also cocaine and various hallucinogens.
When you buy designer clothes, you expect to get an original, not an imitation. With designer drugs, it’s the opposite.
Drug designers often “piggyback” on the work of legitimate researchers. For example, Fentanyl is a pain medicine similar to morphine but far more potent. Medical researchers created it in 1959.
As its use in the field of medicine spread, so did
a variety of illegal copies. Dealers have sold them under names such as China White and AMF, among others.
In many cases, designer drugs are artificially made or altered to be similar to, yet different from, some illegal drugs. The idea is to create a new
13 • L.A.W. Publications