Psychedelic brain chemistry drug chemist "shocked" to find out his research is being used by bootleg recreational drug labs

Seriously, what sort of rock has this dude been living under for the past 50 years?

A brain scientist who studies the effects of psychedelic drugs on serious illnesses has been left horrified after criminals hijacked his work to make 'legal highs' that caused fatal overdoses.

Dr David Nichols makes chemicals roughly similar to ecstasy and LSD that help explain how parts of the brain function.

But he said he was shocked to discover underground chemists have been poring over his research papers in order to make recreational drugs for sale on the black market.

Worse, some of these illicit but legal drugs have been implicated in the deaths of young people who took them...

Anyone doing any sort of drug research shouldn't be shocked or horrified if their work is clandestinely utilized for the manufacture of recreational drugs. About the only ones safe from such criminal abuses would be someone working on drugs to reduce penis size...but even then there might be a brisk market among pranksters in frat houses or porn stars looking to knock their competition down a peg.

Seriously, abuse or unpredictable consequences of scientific discoveries has been something scientists and engineers have had to live with almost as long as there have been scientists and engineers. Ask Alfred Nobel, he knows.

Whatever caveman came up with the wheel, which was pretty revolutionary and proved damned handy at the time, probably had no idea it would become directly complicit in the slaughter of hundreds of millions of people since the dawn of recorded history.

The law of unintended consequences has always been a stone cold bitch.

posted by Purp at 09:59 AM

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