designer drugs

[random]

For the purposes of this discussion a designer drug will be defined as any chemical composition be it a blend of over the counter pharmaceuticals or a cooked up concoction in a lab that does not contain any illegal substance but is developed for the sole purpose of creating a mind altering experience.

 

Would you consider it morally wrong to profit from such a drug since you are not breaking any laws? Is it ethically wrong to create a legal high , a drug with a sole purpose of promoting an altered state ? Do you think it is wrong to produce a legal drug that closely mimics the effects of a narcotic such as heroin or cocaine and to profit from it?

 

What's your thoughts? The drug addict is going to get their fix somwhere , possibly the drug you create could be so cheap on the street that the addict doesn't have to resort to crime to fuel there habit hell you could use your profits to combat illigal narcotics if you liked.

[Moontanman]

For the purposes of this discussion a designer drug will be defined as any chemical composition be it a blend of over the counter pharmaceuticals or a cooked up concoction in a lab that does not contain any illegal substance but is developed for the sole purpose of creating a mind altering experience.

 

Would you consider it morally wrong to profit from such a drug since you are not breaking any laws? Is it ethically wrong to create a legal high , a drug with a sole purpose of promoting an altered state ? Do you think it is wrong to produce a legal drug that closely mimics the effects of a narcotic such as heroin or cocaine and to profit from it?

 

What's your thoughts? The drug addict is going to get their fix somwhere , possibly the drug you create could be so cheap on the street that the addict doesn't have to resort to crime to fuel there habit hell you could use your profits to combat illigal narcotics if you liked.

 

Wouldn't it make more sense to just make the original drug legal and control it?

[Tres Juicy]

Wouldn't it make more sense to just make the original drug legal and control it?

 

 

In some instances the alternative drug is safer and easier to produce

[imatfaal]

A hypothetical drug with no side-effects and which is not physiologically/psychologically dependency forming - then perhaps it would be ok. BUT, the drug trade (and cigarettes etc) is a big business because the drugs are habit forming. AND most drugs do have deleterious side-effects, especially with long term use. Whilst a cheap synthetic alternative to Heroin (accepting the valid points made in above posts) might break the stranglehold of the "drug-lords" on the market - it would also drastically increase the number of people who were regular users. Whether a drug with no side effects or dependency formation would be a good think or not is a horrible question - I think the ramifications would be very hard to predict.

 

Personally, and frankly there is no objective measure that could be used, I would not participate in the production/sale of Heroin or Cocaine substitutes if they had the same dependency and health risks as the "original and best" varieties. Similarly I would not work in an organisation that provided gambling opportunities to the general public, nor an arms manufacturer (and that one I had a chance of actually doing); ie whilst there could be an argument for them, I will not lend them my support or abilities.

[Tres Juicy]

A hypothetical drug with no side-effects and which is not physiologically/psychologically dependency forming - then perhaps it would be ok. BUT, the drug trade (and cigarettes etc) is a big business because the drugs are habit forming. AND most drugs do have deleterious side-effects, especially with long term use. Whilst a cheap synthetic alternative to Heroin (accepting the valid points made in above posts) might break the stranglehold of the "drug-lords" on the market - it would also drastically increase the number of people who were regular users. Whether a drug with no side effects or dependency formation would be a good think or not is a horrible question - I think the ramifications would be very hard to predict.

 

Personally, and frankly there is no objective measure that could be used, I would not participate in the production/sale of Heroin or Cocaine substitutes if they had the same dependency and health risks as the "original and best" varieties. Similarly I would not work in an organisation that provided gambling opportunities to the general public, nor an arms manufacturer (and that one I had a chance of actually doing); ie whilst there could be an argument for them, I will not lend them my support or abilities.

 

You make some good points a lot of which I agree with

 

it would also drastically increase the number of people who were regular users

 

What makes you say this though?

[StringJunky]

I think any drug that is physiologically/psychologically pleasant is going to be habit-forming regardless of whether it is absent of physically addictive components. It will probably cause acute depression immediately after it has worn off and once a user learns that taking some more gets rid of that feeling the cycle of dependency may start. Psychological addiction should not be under-estimated...it can take a lot of effort to unlearn.

[imatfaal]

You make some good points a lot of which I agree with

it would also drastically increase the number of people who were regular users

 

What makes you say this though?

 

A general feeling of supply (the cost of drugs in both pounds/shillings/pence and in perceived risk) and demand. A cheap,safe, and legal alternative to street-corner drugs (with their risks of arrest, uncertain strength, dangerous cutting chemicals, having to consort with criminal suppliers etc) would in my opinion, cause many people who are deterred by the risks to try and experiment. Whilst I was at university I was a drug user and the major barriers to an expanding habit were the knowledge of the illegality, the inherent risks of unregulated drugs, and the costs - I am fairly certain that many more people would have started down the path of experimentation if those hazards were removed. Once you start down that road the choices remaining are constrained due to the effects of the drug and those of addiction.

 

I think any drug that is physiologically/psychologically pleasant is going to be habit-forming regardless of whether it is absent of physically addictive components. It will probably cause acute depression immediately after it has worn off and once a user learns that taking some more gets rid of that feeling the cycle of dependency may start. Psychological addiction should not be under-estimated...it can take a lot of effort to unlearn.

 

Yes - quite agree. I have today realised that I have formed a dependency on wikipedia! and I cannot get my fix.

[StringJunky]

A general feeling of supply (the cost of drugs in both pounds/shillings/pence and in perceived risk) and demand. A cheap,safe, and legal alternative to street-corner drugs (with their risks of arrest, uncertain strength, dangerous cutting chemicals, having to consort with criminal suppliers etc) would in my opinion, cause many people who are deterred by the risks to try and experiment. Whilst I was at university I was a drug user and the major barriers to an expanding habit were the knowledge of the illegality, the inherent risks of unregulated drugs, and the costs - I am fairly certain that many more people would have started down the path of experimentation if those hazards were removed. Once you start down that road the choices remaining are constrained due to the effects of the drug and those of addiction.

 

I was a long-term poly-drug user until a decade ago and my thoughts are pretty much aligned with yours.

 

Yes - quite agree. I have today realised that I have formed a dependency on wikipedia! and I cannot get my fix.

 

I have the same addiction for data input...that's why I come here.

Edited January 18, 2012 by StringJunky

[Tres Juicy]

Yes - quite agree. I have today realised that I have formed a dependency on wikipedia! and I cannot get my fix.

 

 

Yes, with todays wiki blackout I wondered how long it would take Wikiholism to enter this thread

[imatfaal]

Yes - quite agree. I have today realised that I have formed a dependency on wikipedia! and I cannot get my fix.

 

 

I was a long-term poly-drug user until a decade ago and my thoughts are pretty much aligned with yours.

I have the same addiction for data input...that's why I come here.

 

 

Yes, with todays wiki blackout I wondered how long it would take Wikiholism to enter this thread

 

Joking aside - after reading/writing the above - I realised that online interaction is yet another way of filling the moments of the day and avoiding the periods (no matter how short) of tedium, passivity, and inactivity which I find pretty unbearable - and which I used to avoid with drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol. I think I may open a new thread asking for members comments and estimations of how they would cope with no internet access

[StringJunky]

Joking aside - after reading/writing the above - I realised that online interaction is yet another way of filling the moments of the day and avoiding the periods (no matter how short) of tedium, passivity, and inactivity which I find pretty unbearable - and which I used to avoid with drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol. I think I may open a new thread asking for members comments and estimations of how they would cope with no internet access

 

Being nearly fifty years old, I wish the internet had bee invented and freely available in the Seventies...I wouldn't have needed drugs...a constant stream of varied information would have been enough to distract me from my downers. That would be a good subject to ask about...no internet access.

Edited January 18, 2012 by StringJunky

[Tres Juicy]

I will admit that I now spend every free moment here, reading, posting, debating...

[Edtharan]

Addiction is not complete a physiological thing. People can become addicted to substances that have no physiological effect. I have even heard of people that have become addicted to eating paper.

 

Given that, I believe it is impossible to design something (anything actually) that people consume or use that can not be in some way, to some people addictive.

 

Thus it would be better for this discussion that a minimal addictiveness be achieves, say no more addictive than caffeine, and with minimal withdrawal (actually caffeine has pretty bad withdrawal).

 

But, if a drug could be made that had no side effects, minimal addictiveness, no (or again minimal) withdrawal, hard (if not impossible) to overdose and still had mind altering effects, then this would be better than any drug (even medicinal drugs) on the market.