Creating designer drugs is an insidiously clever business, and as chemists prepare new street drugs, the results can be disastrous. That s the thrust of a recent blog post by ACSH s Dr. Josh Bloom for Medical Progress Today.
Lately in the news, you may have heard about a few cases in which some deranged folks have started eating the flesh off of the face of another person. Though grotesque and creepy, Dr. Bloom explains how such events are largely due to the powerful psychotropic effects of some street drugs.
Often referred to as bath salts, these drugs are garnering a lot of attention lately, but if they re so easily abused, how can they still be legal? Perversely, the answer is innovation, writes Dr. Bloom. The designer drug industry has grown and flourished, and its chemists have gotten smarter. It is not difficult to make small changes in the structure of a psychotropic drug and create a different one. It might be better, or worse. One never knows in advance. 'Safety' testing is done on the street, so if some of your customers start dropping dead from one drug, it's time to make another.
Read Dr. Bloom s op-ed, About Face (Eating), in its entirety here.