Designer shoes, clothes, luggage -
today, the name tag of companies such as Gucci or Prada add 'value' or, at
least are often deemed more valuable by the purchaser than similar or even the
same item without the cachet of the designer logo. These designer products
cater to the consumer who wishes to be noticed and often feels the need to
declare to the world that he or she has the wealth (and the sophistication) to
own this special product.
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| Prada Men's Shoe |
Designer drugs have often been called 'research
chemicals', 'bath salts', or 'plant food'. A discussion about 'designer drugs'
is not about what you can afford or how the world sees you. A discussion about
'designer drugs' is, effectively, a discussion about chemistry.
'Designer' substances are not
(usually) created or consumed for reasons of vanity or glamour but rather have
a more 'practical' purpose. Designer drugs are chemicals that have
been created to avoid the restrictions of drug laws, altering the
drug in question just enough to place it in a different class than the
'prohibited' substance but not altered enough that its effects are less
significant.
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| 'Designer' Drugs |
'Designing' of the new drug usually
involves starting with the drug in question and modifying its chemical
structure or occasionally by finding drugs with entirely different
chemical structures that produce similar effects to (usually illegal)
recreational drugs. These new substances can then be sold on the 'gray market'
where little or no regulation is applied.
The use of the term 'designer drug' was
first used by in the 1980s but the first appearance of what would now be termed
designer drugs occurred as early as the 1920s.
Perhaps the best known of the early
'designer drugs' was a chemical alteration of morphine (a diacetyl ester),
created in 1874 by an English chemist and then marketed as a cough suppressant
in 1899 by
Bayer Pharmaceuticals. The new drug was ten times more effective
than codeine to treat coughs, was a better pain-killer than morphine,
was safe and non-habit forming. They named it heroin (see post:
AHistory of Heroin).
The second International Opium
Convention (Geneva, 1925) specifically banned morphine (other than by
prescription) which led to heroin (as well as a number of alternative
esters of morphine) to be manufactured and sold on the 'gray', but effectively
still legal market. When heroin was declared illegal, the drug trade simply
adapted.
By 1925 in Egypt, narcotic addiction had
become such a problem that a law was passed making trafficking as well as
possession, criminal offences. The price of narcotics increased
significantly and the dangers of imprisonment for narcotics use sent users into
hiding but chemistry came to their rescue.
A chemist by the name of Dr. Hefti of
Altstatten, a suburb of Zurich, began to produce a drug he called 'Dionyl' (see
post: Dawn of the Drug Dealers), indistinguishable from heroin but different
enough chemically that it could be sold without infringing Swiss narcotics
laws.
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| Zurich |
Dionyl (acetylpropionylmorphine) is an
opiate analogue, a derivative of morphine, developed in the early
1900s after first being synthesised in Great Britain in 1875 but shelved along
with heroin and various other esters of morphine.
Dionyl was never used medically but was
sold as one of the first ' designer drugs' for around five years. The
effects of this designer drug was virtually identical to heroin and
consequently dionyl was banned internationally in 1930 by the Health Committee
of the League of Nations.
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| Morphine |
There were many other narcotic
alterations, created to skirt the laws. Benzylmorphine was a
semi-synthetic narcotic, created in 1896. It was similar to codeine,
except with a benzyl group attached to the basic
morphine molecule just as the methyl group creates codeine. It is
about 90 per cent as strong as codeine by weight.
Diethyl ether (ethyl ether, ether, ethoxyethane),
is a compound with the formula (C2H5)2O. It is a colorless and highly
flammable liquid. It is used as a solvent, as fuel and was once used as a
general anesthetic. Because of these anesthetic effects, it has also been used
as a recreational drug.
Ether was likely created by Jabir
ibn Hayyan, a scientist 'of all trades', said to have been the first
practical alchemist. He was an astronomer, an astrologer, an engineer, a
geographer, philosopher, physicist, pharmacist and physician born in Persia in
721 AD.
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| Jabir ibn Hayyan |
Hayyan's creation was first synthesized
in 1540 by Valerius Cordus (a sixteenth century German physician) who
named it 'sweet oil of vitriol', synthesized by the distillation of ethanol
with sulfuric acid (oil of vitriol).
In the late 19th century, it was not
considered proper for women to drink alcohol, and so a 'designer drug' was
created. Instead, the women took extremely potent 'medicines' when the men did
their drinking. One product was called 'Hoffmannstrophen' or 'Hoffmann's Drops',
made up of 3 parts alcohol to 1 part ether.
There was also 'compound spirit of ether',
('Hoffmann's anodyne', 'aetheris spiritus compositus'), a solution of ether and
ethereal oil in alcohol, used as a painkiller or sedative. Its
use as an anesthetic drug was introduced by Friedrich Hoffman, an 18th century
German physician and chemist.
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| Valerius Cordus |
Ether will burn the mouth when taken
straight but when mixed with alcohol it is possible to ingest orally. In
the 19th century and early 20th century ether drinking became popular among
Polish peasants. It is a traditional and still relatively popular
recreational drug among Lemkos, a small ethnic group living
in the Carpathian Mountains. The ether is consumed in a small
quantity poured over milk or water with sugar or orange juice in a shot
glass.
In more recent times (1980s to present),
the use of the term designer drug initially referred to various synthetic
opioid drugs, based mostly on the fentanyl molecule (see post:
A Basket Full of Narcotics).
One, narcotic derivative
called
MPPP (desmethylprodine) was found to contain
MPTP,
an nerve toxin impurity which caused brain damage that could result in a
syndrome identical to full-blown
Parkinson's Disease, from just one dose. Other
problems were highly potent fentanyl analogues, which were sold as
China
White (α-methylfentanyl) which caused several accidental overdoses.
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| Sweet Oil of Vitriol (Ether) |
One of the main problems for law makers faced with the onslaught of hundreds of new, often poorly-defined drugs which began to appear on the illicit market was how to develop legislation to ban or regulate their use. Frequently, novel drugs have appeared directly in response to legislative action, drugs similar to the compound that had recently been banned (just like Dionyl had been similar but not identical to heroin).
Many of the chemicals fall under the
various drug analogue legislations in certain countries, but Most countries do
not have general analogue legislation, where, if a new drug is similar enough
to the banned drug, it too is also banned. In these cases, novel compounds can
fall outside of the law after only minor structural modifications.
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| Ethnic Lemkos |
The United States tried to
address this problem with the Controlled Substances Act and the Controlled
Substance Analogue Substance Analogue Enforcement of 1986, which attempted
banned designer drugs pre-emptively by making it illegal to manufacture, sell,
or possess chemicals that were substantially similar in chemistry and
pharmacology to Schedule I or Schedule II drugs.
In Germany, Canada, the United
Kingdom, and Sweden, new drugs are banned when they become recognized as a
danger. In Sweden, the police and customs are able to seize drugs that are
not on the list of drugs covered by the anti-drug laws if the police suspect that
the purpose of the holding is related to drug abuse.
Australia has enacted legislation,
banning drugs based on chemical structure alone, making chemicals illegal even
before they are created. Even this type of law however, would still not cover
drugs that have no structural similarity to any controlled drug, even if they
produced similar effects.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, there
was an explosion in designer drugs being sold over the internet. The term
of 'research chemicals' was coined by some marketers of designer drugs in an
attempt to by-pass the 'intent' clause of the U.S. 'analogue
drug laws'. Despite this, by July, 2004, the 'Drug Enforcement
Administration' (DEA) in 'Operation Web Tryp', raided multiple suppliers (JLF
Primary Materials) and vendors ('RAC Research').
These internet companies were knowingly
carrying on business in a 'gray' area. The majority of these chemical suppliers
sold 'research chemicals' in bulk form as powder, not as pills, as selling in
pill form would invalidate the claims that they were being sold for
non-consumptive research.
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| Amanita Muscaria |
JLF Primary Materials (also known
as JLF Poisonous Non-Consumables) was a mail order company based in
Elizabethtown, Indiana, specializing in plants and chemicals, especially
those reputed to have psychoactive properties such as the mushroom, amanita
muscaria (see post:
The High Priest) and
Trichocereus pachanoi, also
known as the
San Pedro cactus (see post:
Drugs Used in Religion-The New World).
The company made no claim as
the quality of any of their products. and the JLF catalogue proudly
bore 'The Longest Warning Label You've Ever Seen'. JLF stated in their
advertisements that:
'Our products are poisonous and are not
intended for human or animal consumption. Do not take internally. JLF
assumes no liability for damages resulting from prohibited use (abuse) of these
products. Customer automatically accepts all responsibilities for any
consequences incurred from said misuse or abuse. Check local and state laws
before ordering.'
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| San Pedro Cactus |
But, 'designer drug' became best known
with the increased use of MDMA (Ecstasy) during the mid
1980s. MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy methamphetamine) is a synthetic,
psychoactive drug that is chemically similar to the stimulant methamphetamine and
the hallucinogen mescaline.
The compound was first synthesized by
Merck in 1912 but not put into use until the 1940s when it was tested as a
'truth drug' by the CIA.In the 1960s, an American biochemist, Alexander
Shulgin, researching psychedelic drugs, tested MDMA on himself. Shulgin
promoted the drug for 'therapeutic' possibilities and others began to use MDMA
in marriage therapy and psychotherapy.
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| Dr. Alexander Shulgin |
The early alternative name
for MDMA was 'Adam', a reference to the innocent 'inner child' from Eden. Once
the euphoric effects of the drug became known, it became fashionable as early
as 1984 in the Dallas 'Starck Club', known under the slang name of 'X' or
'X-T-C' (hence Ecstasy).
By mid-1984, sale of MDMA was declared
illegal and possession was illegal within the next 12 months. Ecstasy has
become the 'drug of choice' at modern 'raves', gatherings with loud music and
flashing lights, flooding the senses. There have been 3 phases associated with
the ecstasy high. Within the first hour, your senses 'light up', you start
'rushing'. The next is the plateau stage, lasting about 4 hours followed by the
last stage, a long, gentle 'comedown' and 'afterglow' which may last into the
next day.
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| The Starck Club, Dallas |
MDMA produces feelings of increased
energy, euphoria, emotional warmth, and distortions in time, perception, and
tactile experiences, exerting its primary effects in the brain on neurons which
use the neurotransmitter serotonin (see post: The Genetics of Drug
Addiction).
MDMA binds to the serotonin transporter
and increases and prolongs the serotonin signal. Through several mechanisms,
MDMA accentuates the effects of serotonin and also has similar effects on the
neurotransmitter, norepinephrine, causing increased heart rate and blood
pressure. MDMA also releases dopamine, but to a much lesser extent.
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| MDMA (Ecstasy) |
MDMA can produce confusion, depression,
sleep problems, drug craving, and severe anxiety. These problems can occur soon
after taking the drug or, sometimes, even days or weeks after taking MDMA.
Chronic users perform more poorly than nonusers on certain types of cognitive
or memory tasks. One study in nonhuman primates showed that exposure to MDMA
for only 4 days caused damage to serotonin nerve terminals that was still
evident 6 to 7 years later.
Phencyclidine (1-(1-phenylcyclohexyl)piperidine),
commonly also known as PCP with street names such as angel dust, Cadillac, DOA (dead
on arrival), peace pill, rocket fuel, synthetic marijuana, zombie and
many others is a recreational dissociative drug (a type of
hallucinogen which reduce or block signals to the conscious mind from
other parts of the brain).
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| Phencyclidine (PCP) |
PCP was synthesized in 1926 and
tested as a human anesthetic by US pharmaceutical company Parke Davis.
Despite the production of halluciantions, manic episodes, disorientation and
delirium, the drug was marketed for human use in 1959.
Use in humans was abandoned because many
patients became agitated, delusional and irrational while recovering from their
operations. PCP use was eventually limited to anesthetizing and
tranquilizing large animals but is now illegal, still sold on the street,
made illegally in labs.
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| Parke Davis |
In its pure form, PCP is a
white crystalline powder with a bitter taste. It can be mixed with dyes and can
be sold in tablets, capsules and coloured powder. PCP is easily
synthesized and is often passed off to street buyers as another drug such as
methamphetamine, mescaline, LSD even THC.
For smoking, it can be applied to
parsley, oregano, even marijuana (called 'superweed', 'killerweed', 'supergrass'
or 'peaceweed'). It is usually snorted or ingested but also, at times, injected.
When smoked or
snorted, PCP rapidly enters the bloodstream and then the
brain. PCP acts by altering the distribution of the
neurotransmitter glutamate in the brain, this neurotransmitter
involved in a person's perception of pain, responses to the environment, and
memory. PCP also alters dopamine levels in the brain.
The effects of PCP on a person
are unpredictable. The way a person feels after taking PCP depends on
many factors such as age, body weight, and sex, the amount
of PCP consumed, whether the person has eaten recently as well
as the use of other drugs, including non-prescription, prescription, and
street drugs. Short-term effects of PCP vary greatly and it is
often impossible to predict the behaviour of someone who has taken the drug. PCP can
produce feelings of well-being and relaxation in users but, in others, can
induce severe traumatic effects such as feelings of anxiety, fear, panic,
agitation and paranoia.
Overdoses are life-threatening.
Intoxication with PCP can cause convulsions, coma, hyperthermia and
death (usually because breathing stops). There are no antidotes
for PCP intoxication and comas resulting from PCP may last
7-10 days.
Use of PCP over an extended
period of time can lead to memory loss, difficulties speaking and thinking.
These symptoms can last for a year or more after last use. Severe anxiety and
depression are common and may continue indefinitely.
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| Ketamine |
Ketamine (initially known as
CI-581)was synthesized in 1962 as a derivative of PCP by Parke Davis.
Ketamine's shorter duration of action and made it favorable over PCP as a
'dissociative anesthetic'. The FDA approved the drug for medical use
in 1970 and ketamine anesthesia was first given to American soldiers during the
Vietnam War. It is a rapid acting anesthetic drug used mainly by
veterinarians and sometimes in human surgery.
Commercial ketamine is a liquid while
the street drug is usually sold as a powder. The powder may be dissolved in a
liquid, snorted, or smoked in a cigarette. Ketamine dissolves in liquid and it
is odourless and tasteless, allowing it to be slipped into drinks. Its sedative
effects have been used to prevent victims from resisting sexual assault and for
this reason, it can be referred to as a 'date rape' drug.
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| Ketamine Powder |
Ketamine is a NMDA receptor
antagonists ( inhibits the action of, the N-Methyl d-aspartate
receptor). Toxic changes in brain cells (Olney lesions) have been shown to be
induced in the brain (of rats) by these dissociative anesthetics (ketamine and
PCP).
Known in the club scene as vitamine
K, special K, breakfast cereal, kit-kat, and many other names,
ketamine became popular in the early 1970s in dance clubs a s fashionable
hallucinogenic. In the brain, the drug acts by redistributing the
neurotransmitter glutamate which is involved in memory, learning, the
perception of pain and responses to the environment.
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| Brain Scan Showing Evidence of Olney Lesions |
The speed at which ketamine reaches the
brain varies greatly. After snorting the effects are usually felt within 1 to
10 minutes and can last for about one hour. When taken by mouth the effects are
felt more slowly but may last up to four hours.
Ketamine produces a drunken, dizzy
feeling. Some people describe 'near-death' or 'out-of-body'
experiences and sensations of weightlessness. This experience is often
described as being in or 'going through the k-hole'.
Ketamine produces vivid dreams or hallucinations
which may be intense and terrifying can cause rapid loss of consciousness if
injected. The drug can also produce the sensation that the mind is
separated from the body (dissociation).
Ketamine can cause vomiting. When taken
in large amounts, ketamine may depress the central nervous system, leading to
slower breathing, seizures, severe high blood pressure, coma and possibly
death. In large doses, like amphetamines, it can cause schizophrenia-like
psychosis.
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| Through the 'K' Hole? |
Methaqualone (Known as Quaalude in
North America, Mandrax (in combination with an anti-histamine) in
Europe) is a sedative-hypnotic similar in effect to barbiturates.
Methaqualone was first synthesized in India in 1951 and patented in the US in
1962 as a treatment for insomnia and as a muscle relaxant.
David Bowie sang about '
Quaaludes
and Red Wine' and the American novelist, Edmund White described the
effects as 'twilight drowsiness, lowering of the pain threshold and a stripping
away of the defences and inhibitions, leading some to take the drug for heavy
'S and M' sessions.'
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| David Bowie-'Quaaludes and Red Wine' |
Recreationally, the drug was called
'mandies', 'mandrake', 'mandrix' or 'disco biscuits') and 'luding out' was a
popular college pastime. Smoking methaqualone, either alone or with
additives was popular in the US during the mid-1970s.
The drug was banned in 1984 but is still
continued to be produced in illegal labs. Today, methaqualone is one of the
most commonly used hard drugs in South Africa, due to its relatively low
cost. It is known as M-pills, buttons, 'geluk-tablette' (happy tablets) or
smarties and is crushed and mixed in a pipe with marijuana.
Amyl nitrite, a compound with the
formula C5H11ONO was first used in the mid-1800s but became popular
as an inhalant in gay dance clubs during the 1960s. This drug, along with its
similar cousins, butyl nitrite, isobutyl nitrite and octyl
nitrite were known as 'poppers' and often sold as incense or room
deodorisers.
Trade names included Rush, Locker Room, Thrust and Lightening
Bolt.
Amyl nitrite is a
vasodilator (it expands blood vessels and lowers blood pressure)
and is used medically to treat heart disease such as angina and
also to treat cyanide poisoning. Physical effects include decrease in blood
pressure, headache, flushing of the face, increased heart rate, dizziness, and
relaxation of involuntary muscles, especially the walls of blood
vessel and the anal sphincter.
The effects are rapid, typically within
a few seconds and disappear soon after (within minutes). As an inhalant,
the drug that induces a brief euphoric state, and when combined with other
intoxicant stimulant drugs such as cocaine or ecstasy, the euphoric
state intensifies and can be prolonged.
All of these drugs - from morphine
derivatives to sedatives to the euphorics of vasodilators - have been created
or used for their 'psychoactive' properties, to attain pleasure, euphoria, shed
anxiety or feel powerful. And there are literally hundreds more, some with
mechanisms of action similar to the drugs discussed, others which mimic
marijuana or other chemicals.
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| Rush 'Poppers' |
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a new
type of 'designer drug' came onto the scene, one which did not aim to bring
pleasure to the user but rather enhance the user's performance, to make him/her
faster, stronger, more agile. These new 'designer drugs' were the anabolic
steroids created for competitive athletes.
Steroids had been banned by the International
Olympic Committee in 1976, but the huge number of different anabolic
agents available for human and veterinary use overwhelmed the ability of
laboratories to test for all available drugs had always lagged behind the
ability of athletes (and their chemists/doctors) to find new compounds to
enhance their performance.
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| Effects of Anabolic Steroids |
Many of the new compounds are
undetectable with standard tests and, when a new test is devised, the chemist
will often have already created the 'next generation' of anabolic drug which
can slip under the radar of detection.
'Bath salts' may resemble the
sweet-smelling epsom salts some people put in their bath but, on the street,
the term refers to the latest in 'designer drugs'. Known as 'Ivory Wave',
'Purple Wave', 'Vanilla Sky' and 'Bliss', these 'bath salts' have
been the reason for thousands of calls to poison centers across the U.S. in
2011-2012.
Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV)
is a stimulant which acts on certain neurotransmitters in the brain
(norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor). MDPV was developed in 1969 but
started to be used as a designer drug in 2004. Bath salts containing MDPV
are sold as recreational drugs in gas stations and convenience stores
labelled as 'bath salts'.
Another chemical commonly found in 'bath
salts' is mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone) another synthetic
stimulant (also known as meph, drone, and MCAT) in the same
class as the amphetamines. The drug is manufactured in China and is
chemically similar to the cathinone compounds found in the khat plant
commonly chewed in eastern Africa and Yemen. It comes in the form of
tablets or a powder, which users can swallow, snort or inject.
Agitation, paranoia, hallucinations,
high blood pressure, chest pain and the tendency to suicide (even days after
the stimulating effects of the drug have worn off) are all commonly seen in
cases of 'bath salt' consumption.
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| Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) |
In May 2012, police in Florida shot a
man who was eating the face of his unconscious victim, 'the face-eater' having
apparently consumed 'bath salts'.
Designer drugs are perhaps a
pharmacological 'arms race'. Laws backed by better detection lead to the
development of a different or 'stealthier' compound, triggering new detection
techniques and new laws which, of course, create the 'incentive' (because the
market and the money are always there) to create another 'better research
chemical', a 'better' designer drug.
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