The Idea Behind Designer Drugs
Written by Ayebamiebi Yousuo
At first encounter with the word Designer Drugs, one would think they mean something fashionable and worthy of more production but this group of drugs is far from that.
Explaining what Designer Drugs is to a 4-year-old, I would say it's like scribbling on the chair after your mum shunned you from scribbling on the table, and then scribbling on the couch after she shunned you from scribbling on the chair, and so on, trying to bypass her restrictions.
In essence, designer drugs are drugs created to bypass the restrictions of the law on a drug with similarly required effects, notably euphoria. Just like the scribbling child, the producers of these designer drugs change the chemical structure of the active ingredient of a drug by various means like methylation and acetylation while ensuring that the desired effect is not altered. It's like saying you can't ban something that never existed. Some even go to the length of changing the description for use, placing these drugs in the market as Bath Salts and Plant food, so you better be careful of the bath salt or plant food you are purchasing.
The wrong thing about these Designer Drugs(e.g cannabinoids, tryptamines, piperazines) is that they are produced in underground labs, that is labs that are not supported by Drug Law Enforcement Agencies, some in the producers' garages and as such might contain various impurities, also, since these drugs don't go through the lawful stages of drug discovery and development they may have side effects unknown to the producers and the consumers.
Written by Ayebamiebi Yousuo from MEDILOQUY