Strange Chemistry by Steven Farmer

Author:Steven Farmer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781119265283
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2017-06-07T00:00:00+00:00

Figure 5.3 The next generation of mephedrone bath salts.

Figure 5.4 The next generation of MDPV bath salts.

This strategy of switching cathinone structure violates the ethical development of drugs. In order for a drug to obtain FDA approval, drug development follows a distinct set of guidelines and steps including animal testing, pharmacokinetic studies, safety and efficacy studies, and human trials. These strict guidelines were set in place to protect the public from unexpected harmful effects from drugs. The opposite is occurring with bath salts. Illicit manufacturers make small variations to a chemical structure and the molecule is then packaged, distributed, and consumed by the public without FDA approval or any form of safety testing. These new cathinones are most likely causing the extreme reactions seen in some users of bath salts.

Another unforeseen problem comes with the ability of these drugs to be detected in the body. For a drug to be found in someone's system, it has to be specifically tested for. A change in even one carbon atom can deceive a toxicology test. One of the allures of bath salts is that most drug tests will miss them, so users subject to regular drug testing can use these new cathinones without fear of being detected. There are hundreds of bath salt compounds, but toxicologists can only test for 40. Adding insult to injury, recent bath salt fatalities have led to wasteful expenditure of taxpayer dollars on testing. During the autopsy of an overdose death, identifying the drug compounds responsible can be difficult if they have never been identified by authorities. It has been estimated that testing for each synthetic drug-related death costs from $2000 to more than $5000.

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