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highs.html
Chemist horrified to find his pioneering work with psychedelic
drugs turned into deadly 'legal highs'
By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 17:19 GMT, 6 January 2011
A brain scientist who studies the effects of psychedelic drugs on serious illnesses has been left horrified after
criminals hijacked his work to make 'legal highs' that caused fatal overdoses.
Dr David Nichols makes chemicals roughly similar to ecstasy and LSD that help explain how parts of the brain
function.
But he said he was shocked to discover underground chemists have been poring over his research papers in
order to make recreational drugs for sale on the black market.
Worse, some of these illicit but legal drugs have been implicated in the deaths of young people who took them.
Ethical dilemma: Dr David Nichols is shocked after criminals hijacked his work with psychedelic drugs to make
'legal highs' that caused fatal overdoses
Dr Nichols, 66, said: 'You try to work for something good, and it's subverted in a way. I try not to think about it.'
His work involves studying how drugs work on the brains of rats. He then publishes the results for other scientists,
hoping his work will one day lead to new treatments for depression or Parkinson's disease.
But Dr Nichols' findings have not stayed in purely scientific circles.
The chairman of the Purdue University pharmacology department in West Lafayette, Indiana, has taken the
unusual step of speaking out about his dilemma in an online essay in the journal Nature.
He described an ethical struggle seldom discussed by brain researchers.
'Every time we make a molecule now, I do think, "Is this the one that's going to be
a problem?" I never used to think that before.'
'You can't control what people do with what you publish, but yeah, I felt it personally,' he said, explaining that his
struggles were probably similar to those faced by the inventor of the machine gun, although not as severe.
'What if a substance that seems innocuous is marketed and becomes wildly popular on the dance scene, but then
millions of users develop an unusual type of kidney damage that proves irreversible and difficult to treat, or even
life-threatening or fatal?
'That would be a disaster of immense proportions. This question, which was never part of my research focus, now
haunts me.'
Dr Nichols has studied psychedelic drugs for more than 40 years, concentrating on serotonin, a basic chemical
'that goes to every part of the brain'.
'It's involved in appetite, sleep, sex, aggression, you name it,' he said.
'It really plays a key role in brain activation, the difference between being awake and being asleep.'
Dr Nichols estimates that at least five of his compounds - out of hundreds - have been turned into street drugs.
His drug work used to be a joking matter. People would ask him if he needed human test subjects and he would
respond: 'No, it's just rat stuff.'
Legal highs: Dr Nichols estimates that at least five of his compounds -
out of hundreds - have been turned into street drugs
He said: 'I never thought of these getting out of the lab.'
The field includes research into LSD and other hallucinogens, but Dr
Nichols never imagined his work escaping the laboratory and causing
death.
He said: 'Every time we make a molecule now, I do think, "Is this the one
that's going to be a problem?" I never used to think that before.'
One chemical was so potent that 'I just stopped and said, "We're not
going to study this one. This stuff would hit the market big-time."'
That was not the case almost 20 years ago, when Dr Nichols developed
something similar to ecstasy - but not nearly as potent.
Back then it was a little-known street drug. He published his study, found
little interest from pharmaceutical companies in his chemical, called
MTA, and moved on.
But somebody in the illicit world of drug abuse read his research and
synthesised that drug into tablets for street use. It was eerily called
'flatliners', but did not provide much of a high.
'Flatline implies that you're brain dead,' Dr Nichols said. 'Why would anyone take it?'
But people did and their brains were flooded with serotonin and they died. At least five or six people died from that
first drug.
A second drug, a hallucinogenic called bromo-dragonfly, has killed two others. It could have been worse because
it was chemically similar to a potent toxin that causes liver cancer, Dr Nichols said.
A story last year in the Wall Street Journal said Dr Nichols' published research was a favourite for European
chemists who make black market street drugs.
In the past year he has been getting inquiries about his research from investigators and forensic labs.
Johns Hopkins University behavioural biology professor Roland Griffiths said he struggles with the same ethical
questions when he studies the chemicals behind hallucinogenic mushrooms.
But he believes the key to scientific progress is the free exchange of ideas, saying it is better than no information.
University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Art Caplan said there are times when you can share too much scientific
information - with nuclear weapons, biological weapons and the like - despite the desire for open research.
And this may be one of those cases given the large black market out there, he said.
Hen said Dr Nichols' essay 'should lead to more careful thinking about the unintended consequences of scientific
advances'.
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