

Travels in the New Psychedelic Bazaar (2013) - gwern
http://nymag.com/news/features/synthetic-drugs-2013-4/

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scottlocklin
China's revenge for the opium wars...

I probably count as a pioneer in this sort of thing; I remember an outfit on
usenet who was an early research chemical and plant salesman, and thought it
was incredibly cool to be able to do this. While nothing bad happened, I
regret those youthful indiscretions, and feel sad for the kids messing with
far more potentially dangerous things these days. I remember a big population
of junkies ended up with parkinsons because someone cut corners on a fentanyl
synthesis and made an isomer which is now widely used in Parkinson's research.
It's only a matter of time before something like this happens again. Perhaps
it already has.

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ggreer
You're thinking of MPTP[1]. It shows up in fiction a decent amount. Not many
have been harmed by it; maybe seven cases total.

1\.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPTP#Discovery_in_users_of_illi...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPTP#Discovery_in_users_of_illicit_drugs)

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pstuart
I'm absolutely for the legalization of all drugs, but haven't figured out how
that marketplace should look like -- I don't think they should be "pushed" at
all.

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pmoriarty
_" When one takes a new and unstudied drug, one makes oneself a human guinea
pig."_

