Not for human consumption
Most legal highs are bought on the internet.
They are often advertised as ‘plant food’ that is
‘not for human consumption’. They also claim to
have no dangerous side effects, but anecdotal
evidence suggests that mephedrone can cause
drowsiness, paranoia and seizures.
Following the deaths, mephedrone was
rapidly classified as a Class B drug, putting
it on a par with cannabis. But as one legal
high disappears, new ones will come onto the
market.
‘There are people out there who say, “I
can design a molecule that falls outside the
legislation, but still has an effect”,’ says Ric
Treble, scientific advisor at the UK Laboratory of
the Government Chemist.
Just as pharmaceutical companies sift
through many different compounds in the quest
for a blockbuster drug, so designers of legal
highs will look at a range of potentially active
compounds, based on their similarity to other
drugs. And their inspiration often comes from
an unlikely source.
‘There is a lot of quite obscure research on
neurochemistry and psycho-active materials,’
says Treble. ‘This is academic research work.
The pharmaceutical industry has a legitimate
interest in discovering these things, but some of
the information is leaking out.’
For those who want to develop legal highs,
medical journals are a fruitful source of research
as they will include papers on serotonin
receptors, mood enhancers, anti-depressants
and a wealth of other topics.
One legal high that has recently raised its
head above the parapet is 5,6-methylenedioxy-
2-aminoindane (MDAI) which, Treble says,
derives from a ‘classical piece of pharmaceutical
research’. David Nichols, of Purdue University in
the US, is a leading pharmacology researcher
and his team synthesised several derivatives
of the amphetamine MDA, including MDMA
(ecstasy) and MDAI. Nichols is one of many
legitimate researchers into these substances,
which could be used to treat medical conditions,
such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
MDAI is a ‘conformationally restricted’
version of MDA: a methyl group has been
attached to the benzene ring to give a more
constrained structure – an indole ring. While it
has a less profound effect than MDA, it is known
to be less neurotoxic.
‘He’s made MDAI in the course of his
research, and published his findings,’ says
Treble. ‘Somebody has drilled down into it and
thought, “This could have a market.”
A ‘bible’ of the legal highs industry is Pihkal
– an acronym for Phenethylamines I Have
Known And Loved – by Alexander Shulgin,
which is effectively a recipe book for a range
of chemical compounds. One look at the entry
on MDAI, for example, shows that it is no mean
feat to produce a sample.
‘MDAI is quite a small molecule – less than
12 carbon atoms – but you’d need a bit of
technical skill to produce it,’ says Treble.
Another legal high that has come to the
fore, since mephedrone became illegal, is
NRG-1. Its chemical name is naphyrone and, like
mephedrone, it is a cathinone. It is reputed to
have begun life as an appetite suppressant. The
structures of the two compounds are similar in
that both include a ketone group and an aminelike
group. In fact, a website selling naphyrone,
or ‘plant food’, to use the recognised code,
simply uses a picture of its chemical structure.
Legal highs like MDAI and NRG-1 are so new
that the long-term effects are unknown. And
keeping track of the many new compounds can
be very difficult.
‘The term I use is a chemical arms race,’ says
Treble. ‘As fast as we can control materials,
people are coming up with new substances.’
One way that the authorities build up a
picture of the legal highs ‘pipeline’ is to monitor
the internet as this is how most of the products
are sold. The Psychonaut programme, which is
centred in Portugal, monitors the internet for
the appearance of new drugs. It looks at which
materials are being offered for sale, or are being
discussed in chat rooms.
Psychonaut is run by the European Monitoring
Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA),
which itself uses toxicology and forensic reports
to build up a picture of which substances are
being used. Some, like mephedrone, find their
niche in the market until they are banned.
‘Many others are reported once or twice, then
are never seen again,’ Treble says.
In its latest report, the EMCDDA says it
recorded 24 new psychoactive drugs in 2009
– the highest ever reported in a single year.
One of these was mephedrone. Others included
synthetic cannabinoids – effectively ‘synthetic
cannabis’.
The suspicion is that production is carried
out in the Far East – most probably China. This
is because the types of businesses that can
make ‘off licence’ pharmaceutical products are
in a perfect position to make ‘legal highs’ too.
Speaking to satellite news service Sky News,
Dave Llewellyn, a ‘self taught chemist’, who
until recently supplied mephedrone into the UK
gave an insight into the legal highs pipeline.
‘The Chinese have been getting [naphyrone]
ready for the last six months to take over the
moment mephedrone was banned,’ he said. ‘It’s
been ready – but why have two things banned at
the same time? They want to keep the factories
turning over chemicals.’
The authorities have another way of trying
to stem the flow of new substances – whether
legal highs, or illegal substances such as cocaine
and heroin: they try to interrupt the supply of
‘precursor’ chemicals, which are the starting
materials for controlled substances.
Under the United Nations Convention
Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances, there is a list of
controlled substances – the so-called Red List.
Many of these chemicals are used for legitimate
purposes, but are also crucial for the production
of illegal drugs.
Examples include safrole, a precursor of the
insecticide piperonyl butoxide and MDMA; acetic
anhydride, used in the production of aspirin
and also for heroin; potassium permanganate,
a strong oxidising agent, which can be used
in MDA production; and piperonal, used in
perfumes, but also an MDA precursor.
‘That listing is dynamic,’ says Treble. ‘If a new
drug becomes a problem, then the precursor can
be added to the list.’
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC)
and the European Commission have also
stepped up their efforts to stem the flow of
precursor chemicals into South America and the
Caribbean, by launching a three-year project
called Prelac.
‘With the support and collaboration of
chemical operators, Prelac will enhance the
capacity of national control authorities and
enable the target and seizure of diverted
precursor chemicals,’ UNDOC states.
But, says Treble, this type of legislation is a
‘blunt instrument’, because there is more than
one way to make a chemical substance.
‘There’s usually one easy way to market, so
you ban that precursor,’ he says. ‘But you could
then use a different synthesis route. People who
are experts in synthetic chemistry can come up
with several routes.’
While the chemical arms race continues, he
says that the dangers of legal highs will become
evident in time.
‘It’s a big uncontrolled human trial,’ he says.
‘These substances have never been evaluated in
humans for their long term effects and there are
real concerns about them.’