Okay, why is this guy a scientist and not a felon?

[tribdog]

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=self-experimenter-chemist-explores-new-psychedelics"
I'm pretty sure that I'd be in jail if I tried following in this guy's footsteps.

 

[Astronuc]

I think he did have some run is with the feds.

I suspect he discovered and researched the chemicals 'before' they were put on the list. The list must address specific chemicals or chemicals with a related structure.

Otherwise researchers must obtain permission from the feds to do 'controlled' research with those chemicals that are prohibited or restricted.

I strongly recommend not following in his footsteps.

 

[tribdog]

You ever done psychedelics Astronuc? You look like a hippee.

 

[chaoseverlasting]

That would be pretty intense. I've never done drugs, but a couple of my friends do have MJ once in a while. I wonder what its like.

 

[humanino]

I wonder what its like.

It makes you dumb and think you're clever, which by itself is quite ridiculous, then the next day you don't remember anything. Not only is it bad for health, it is also a loss of time. If however your "friends" do it, you may have quite a lot of fun talking to them when they are under influence, for a couple of minutes only.

 

[oedipa maas]

Hmm, the article says he worked for the US Drug Enforcement Administration... I guess he wasn't doing enough enforcing.

In the Netherlands a lot of psychoactive substances can be purchased commercially (the shop down my street advertises magic mushrooms in the window). In New Zealand you can buy "party pills" (BZP) commercially, although a ban is being discussed. As a result, party pills are very popular there. :-)

By the way kids, I don't think we're supposed to talk about drugs on this forum... but maybe it's time to revisit the antidrug policy?

 

[humanino]

In the Netherlands a lot of psychoactive substances can be purchased commercially

I have been several times there. I am not sure everybody is so happy about this situation. Mainly it makes a lot of tax money, but it also atracts quite a few (tourist) junkies. There should be a study somewhere of the socio-economical impact in a city such as Amsterdam.

 

[Werg22]

It makes you dumb and think you're clever

I know some who do this perfectly well by themselves.

 

[Evo]

We don't allow endorsement of illegal drugs here. I also strongly discourage anyone here from boasting about taking illegal drugs. I would hate for anyone's future academic or professional career to be destroyed because someone traces posts of illegal drug use to them. Believe me, it happens.

 

[oedipa maas]

We don't allow endorsement of illegal drugs here. I also strongly discourage anyone here from boasting about taking illegal drugs. I would hate for anyone's future academic or professional career to be destroyed because someone traces posts of illegal drug use to them. Believe me, it happens.

Maybe we should clarify the PF policy to read "We don't allow endorsement of drugs illegal in the USA".

Did you know you have to take a urine test to work at Fermilab? A friend of mine who spent a summer there worked with a PhD student who was fired, apparently because he failed the drug test.

On the other hand Richard Feynman tried hallucinogens (though I'm not sure if what he took was illegal at the time) and he also wrote about his experiences - that didn't seem to harm his career (although he was getting pretty old by the time he wrote Surely You're Joking).

 

[mgb_phys]

Or it can lead to you still being a productive scientist at the age of 102
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Hofmann

 

[humanino]

I don't think you guys can prove any point by quoting specific examples. I think you can find many examples of bright students whose career was aborted as well. Who knows what they would have become otherwise ? Who knows what would have happened if Feynman never tried ? Besides, Hofmann's example is highly irrelevant, at least from wiki's information : he did his trial at age 37, already having achieved quite a long way in his academic career. This event, if any influence, has probably slown its carrer advancement down BTW.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

The party drug of choice in the UK is mixed, but many youths are now indulging in nitrous oxide at clubs, because of the buzz it gives. It's not illegal to own the gas, just to supply it over here. I'd stick to the more dangerous legal ones, than nitrous oxide though. Anyone who's had gas at the dentist knows how odd it's effects are though. Aldous Huxley experimented with halucinogens, like peyote, ergotamine, and magic mushrooms, he even wrote a book about it. It might be illegal but any way you look at it good or bad, getting high is part of most cultures.

 

[RabitHolRules]

The real mystery is how somebody can do so many drugs like this dude and not end up living in a urine-stained cardboard box outside the subway station. Maybe his wife has been switching his drugs with silica or something and he's been tripping on the placebo effect.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

The real mystery is how somebody can do so many drugs like this dude and not end up living in a urine-stained cardboard box outside the subway station. Maybe his wife has been switching his drugs with silica or something and he's been tripping on the placebo effect.

You could also ask that question of Bob Dylan and most of The Beatles, Aerosmith, Axel Rose and Ozzy Osbourne. Obviously fame and or money provides a safety net for excess.