Research Chemicals (i.e. "Designer Drugs")

Basic:

An analogue of cocaine
as it appears commercially

Controlled Substance Analogues (CSA's) in recent years have been avoiding inclusion under the Federal Analogue Act. Substances with structural similarity to controlled substances are reportedly only considered CSA's when sold as drugs for human consumption. In the last few years, the 'research chemical' market has taken off. And although law enforcement have utilized emergency scheduling powers on a number of well-established chemicals (such as certain cannabinoids and stimulants), new compounds are being introduced faster than the nannies can "defeat" them.

Disclaimer: Let me emphasize first and foremost; these compounds are every bit as powerful and every bit as dangerous as any illicit drug. These drugs are mere variants of the same structural families as their illicit alternatives (mutually related to the same extent as oxycodone is to morphine, diazepam is to alprazolam, etc). As a general rule, their pharmacodynamic properties exhibit no meaningful differences from those of illicit drugs. They are every bit as potent and every bit as addictive. They are available only due to the ingenuity of research chemists and the ambiguities in our current drug laws.

Common Research Compounds:

Currently there are a variety of available research chemicals covering a large portion of the psychopharmacological spectrum.  The most popular of the RC's fall into the stimulant, hallucinogen and empathenogen categories. Sedatives and anaesthetics are common as well. The molecular and pharmacodynamic properties of these RC's will be examined in more detail below.

There are currently a handful of commercially available research compounds of the following molecular classes, and with the following pharmacological properties:

Ethylphenidate
is an analogue of the
psychostimulant drug
methylphenidate.

Molecular Class   .   Properties

Phenethylamines (amphetamine, cathinone & MDMA analogues) - psychostimulant, empathogen, euphorigenic, hallucinogen

Benzodiazepines (benzodiazepine analogues) - general depressant

Tryptamines (serotonin analogues) - hallucinogenic

Lysergamides (LSD analogues) - hallucinogenic

Cannabinoids (THC analogues) - hallucinogenic, analgetic

Piperazines (BZP analogues) - psychostimulant

Arylcyclohexylamines (PCP & ketamine analgogues) - anaesthetic, dissociative, euphorigenic


A Lack of Opioid RC's:

There is an exception in terms of RC availability - opioid agonists have been for the most part disregarded by commercial drug chemists. They are not available on the RC market to any significant degree, with the exception of isolated kratom alkaloids and the mild analgesic O-desmethyltramadol.

The rarity of opioids on the RC scene may indeed seem odd without further analysis of the very nature of the RC scene, and the fundamental differences between narcotic drugs and recreational or party drugs. With regard to the former, it seems apparent that the predominant consumers of the RC drugs are recreational users. Often sociable, often young and often naive in terms of drug use & degree of drug experience; such users are often intent on using research chems in a social or thrillseeking context rather than in a maintenance or self-medicating context - accounting for the popularity of the empathenogens, stimulants, cannabinoids and hallucinogens.

Another likely factor to consider is the disproportionate societal stigma of opioids at present. With a disproportionate & irrational degree of emphasis by media on prescription "heroin substitutes" and the so-called "opioid epidemic", "dope" has again become public enemy number 1 in recent years. With federal law enforcement having launched a full scale witch hunt against doctors, dealers, distributors and even medical patients. Few commercial chemists would take such a risk.

The witch hunt which would likely ensue following a single overdose - or one bizarre criminal act in which the perpetrator incidentally happens to be under the influence of an opioid RC - could very well be a death knell to the young and delicate RC industry. This is really not a matter of which drug is more dangerous or harmful, but a matter of which drug-associated incident would draw more mindless handwringing & moral panic.