# How new drugs get on the streets



## BenGoram (Mar 9, 2013)

I know the idea of a "super drug" isn't new (it's been done in comics plenty), but how would a new drug (especially one with more "unusual" properties) realistically get into circulation? Since drug dealers aren't known to do clinical trials how do they know if the stuff they're selling is going to kill their clientele? And assuming said users aren't so beyond reason that they'll just take anything, what possessed someone to try a new drug?


----------



## Steerpike (Mar 9, 2013)

Dealers:

1. Might not care if it negatively affects a small % of users;
2. Might not care if the side effect are long-term enough that it doesn't impact their business;
3. Might have ready access to it if it is an easily-isolated natural compound or easily synthesized in the lab.

Users:

1. Might be faced with a life threatening or debilitating condition and are willing to take the risk (in other words, the risk might not be unreasonable).
2. Might be unaware of the risks.

Just a few initial thoughts. An interesting issue to think about....


----------



## BenGoram (Mar 9, 2013)

Thanks! I guess it wouldn't be too hard for a drug that makes you temporarily superhuman to get very popular very fast.


----------



## Butterfly (Mar 10, 2013)

The answer is... they don't know if it will kill someone, and they don't care... They don't care how it affects people in regards to their health, how it destroys their lives and the lives of others, how it affects their mental health. What many do care about is the money they need to pay off their suppliers, often the money they need to fuel their own addictions as the majority of dealers are also users. It's a spiral many cannot get out of and once hooked nothing else matters but the fix, not family, friends, not the law, the effects on health and mind, not even another's life. They see nothing as being more important than the next fix.

The possession to try something new... Peer pressure, it's the in thing, an attitude and willingness to 'try anything once.' It's rampant around the nightclub scene. There are gateway drugs which have been shown to lead to the abuse of other substances. There is a reduction of inhibitions due to alcohol consumption, or other drugs already in their system. A lot start with something relatively safe. With each usage the effects become less and less, they then move on to other harder, more dangerous, more addictive substances. 

There are vulnerable groups in society who are easily coerced for any number of reasons... homeless, teens in care, those with other addictions like alcohol. Often for them it acts as a release and numbing of traumatic situations.

There are even unwilling or unknown usages. Drinks spiked, or one abusive party in a relationship injecting another. Sometimes, they don't have a choice.

For many of them it's a world without hope.


----------



## WyrdMystic (Mar 10, 2013)

Suppliers hire chemists to come up with new things and new cheaper ways to make drugs, old and new. They use existing networks to get the new drug out, and as there's no real testing, the health risks are unknown. As for people trying them, that's already been covered. Just remember, dealers don't hand them out saying, this may kill you.

the other way they get out is on the internet. New compounds made from legally available chemicals are generally legal in most countires until such a time as they are specifically classified. So to get around drugs laws, chemists will always search for new 'legal highs' and these, unfortunately, don't get banned until someone dies, as until someone dies, no-one other the people that make it, deal it and take it even know about it.


----------



## BenGoram (Mar 10, 2013)

Thanks guys!


----------



## Filk (Mar 10, 2013)

I know the students at schools like MIT in Boston are always experimenting with making new drugs. I've never been privy to one of their parties, but I hear that you are required to wear a certain color wristband to show what drug you are on so you don't accidentally mix them and die. Generally, you can assume the creator of a drug and his/her friends are going to try the new drug (in the name of science, of course) or maybe find some other human guinea pigs.

If you don't "do drugs" then you aren't likely apt to try one at all. Getting drunk will make it easy to say yes too, but people often do drugs for the same reasons that they drink more than a couple of beers. Seeking euphoria is escapism; reading fantasy is as well hehe.

Good luck and don't do too much research if you know what I mean.


----------



## BenGoram (Mar 11, 2013)

Filk said:


> Good luck and don't do too much research if you know what I mean.



I am decidedly NOT part of the "write what you know" school of thought.


----------



## Filk (Mar 12, 2013)

Also, check out this site: Erowid

It is the most comprehensive vault of information on drugs I have come across; it even has user-submitted experiences with substances. I always check this site before trying something, although those days are pretty much over.


----------



## BenGoram (Mar 12, 2013)

I'm considering starting to watch Breaking Bad as research.


----------



## Benjamin Clayborne (Mar 13, 2013)

Drug dealers _do_ care if what they sell kills their customers, because then they don't have any customers. So when a brand-new drug is invented, the only way they'd sell it is if someone they trust tells them that it's all good. (Who knows how _that_ person knows this, but when a drug is invented, presumably the inventors tested it on _someone_... possibly themselves.)


----------



## Devor (Mar 15, 2013)

Filk said:


> I know the students at schools like MIT in Boston are always experimenting with making new drugs.



This can be important, depending on the story.  Sometimes things are done by bright, impulsive people who don't think through what they're doing and then get carried away.  A lot of drugs aren't really "new," but "new versions."  You can make Meth out of over the counter allergy medicine; "Well, let's try it with the new _prescription_ brand."  That kind of thing.


----------



## WyrdMystic (Mar 17, 2013)

Benjamin Clayborne said:


> Drug dealers _do_ care if what they sell kills their customers, because then they don't have any customers. So when a brand-new drug is invented, the only way they'd sell it is if someone they trust tells them that it's all good. (Who knows how _that_ person knows this, but when a drug is invented, presumably the inventors tested it on _someone_... possibly themselves.)



Entirely depends on the dealer. There's been many cases when dealers have cut their product with deadly checmicals to stretch it out knowing it can do serious harm. It depends who they are selling to I suppose, regulars or strangers.


----------



## Darkblade (Mar 17, 2013)

Something I haven't seen brought up that is worth considering is using the "super-drug" as performance enhancer for professional athletes, cops and other people who are under a lot of pressure to keep physically fit. Naturally this would depend a lot on what kinds of powers it bestows upon it's users but if it can do Captain American-esque general enhancement it can effectively be a super powerful steroid.


----------



## FatCat (Mar 17, 2013)

Bath-salts and 'spice'  are both pretty new, and they kinda just jumped up from nowhere. Drugs are like any other consumable item, dealers get em, hype em, and people buy em. I know a lot of people that want to try most everything, and in that mentality the 'new' stuff is sought after. Spice is pretty popular among people who can't smoke marijuana due to drug testing. And as far as the health issues associated with the drug, the dealers are all different. I know guys that will absolutely NOT sell heroin on moral grounds. Then you have the other guys who cut coke with w/e they have that's white and lying around, and the hillbillies who looked up how to make meth online and who knows what's in that. 

Anyway, back to the original question, it's just like any new item. It's promoted, either by the dealer or people who have tried it, simple as that.


----------



## BenGoram (Mar 18, 2013)

Thanks everyone! I'm definitely getting a good feel for how a new drug, especially a super one, could get on the market. Now I just need to figure out if the rest of my plot makes any sense.


----------



## Breezybealle (Apr 23, 2013)

Not a bad idea, lol, just don't get so lost in the show that you lose the urge to write!


----------

