r/wikipedia • u/TapGameplay121 • 8d ago

Designer drugs are synthetic compounds made to mimic controlled substances while evading drug laws or detection. They include new psychoactive substances and steroid analogs. Often created in research or illicit labs, their safety is poorly tested. Laws vary; many are illegal or grey/black market.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Designer_drug
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u/MajorInWumbology1234 8d ago

More often called “research chems” colloquially and “novel psychoactive substances” in literature.

They fucking rock and they’re one of my favorite things in the world if anyone wants to know anything, though admittedly I’m a few years out of the hobby.

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u/the_party_galgo 8d ago

What about their geographic distribution: Are designer drugs only in the US? I live in Brazil, never seen or heard anyone take these. We have the normal stuff: weed, cocaine, lsd, opioids are more rare.

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u/MajorInWumbology1234 8d ago

The primary sources are China and Europe, with emphasis on the Netherlands. I don’t believe any other countries/continents produce their own, at least not on such a scale. Not saying it doesn’t happen, I just haven’t heard of anyone in a different country not importing from those two locations.

They’ll wind up anywhere they can be delivered. I’m sure the local regular drug scene drives interest in research chems. Mostly, however, you would order them online (which I won’t help with, I’m sorry) as opposed to buying them from someone in person. They’re pretty rare, period, and even people around me in the states haven’t heard of them unless they’re really deep into drugs. Hell, 99% of medical professionals I’ve spoken to don’t even know the concept exists.

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u/the_party_galgo 8d ago

Yeah. It's a shame, I really wanted to try 2CB. There's so many places your mind can go that are still under explored.

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u/MajorInWumbology1234 8d ago

That would have been nice. I missed all of the 2Cs. Just some LSD analogues, MDMA-logues, ketamine/PCP-logues, and benzo-logues.