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1Designer Drugsand the BrainDesigner drug (noun): “A synthetic version of a controlledsubstance (as heroin) that is produced with a slightly alteredmolecular structure to avoid having it classified as anillicit drug.”—Merriam-Webster’s DictionaryWHAT ARE DESIGNER DRUGS?The term designer drug was coined in the mid- to late 1980s whendoctors, scientists, and law enforcement agencies noted that, overthe past few decades, the number of people who were attemptingto illegally synthesize mind-altering drugs in underground “clandestine”laboratories was increasing dramatically. These “basementchemists” were taking the chemical structures of knownlegal drugs, such as the narcotic painkiller Demerol®, and alteringthem slightly (even by one or two atoms) to produce closelyrelated analogues (molecules with very similar chemical structures).The idea behind this illegal synthesis was to create a“designer drug” that was hundreds or thousands of times morepotent than the original legal drug. For a few hundred dollars inchemicals and lab supplies, drug makers and dealers could produceliterally millions of dollars’ worth of illegal drugs. Also, sincethe chemical structure of the drug had been altered slightly, it wasstill perfectly legal.8