A 100% Safe, Side Effect Free Psychoactive, Is It Possible?

[LandsUnknown]

Title says it all. Most people say no. That all substances have some degree of risk. Though, cannabis comes pretty damn close. Perhaps, with a bit of pharmaceutical engineering, I believe it may be possible to create a drug that produces a euphoric, enjoyable high without any side effects. Or perhaps, there's an inherent aspect of being high that means some side effects can occur. Thoughts? Is the perfect "happy pill" theoretically possible? Or no? I suspect it may be, but the pharma companies want to sell multiple drugs so they create one that has some side effects and another pill to counteract it (e.g. the Adderall is keeping you awake at night, take valium to sleep, etc., etc.). So, the pharma companies are making $$$ off two pills now instead of one. But in theory, if pharma companies weren't greedy, I wonder if that perfect little blue pill of eternal happiness is possible. In theory.

 

[Pomzazed]

Not possible.

This is irregard of how pharma company wants to make money, it is the chemical itself.

 

[d1nach]

Nothing is 100 % safe. Even water can kill you.

 

[sekio]

There are no drugs that 100% reliably cause euphoria in every person/situation, life just isn't that easy, occasionally genetics throws you a curveball (mutations causing drastic changes in drug binding/metabolism) or the set/setting are less than ideal.

In terms of risk vs reward for improving quality of life, classical psychedelics are a good one to consider, especially when used in a framework that allows you to develop in some manner, either intellectually, emotionally or spiritually. MDMA when dosed properly is also pretty benign. Also as you mentioned, Cannabis is also a good one.

But even these drugs can cause side effects, it's really a matter of judging if the positive effects outweigh some mild bruxism or cottonmouth or whatever.

Unfortunately drug design/pharmacoengineering can only go so far, the general name of the game with med chemistry is increasing binding affinities & efficacies, which doesn't translate well to psychedelics/enactogens, too much activity can spoil the broth so to speak and push things into toxic-land again (c.f. the safety profiles of 2C-X versus DOx versus NBOMe... what would seem like "better" drugs from a med chem point of view (high affinity/efficacy at target receptors) are seemingly harder on the system and are certainly easier to OD on.)

 

[Hodor]

but the pharma companies want to sell multiple drugs so they create one that has some side effects and another pill to counteract it (e.g. the Adderall is keeping you awake at night, take valium to sleep, etc., etc.). So, the pharma companies are making $$$ off two pills now instead of one. But in theory, if pharma companies weren't greedy, I wonder if that perfect little blue pill of eternal happiness is possible. In theory.

These kinds of conspiracy theories don't hold up because "Big Pharma" is no monolith.
If there is a pill of eternal happiness and Pfizer, Astra-Zeneca, Boehringer-Ingelheim and Shire all refused to make it, then maybe Wyeth would be the one to produce it, and become richer than god in the process.

Also, one man's desirable effect is another man's side-effect. A drug keeping you awake for the next 12 hours might be a good thing if you're using it against daytime sleepiness, but a negative side-effect if you're using to party in the evening but still want to be asleep by 2AM.

Lastly, not every pill costs the same; if you could replace two pills with one, that one pill would be priced accordingly. A single Concerta extended-release capsule costs more than several Ritalin tablets. Treating your cold with several decongestants, DXM, antihistamines and acetaminophen costs less than 1/1000 of what it costs to treat your hepatitis C with Sovaldi.

 

[Frankquilizer]

Newton?s third law: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Maybe we?ll see see such substances in our lifetimes; maybe not. For now it seems that the positive effects of psychoactive substances will continue to come packaged with the negatives.

 

[busted.produk]

one man's desirable effect is another man's side-effect.

Precisely