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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards

The Drugs Wheel

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mr_adley

Greenlighter
Joined
Aug 23, 2012
Messages
14
I've just finished work on this new model to illustrate categories of some recreational psychoactive substances in use in the UK which contains categories of Disassociatives, Empathogens and Cannabinoids.

If you visit the web site there are downloads and an info sheet with the drugs and other names they're known by... I just wanted to seed it out in the hope that others find it helpful:


http://thedrugswheel.com

TheDrugsWheel_1_0_5.jpg


Cheers

Mark
 
Very, very nice! It's funny because I was considering doing something to this effect myself but never got round to it. I'd like to ask your permission regarding printing this off and putting it up on my office wall or in the waiting area. It would be very interesting to patients I'm sure.
 
I'm taking a bit of a leap here in guessing that you are some kind of drug worker, Morphoid, which leads me to ask- wouldn't you be worried that this will tell people about RCs they'd never heard of before?
 
Thanks for the comments. I completely agree with concerns about 'publicising' new chemicals so do use with care, but you're free to print out as big as you like - use the PDF file from the website downloads page for best results.

Mark
 
If we're going for constructive criticism here, there's a couple of drugs that I question the classification of. Is ether a dissociative as such? I'll admit that I don't know about its pharmacology, it might antagonise NMDA, but I'd always thought of it as a depressant (after all, it's a volatile solvent). Fly agaric is a hallucinogen, sure, but it's the only one of those drugs listed that isn't psychedelic. "Hallucinogen" is sort of an outdated term, and it's broad, it includes dissociatives and deliriants as well as psychedelics, if it were my wheel, I'd rename that category "Psychedelics", give amanitas the chop, and stick something else in. Of course, it's not my wheel, so do feel free to tell me to stop picking holes, I am only offering honest criticism in the hope that it will be helpful.
 
Hi Vader and Mr_Adley, you're be absolutely right. I'm not a drug worker, I'm a GP but I do treat drug addicts regularly. I'm one of 3 who manage the treatment of opioid addictions in the area and have the great privilege to work at a really brilliant clinic. What I meant as far as the printing off and putting up, I spend 2 days per week working in the dept. of pharmacology - it is there I would put up the wheel, not in the practise waiting room. But you are right to point out how it could be risky. Thanks for the point guys, much appreciated.

Just to throw a little spanner in the works Vader, and don't get me wrong - I think the wheel is superb! But Zopiclone is not officially covered or controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act, as it is a POM and not a CD. It's possession without a script is illegal based on the Medicines Act 1968, but it isn't schedules or classified (e.g. A,B or C). So if you were to edit the wheel again, it might be wise to but an asterisk after 'Zopiclone' and then include at the bottom that it isn't a controlled drug.

Anyhoo - aside from that, it's absolutely great and I love it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Brilliant, thanks all for the feedback, much appreciated.

Morphoid: excellent feedback on Zopiclone. Would it be fair to say that it's regulated in the UK - i.e. if I were to replace 'regulated under the Misuse of Drugs Act' with 'regulated in the UK' that would be correct?

Vader: point taken about ether, but I think I'll stick with disassociative. Many of the drugs cross over multiple categories and I'm not sure there's a 'right' place for many of them, but ether's effects are rather different from other solvents and can have an effect closer to salvia or ketamine. I do like the idea of replacing hallucinogens with psychedelics, but why would you take fly agaric out of this category...?

And cheers for catching the typo, NT, this is all very helpful :)
 
Well, without getting into arguments over what "psychedelic" means, the "classical psychedelics" are considered to be 5HT-2a agonists. This includes LSD, mushrooms, DMT, mescaline, the 2Cs, all of the drugs currently under "hallucinogens" except the black sheep is fly agaric, which has a very different mechanism of action, and very different subjective effects.
 
It's an interesting discussion. While fly agaric is indeed very different, it still to my mind induces hallucinations and would therefore fit into the psychedelic category, which brings us back to the question as to what 'psychedelic' means.

I think perhaps from a harm reduction perspective however you are right and it might be a good idea to remove it from the list to avoid people assuming it has similar effects to others in the same group.... I'll replace it with either morning glory seeds or a tryptamine like 5B-NBOMe (of which I know very little)
 
In my country Zopiclone is scheduled on the same level as Diazepam, Temazepam and Phenobarbital and therefore is a controlled substance.
I'm sure this applies to the UK too.
 
mr_adley said:
Would it be fair to say that it's regulated in the UK - i.e. if I were to replace 'regulated under the Misuse of Drugs Act' with 'regulated in the UK' that would be correct?
Click to expand...

Yes.
In fact Zopiclone is the most prescribed hypnotic in the UK.
Though not controlled under the UK's Misuse of. Drugs Act, zopiclone is a prescription-only drug.
 
mr_adley said:
Would it be fair to say that it's regulated in the UK - i.e. if I were to replace 'regulated under the Misuse of Drugs Act' with 'regulated in the UK' that would be correct?
Click to expand...

Yes.
In fact Zopiclone is the most prescribed hypnotic in the UK.
Though not controlled under the UK's Misuse of. Drugs Act, zopiclone is a prescription-only drug.



Vader said:
Nope, only zolpidem is illegal here.
Click to expand...

Illegal?
 
Yep, explicitly named class C. I imagine it's the same as with benzos though, that it's only an offence to supply.
 
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