Career Advice MEGA - Courses and Careers related to Drugs

College path if Interested in Drugs and the Brain?

I really enjoy reading on the Neuroscience and Pharmacology section of Bluelight, and Im just starting college. I was curious what some might suggest would be a good major to pick for starters for someone interested in Drugs and their effects on the brain, brain chemistry and neurotransmitters in general, and also psychedelics and their effects on the brain and consciousness - ya know, those types of things.

If anyone has taken this path, what types of work can you get in to? Or is it a research based field. (if that makes sense). Im mostly lost on which college major these topics fall under, so any insight or advice from anyone who studies or works in these fields or just happens to be knowledgable would be greatly appreciated.
 
I moved your thread here, hopefully you will get answers. What do you refer to?.. Books, maybe? I would suggest > ~Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy~.
 
I'll give this a shot, although I went to school for computer science (but I'm fascinated by the same topics :)). I believe the fields of study are actually known as neuroscience, and pharmacology. These are probably broad categories with sub-specialties. I believe that neuroscience is more of a study of the brain, whereas pharmacology is the study of how drugs work in the brain, so perhaps pharmacology is a subset of neuroscience? A quick googling shows me that many colleges seem to have departments for both of these areas. If you're interested in doing the actual chemistry and making things, it's organic chemistry you would want to study.

In terms of how to begin, I guess look at the prerequisites for a school you'er thinking of going to, to get a degree in neuroscience or pharmacology or whatever, and just sign up for gen eds you need, and prerequisite courses. That way you'll be completing some general stuff you'll need regardless of what you choose, while dipping your toes into the area you're interested in, so it gives you some time to ease into it and make sure you're heading in the direction you want to be. It's really good you're asking this, because a lot of people go to college without a clear idea of what they're going for and end up getting a degree in something they don't care about, or not getting one at all, or taking much longer to finish school.

I have no idea what sort of jobs you can get. I'm hoping someone with more experience will drop in and give you a less speculative answer. :)
 
This is a common topic on BL over the years (surprise!), to the point where such questions and answers have been collected in MEGA-Courses and Careers related to Drugs. Though, that thread is in the archive (not reply-able). One can still give a read thru there, but recognize course offerings evolve over time.

Perhaps a mod would want to move that MEGA from archive back into discussion? Perhaps move these last few posts there?
 
Merged into the more appropriate mega-thread, thanks TLB.
 
Cool idea for a thread. I’m in the midst of working out a major life change. I have a stable job- pays well with benefits. But not fulfilling in anyway. And in 5-10 years I will likely be replaced with automation & A.I. Even if I wasn’t... it’s not the final stamp I want to leave on this earth as my contribution. I do volunteer in my spare time with harm reduction & political candidates I support.

I’d like to do something like that... I care enough about it to do for free... I wish I could do it as a career. I’m moving past my mid 30’s now. So going back to school at this age is a little scary. There’s a lot more variables in the mix than my first trip to college. But, I don’t want to have regrets & I know I’m not content with what I’m currently doing.

I recently saw a job post w/M.A.P.S. for a harm reduction executive director & they listed requirements. I took a screenshot, thinking maybe I could use that as a road map... pardon the pun. I just really wanna do something that makes a difference. And I would like to be able to pay my bills while doing it.

Anyone here have any advice... doesn’t have to be a job related to harm reduction or drugs. Can you relate? Have you sought out a career in something you had a passion for? Where do I start with planning this? The timingmy age is what makes this scarier. I could use some feedback. Thanks
 
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Well, I can attest to the need to change your career and everything. I've been a steel stud framer for a decade with a few years of service rigs and well servicing in there and it's really taken a chunk out of me psychologically and physically. Coupled with a really destructive passion being competitive lifting, I was left with no other choice but to change my career otherwise I just wouldn't last. I was pretty close to committing suicide just one year ago. So anyways, with some guidance from one of my physical therapists, it has been suggested to me to go into the realm of physical therapy. While you're studying Physical Therapy you can study for a trade in which you can make real money working on people and learn about related topics.

Worst case scenario is, you will make out of school with a well-respected trade, and a practitioner license number under your belt and you will be able to charge top dollar for physical therapy. Now the benefit of this is that, once you're finished you can start working hard to pay off your loans, and in the meantime if you have any extra time, you can continue your studies part time. This is my plan, I'm one year into upgrading and will be going back to framing for about 6 months after I finish a couple more High School upgrades.

I started this journey as a high-school dropout with a 4th class power engineering certificate as of 2013. Power Engineering isn't as technical as it sounds. You're basically certified to test the water in a boiler and call services to do any repairs that you are unable to perform yourself on the plant. The main job of power engineer is basically to clean and maintain the plant and make sure that all the equipment is running as it is supposed to so that processes can occur in a timely fashion without disruption. Flow is key in the plant, time = money.

So anyways, I struggled in construction, and I pulled out to do this power engineering after saving cash for school on the rigs. Power Engineering didn't work for my personal lifestyle of competitive lifting and it also drove me insane but with the night shift and having a very hard time training on my "on" shifts adjusting from day to night shifts working 12 - 16 hr shifts ect. I suppose it would also be useful to understand that I got seriously addicted to fentanyl and meth during this time and this was one of the most difficult periods in my life. I was chasing money and taking jobs for all the wrong reasons. Doing drugs so I could work harder and longer than other workers. I was a fucking savage about it.

Fast forward to 2016. I started framing again and my general depression continue to develop. I felt very trapped in my trade and like I was only being used as a laborer because that was the main thing I was good at. Working with my body but my body had an expiry date. As you may be able to tell, my situation was deteriorating at an accelerated rate. I was becoming more and more efficient at my occupation, even getting ready to hire guys and I was training people on the job, accumulating tools and equipment up to around $17,000 worth of equipment for the job. And I fucking hated it. I wanted to kill myself. There were good days, sure. But at the end of it all, I was hollow inside my soul, waiting for death, playing russian roulette with IV opiates, xanex, amphetamines, and liquor every day. I could not drive past a liquor store without stopping, every day I would tell myself "not today", but I would stop and get a 6 pack or a mickey and be drinking in traffic all the way home before I'd eat and go train. I don't know how my liver, heart or brain still work at all. I suppose it was genetics and luck of the draw.

I was searching for an answer with a lot of professionals in the physical therapy realm. Seeing that I needed so much of it myself, my chiropractor suggested to me that I go to school for massage therapy. So I've been on the path to switch my career to that ever since. But now massage therapy isn't my intended destination. I intend on continuing far beyond this trade because I would like to end up in a lab someday, and what with understudied systems such as the lymphatic system, our rudimentary understanding of the interplay of the neuroendocrine system and it's scope of influence on literally every metabolic process in the body, genetic predisposition, micology, neurolink, nootropic drugs ect., there seems to be endless possibilities for exploration and discovery. Renewable energy ect ect. Literally it never ends with what promises to be fields of science that will undoubtedly experience revolutionary discoveries that will change the world of science. I think limiting yourself to just the study of drugs may be a little bit... limiting for lack of a better term, but that's part of the academic process. You will find things that speak to you along the way, and this process is important when considering a life long career.

Personally, my plan is to finish my college education as a massage therapist, and it may or may not count towards credits for another degree in university. Which one I might pursue I haven't completely decided on yet. There are so many fascinating subjects that are getting a lot of attention these days and it's really hard to pin down where your heart wants to go with this whole information explosion. You could change your mind half way through, who knows.

It also depends on how much money you're willing to owe at the end of this journey. I've been fortunate that my finances have been fairly forgiving and that I shouldn't have loans over 60,000 owing when I'm finished College. It should only take about 2 or 3 years to pay on the salary of an experienced athlete who has been on trades for over a decade and has a wide range of skills, experience and knowledge at their disposal.

This is just a suggestion, but you can't go wrong with trades. The fact of the matter is, even when I do finish my college education I'll still have all the tools that I need to be a steel stud framer and Interior Systems mechanic, I still have my vehicles, I'll have even more education relating medicine and the sciences and I can work anywhere in the world with these skills. I will never be out of work should I choose to pick up the tool pouch or open my massage table. Also, I have a new lease on life and am no longer suicidal. I'm slightly crazy, a little manic at times, up, down and everything in between. But I dont wake up wishing I was dead before I strap my boots on and pound a shot of testosterone with some stims into my body before I labor my fingers and vertebrae down to the bone.

I took the resources I had and got myself a backup plan, the first course (RMT) which I should be done in 2023. But this path also leaves doors open for many other directions of academic achievement, should I desire to pursue them. But the most important thing is, I found a trade that will earn me real money, that I am happy doing.


Look at the cost of the first plateau and what it can potentially earn you. Weigh the pros and cons of taking an extra step just in case you do settle on that plateau for whatever reason. Make sure you can support yourself on the wage you can earn from the degree you are looking into, but I suppose more importantly than anything, make sure you chose something that you are fairly certain that you will be happy doing.

I suppose it doesn't matter if you make 100k a year, because I did when I was a power engineer and I wanted to drive my new SUV into an oncoming semi every day on my way to work. I had a new appreciation for construction when I got out of that trade, but was still looking down the barrel of a shotgun because of the damage my level of work demanded I perform at daily.

I've spent almost 85% of my savings on my first year of upgrading and I'm still almost 3 years away from the end of the first stage. But I am genuinely happy pursuing this goal. If I continue into another field of medicine, sweet. If not, that's cool too. But even if you do find yourself in a certain occupation, that by no means limits your ability to continue to pursue additional skills and knowledge. Don't let anyone or anything stop you. Don't get comfortable. Just keep reaching, and you'll find meaning in every day for the rest of your life.

I hope this long winded snapshot into my tortured past helps somebody make an intelligent decision on which direction to take their attention in regards to this journey for the discovery of self. There is no distain worse than rotting at your job, a fate more disheartening than the idea of death itself.
 
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My dad had a PhD in psychiatry and an MS in chemistry. He was also a poly-substance abuser.
Ironically, he counseled sailors that were drug addicted for 30+ years.
 
College major in biochemistry and immunology. Grad school for pharmacy and pharmacokinetics (the pharmacy lab didn't have any fun pills, but did have a big jug of codeine cough syrup I used to partake in). I was busted and imprisoned (high security state prison not jail) for selling a dime bag of pot to a cop -- yeah you read that right -- so grad school was cut short. Silver lining: I got into computer programming where I eventually got into computer, console and mobile games for the last 35 years.
 
I’ve heard that Bioinformatics is opening up a lot of opportunities for people who like programming, pharmacology, biochemistry, and data management. Drug prediction AI certainly is fascinating.
 
Something that Ethan Nadelmann talks about on his podcast is that drugs are truly such an interdisciplinary field. If you consider a university, you could probably find a way to apply the methods of any of the academic departments to the study of drugs

e.g. chemistry, biology, mathematics, psychology, social work, history, philosophy, business all could have applications in the wide world of drugs

So my advice to folks out there is to find your passion other than substances, and then apply that back to the drugs.

Unfortunately only a select few get to select few get to make careers out of actually doing drugs… steve o, and ofc us bluelight senior mods too. We get a 2 week supply of our DOC mailed to us along with our paycheck ;)
 
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