phase_dancer
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2001
- Messages
- 6,179
Australian Drug Enforcement Strategies
Australia has largely followed the US with regards to implimented legislation aimed at preventing the manufacture of illicit drugs. Measures have been introduced to stem the availability of chemicals and equipment through restricting sales of many associated or potential *drug chemicals*, to account holders only. By making chemicals unavailable to the public, it is assumed many if not all producers will eventually be forced out of business (or caught trying to buy from Chem suppliers). The Drug Diversion Strategy has been recently upgraded to include additional precursors and starting materials, as well as rescheduling some into a higher, more restrictive level.
In addition to this, in the early nineties Australia also adopted a US based policy on drug analogues and homologues. The range of substances this encompasses is enormous, and if the law was ever fully enforced it would seriously affect most science based universities, as well as many research projects and industries. AFAIK the law has never been directly acted upon in Australia, but I imagine it could well be cited in court to support the prosecution's case.
The "Analogues law" is designed to affect those who attempt to skirt the scheduling laws by making an active drug similar to the parent compound, but with a slight chemical variation to the molecule
Example: MDMA can be termed N-methyl-3,4-methylenedioxy-phenylisopropylamine.
Changing the amine, the length of the isopropyl chain or substitutes on the ring (phenyl), will still contravene the analogues law. Of course, many of the possible changes which are covered by the law will produce inactive compounds, but the law is designed more to curb future developments in clandestine drug design for which no specific scheduling exists.
The Big Wide World of 2C-X
We have recently seen 2C-I becoming popular world wide, with supplies of the drug being reported in Australia. As anyone who has read PiHKAL will know, the range of possible 2C compounds is enormous, with Shulgin only making a portion of these. In the past, many clandestine chemists interested in pursuing these drugs have faced problems with obtaining special chemicals needed to synthesize the intermediate compounds.
Unlike MDMA, where the starting material safrole is found in many natural sources, the 2,5 di-methoxy pattern required for 2C-H and 2C-X PEA’s is not found in nature as a convenient ready to go molecule, particularly if substitution on the forth position is desired (2C-X). Asarone can be found in sweet flag or calamus oil, both available from nature, but it must be first manipulated in order to substitute the important 4th position.
Asarone isn’t all that easy to come by though, and with recent rescheduling of 2C compounds, it’s likely the starting materials such as asarone would be watched. Asarone is also reported to be a difficult substance to work with in some reactions, with cooks often going to great lengths in attempt to maximize yields.
...however, a recently published paper now looks set to change all this...
Candy’s Dandy, and the PMA connection
Most Bluelighters know about PMA. It is to Anise oil as MDA is to sassafras, but anethole from anise oil is already one step closer to PMA or PMMA, than safrole from sassafras is to MDA or MDMA.
Sassafras oil is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, due to there being few uses for it other than for synthesizing MDMA. It does have valuable uses as a delousing agent IMO, but as safrole is rated as a carcinogen, it is no longer used as a flavoring, and has strict guidelines set for the maximum allowable concentration of sassafras oil in any product applied to the skin or scalp. Anise oil on the other hand is easily obtainable as it is used extensively in the flavoring and confectionary industries.
This oil and the desired ingredient anethole are well entrenched in these industries, making replacement difficult. This is compounded by the properties of Anise, which allows many flavor variations to be achieved. Any replacement therefore would probably require several substances to be selected from depending upon the original recipe. Bakers, chefs, food tech businesses etc would hate it.
However, despite anethole being a starting material to a deadly drug, and despite the quick action by government to restrict availability of other starting materials such as sassafras oil, anethole and oil of anise aren't even considered. What a red tape nightmare that would be! Unless there was strong public outcry [read: more deaths related to PMA] nobody in the appropriate place would risk his position on such a pro-active out on a limb stance. Who would listen anyway if the public wasn't jumping up and down?
This is why the threat of PMA passed off as MDMA is seriously real. Producers may source anethole because they actually prefer the drug, but I believe it’s more because safrole is unable to be sourced, or is too expensive. Anethole is cheap, can be easily diverted from legit sources, is food grade quality (doesn't mean anything here) and is 2 steps from PMA.
PMA is known to be a very dangerous drug, responsible for several deaths world wide including Australia. Figures from an Australian PMA report indicate that of the 32 literature reported deaths associated with PMA worldwide, 16 (50% ) of those have occurred in Australia (cheers drplatypus). So it does make the risk of accidentally consuming PMA a very real and on-going concern in this regard.
Can anethole be used for something other than synthesizing PMA and making candy?
Although several advancements in clandestine chemistry have come directly from the discoveries of the chemists themselves, most breakthroughs come from literature and published papers. Many are not specific to drug chemistry, but the techniques may be applied to that particular area or group of substances.
The recent discovery concerning 2C-X however came from a toxicology institute in Belgium. The intent of researchers was to discover whether anethole is currently being used to make 2C precursors, by establishing whether or not it could be done using easy to obtain (OTC) chemicals. The effect was to send an enthusiastic cheer throughout the clandestine community. This it would seem, is the breakthrough many had been waiting for.
The procedures outlined all use OTC (over the counter) chemicals, arriving at the starting molecule for an almost limitless number of compounds. While the 2C-T compounds and more complex substitutions would require non OTC chemicals to synthesize, the scope of the educated psychedelic chemist has increased perhaps 10 fold or more with this discovery.
Stepping into the Unknown
So what does all this mean for Harm Reduction and outreach groups? If the choice of drugs available not only changes irregularly, but is also likely to involve completely new and untested substances, then any HM group will feel the pressure. Many of these drugs are untested in man. Even Shulgin approached such things very cautiously, always noting any reported adverse affects in animals before trying a new substance. When this information wasn’t available, a sensible caution was applied by starting at very low doses and gradually increasing until affect was noticed or the compound deemed to be inactive. Another thing to remember with Shulgin’s methods of bio-assaying new compounds was that many of these substances were not taken for prolonged or extended periods, so little if anything is known of the long term dangers.
Just how HR groups are to respond to such a situation will depend very much on what decisions are made by governments in regards to how increased safety can be achieved. It would be another card on the table for lab testing, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see if and when such a plethora of drugs becomes available.
Still, it should be seen as important that such matters are raised as soon as they become apparent. Discussion breeds preparation after-all.
Edit: removed dead links; p_d
Australia has largely followed the US with regards to implimented legislation aimed at preventing the manufacture of illicit drugs. Measures have been introduced to stem the availability of chemicals and equipment through restricting sales of many associated or potential *drug chemicals*, to account holders only. By making chemicals unavailable to the public, it is assumed many if not all producers will eventually be forced out of business (or caught trying to buy from Chem suppliers). The Drug Diversion Strategy has been recently upgraded to include additional precursors and starting materials, as well as rescheduling some into a higher, more restrictive level.
In addition to this, in the early nineties Australia also adopted a US based policy on drug analogues and homologues. The range of substances this encompasses is enormous, and if the law was ever fully enforced it would seriously affect most science based universities, as well as many research projects and industries. AFAIK the law has never been directly acted upon in Australia, but I imagine it could well be cited in court to support the prosecution's case.
The "Analogues law" is designed to affect those who attempt to skirt the scheduling laws by making an active drug similar to the parent compound, but with a slight chemical variation to the molecule
Example: MDMA can be termed N-methyl-3,4-methylenedioxy-phenylisopropylamine.
Changing the amine, the length of the isopropyl chain or substitutes on the ring (phenyl), will still contravene the analogues law. Of course, many of the possible changes which are covered by the law will produce inactive compounds, but the law is designed more to curb future developments in clandestine drug design for which no specific scheduling exists.
The Big Wide World of 2C-X
We have recently seen 2C-I becoming popular world wide, with supplies of the drug being reported in Australia. As anyone who has read PiHKAL will know, the range of possible 2C compounds is enormous, with Shulgin only making a portion of these. In the past, many clandestine chemists interested in pursuing these drugs have faced problems with obtaining special chemicals needed to synthesize the intermediate compounds.
Unlike MDMA, where the starting material safrole is found in many natural sources, the 2,5 di-methoxy pattern required for 2C-H and 2C-X PEA’s is not found in nature as a convenient ready to go molecule, particularly if substitution on the forth position is desired (2C-X). Asarone can be found in sweet flag or calamus oil, both available from nature, but it must be first manipulated in order to substitute the important 4th position.
Asarone isn’t all that easy to come by though, and with recent rescheduling of 2C compounds, it’s likely the starting materials such as asarone would be watched. Asarone is also reported to be a difficult substance to work with in some reactions, with cooks often going to great lengths in attempt to maximize yields.
...however, a recently published paper now looks set to change all this...
Candy’s Dandy, and the PMA connection
Most Bluelighters know about PMA. It is to Anise oil as MDA is to sassafras, but anethole from anise oil is already one step closer to PMA or PMMA, than safrole from sassafras is to MDA or MDMA.
Sassafras oil is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, due to there being few uses for it other than for synthesizing MDMA. It does have valuable uses as a delousing agent IMO, but as safrole is rated as a carcinogen, it is no longer used as a flavoring, and has strict guidelines set for the maximum allowable concentration of sassafras oil in any product applied to the skin or scalp. Anise oil on the other hand is easily obtainable as it is used extensively in the flavoring and confectionary industries.
This oil and the desired ingredient anethole are well entrenched in these industries, making replacement difficult. This is compounded by the properties of Anise, which allows many flavor variations to be achieved. Any replacement therefore would probably require several substances to be selected from depending upon the original recipe. Bakers, chefs, food tech businesses etc would hate it.
However, despite anethole being a starting material to a deadly drug, and despite the quick action by government to restrict availability of other starting materials such as sassafras oil, anethole and oil of anise aren't even considered. What a red tape nightmare that would be! Unless there was strong public outcry [read: more deaths related to PMA] nobody in the appropriate place would risk his position on such a pro-active out on a limb stance. Who would listen anyway if the public wasn't jumping up and down?
This is why the threat of PMA passed off as MDMA is seriously real. Producers may source anethole because they actually prefer the drug, but I believe it’s more because safrole is unable to be sourced, or is too expensive. Anethole is cheap, can be easily diverted from legit sources, is food grade quality (doesn't mean anything here) and is 2 steps from PMA.
PMA is known to be a very dangerous drug, responsible for several deaths world wide including Australia. Figures from an Australian PMA report indicate that of the 32 literature reported deaths associated with PMA worldwide, 16 (50% ) of those have occurred in Australia (cheers drplatypus). So it does make the risk of accidentally consuming PMA a very real and on-going concern in this regard.
Can anethole be used for something other than synthesizing PMA and making candy?
Although several advancements in clandestine chemistry have come directly from the discoveries of the chemists themselves, most breakthroughs come from literature and published papers. Many are not specific to drug chemistry, but the techniques may be applied to that particular area or group of substances.
The recent discovery concerning 2C-X however came from a toxicology institute in Belgium. The intent of researchers was to discover whether anethole is currently being used to make 2C precursors, by establishing whether or not it could be done using easy to obtain (OTC) chemicals. The effect was to send an enthusiastic cheer throughout the clandestine community. This it would seem, is the breakthrough many had been waiting for.
The procedures outlined all use OTC (over the counter) chemicals, arriving at the starting molecule for an almost limitless number of compounds. While the 2C-T compounds and more complex substitutions would require non OTC chemicals to synthesize, the scope of the educated psychedelic chemist has increased perhaps 10 fold or more with this discovery.
Stepping into the Unknown
So what does all this mean for Harm Reduction and outreach groups? If the choice of drugs available not only changes irregularly, but is also likely to involve completely new and untested substances, then any HM group will feel the pressure. Many of these drugs are untested in man. Even Shulgin approached such things very cautiously, always noting any reported adverse affects in animals before trying a new substance. When this information wasn’t available, a sensible caution was applied by starting at very low doses and gradually increasing until affect was noticed or the compound deemed to be inactive. Another thing to remember with Shulgin’s methods of bio-assaying new compounds was that many of these substances were not taken for prolonged or extended periods, so little if anything is known of the long term dangers.
Just how HR groups are to respond to such a situation will depend very much on what decisions are made by governments in regards to how increased safety can be achieved. It would be another card on the table for lab testing, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see if and when such a plethora of drugs becomes available.
Still, it should be seen as important that such matters are raised as soon as they become apparent. Discussion breeds preparation after-all.
Edit: removed dead links; p_d
Last edited:
