"new substances designed by slightly altering the chemical makeup of other illegal or tightly controlled drugs."
Designer drugs are made by underground chemists in order to create street drugs that are not specifically listed as controlled substances by the Drug Enforcement Administration. A designer drug is made by changing the molecular structure of an existing drug or drugs to create a new substance. An example is Ecstasy. The street names vary. Because unlicensed and untrained amateurs create them, these drugs can be extremely dangerous -- in many cases, more dangerous and potent than the original drug. Designer drugs derived from the pharmaceutical drug, fentanyl, have been associated with hundreds of unintentional deaths in the United States.
Drugs designed and synthesized, often for illegal street use, by modification of existing drug structures (e.g., amphetamines). Of special interest are MPTP (a reverse ester of meperidine), MDA (3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine), and MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine). Many drugs act on the aminergic system, the physiologically active biogenic amines.
Drugs that are produced in an illegal laboratory and are chemically similar to a pharmaceutical drug.
is a term that describes drugs specifically synthesised to get around regulations on controlled substances.
Illegal drugs are defined in terms of their chemical formulas. To circumvent these legal restrictions, underground chemists modify the molecular structure of certain illegal drugs to produce analogs known as designer drugs. Most are related to amphetamines. This can cause neurochemical damage to the brain.
Any of a vast number of custom made drugs that are designed to be chemically different from illegal drugs, but similar in effect to those drugs.
Chemical substances which have a potential for abuse similar to or greater than that for controlled substances, but which are designed to produce a desired pharmacological effect and to evade the controlling statutory provisions.
a term first used in the 1980s to describe synthetic or lab-produced derivatives of prescription drugs con-trolled by the U.S. Food and drug (FDA). Until late 1986, so long as drug imitations were only similar, but not identical, to controlled drugs, individuals could not be prosecuted or fined for making them. Designer drug can also refer to a known, abused drug that has been repackaged or redesigned for easier use or increased appeal to consumers. Crack cocaine is a designer form of cocaine.
illegally manufactured psychoactive drugs that have dangerous physical and psychological side effects