Scientist Haunted by Misuse of Drugs He Invented
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Bioethics, Consumer Safety, Featured Articles, Health and Medicine, Physics and Chemistry, The Brain, Video on 01 5th, 2011 | no responses
David Nichols studies the way psychedelic drugs act in the brains of rats. But he’s haunted by how humans hijack his work to make street drugs, sometimes causing overdose deaths. He was hoping that his work would lead to new ways of treating psychiatric disorders not become club drugs.
Today the journal Nature published an essay by Dr. Nichols where he describes the ethical dilemma he and and other neuroscientists face.
“I had never considered the possibility that something I’ve done might lead directly or even indirectly to somebody dying.” — David Nichols, Purdue University
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