DESIGNER DRUG

noun (Drugs) A drug deliberately synthesized to get round anti-drug regulations, using a structure which is not yet illegal but which mimics the chemistry and effects of an existing, banned drug; hence any recreational drug with an altered structure. Etymology: For etymology, see designer. The ultimate in made-to-measure kicks, the designer drug was also designed to keep one step ahead of anti-drugs laws. History and Usage: Designer drugs were being made privately as early as 1976; the first designer 'look-alikes' of heroin appeared on the streets in the late seventies under the names China White and new heroin. The term itself was coined several years later when Professor Henderson of the University of California at Davis investigated the large number of deaths and Parkinsonian symptoms among users of China White in California. Despite attempts to limit them by legislation, designer drugs mimicking prohibited amphetamines enjoyed an explosion in the late eighties, as drug users looked for ways of avoiding heroin use with its associated Aids risk. With the new legislation came a development in the sense of the term: any recreational drug which deliberately altered the structure of an existing drug could be called a designer drug, as could a drug used by a sports competitor hoping to avoid falling foul of random tests. The legality of the designer drugs is only one of the many powerful economic incentives working to make them the future drugs of abuse. Science Mar. 1985, p. 62 Some of these people obviously also use cocaine, marijuana and some exotic designer drugs. New York Times 23 Sept. 1989, p. 23