The DARK Side of Total Synthesis: Strategies and Tactics in Psychoactive Drug Production.

Humankind has used and abused psychoactive drugs for millennia. Formally, a psychoactive drug is any agent that alters cognition and mood. The term "psychotropic drug" is neutral and describes the entire class of substrates, licit and illicit, of interest to governmental drug policy. While these drugs are prescribed for issues ranging from pain management to anxiety, they are also used recreationally. In fact, the current opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug crisis in American history. While the topic is highly politicized with racial, gender, and socioeconomic elements, there is no denying the toll drug mis- and overuse is taking on this country. Overdose, fueled by opioids, is the leading cause of death for Americans under 50 years of age, killing ca. 64,000 people in 2016. From a chemistry standpoint, the question is in what ways, if any, did organic chemists contribute to this problem? In this targeted review, we provide brief historical accounts of the main classes of psychoactive drugs and discuss several foundational total syntheses that ultimately provide the groundwork for producing these molecules in academic, industrial, and clandestine settings.

Degeneration and the origins of Mexico's war on drugs.

In the early twentieth century, the concept of "degeneration" helped to turn "drugs" into a problem of national importance in Mexico. By invoking this concept, Mexico's sanitary authorities secured provisions in the Constitution of 1917 which specifically authorized a newly constituted Department of Public Sanitation to lead a nation-wide campaign against drug abuse. That Department then inaugurated Mexico's modern war on drugs when, in 1920, it declared a law governing the import and distribution of the opiates, cocaine, and marijuana nationwide. This essay examines the idea of degeneration and how it came to play this crucial role in the foundation of Mexico's modern war on drugs.

[Obligatory documentation for narcotic drugs over the course of time : the morphine and cocaine book for physicians according to the 1930 parliamentary law gazette]. / Dokumentationspflicht für Betäubungsmittel im Wandel der Zeit : Das Morphin- und Kokainbuch für Arzte nach dem Reichsgesetzblatt 1930.

According to the opium law and prescription statute of 1930, physicians were duty-bound to maintain a stock ledger to allow a traceable record of the location of narcotic drugs. If a simplification of the prescription of opiates was welcomed 10 years ago then 2 years after amendment of the addictive drugs statute thought should be give to safe use, as can be concluded from a morphine logbook from the time of the introduction of the Federal opium law. "Receipt and issue... deliverer and recipient" must be able to be extracted from the documentation, which means the delivery and the dispensing but not the individual application.

International traffic in coca through the early 20th century.

This paper compiles records of coca exported by the major producing sites, Peru, Bolivia, Java and Formosa, from the late 19th century through the first third of the 20th century. During most of this era coca was legally produced and responsive to market demands. World coca exports did not peak [corrected] until around 1920, followed by a steady decline over the next decade. This export pattern (if not the exact figures) suggests a period of rising cocaine consumption, peaking regionally first in North America, then in Europe and other parts of the world, followed [corrected] by a marked decrease in the drug's popularity and acceptance.

[E. Merck and cocaine. On Sigmund Freud's cocaine studies and their relation to the Darmstadt industry]. / E. Merck und das Kokain. Zu Sigmund Freuds Kokainstudien und ihren Beziehungen zu der Darmstädter Firma.

Documents from the archives of the pharmaceutical company, E. Merck, Darmstadt, shed light on research, production, and marketing of cocaine and other coca alkaloids. When cocaine proved to be a local anaesthetic in 1884 the market expanded enormously. The production of E. Merck is compared with that of other companies in Germany and abroad. Freud, who published on cocaine from 1884 to 1887, was in contact with E. Merck and performed clinical studies for them as well as for an American company.

Cocaine and the privileged class: a review of historical and contemporary images.

The belief that cocaine is a drug associated with privilege and the privileged class is frequently cited as a motivating factor for nonmedical use. This association, part myth and part reality, has influenced the perception of cocaine as a glamorous and exotic drug, a drug immune to serious problems, a drug for the successful and wealthy, hence a privileged drug. The origins and development of this myth are examined in terms of both historical and contemporary images. Alternative competing images of cocaine as a drug associated with severe dependency and toxicity are discussed in terms of their past and future trends.