4 ms·

Sounds like the hype cycle surrounding supposedly "non addictive" or "non habit forming" sleeping pills.

by throwaway2048 8y ago

jerf 8y ago
Also reminds me of weight loss pills, which for whatever biochemical reason, seems to always fry the hearts of whoever takes them. I think I've seen the cycle "new hot pill -> publically available -> oh crap, people are having heart attacks" at least three times in my life.
- cc-d 8y ago
  It's because weight loss pills tend to rely on the appetite suppressing effects of stimulants. Often, the compounds are intentionally chosen because they behave near identically pharmacologically to traditional stimulants. As such, they carry similar cardiac risks, if not significantly more because unlike traditional stimulants, the "diet pill/supplement" market is completely unregulated. This compounds the issue, because any vendor can provide incorrect dosage amounts, and also because people tend to treat 'unregulated diet pills' less seriously than say, methamphetamine. A good example of this is Ephedrine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephedrine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephedrine It was widely used in 'weight loss' pills up until 2004, whenever it was restricted due to a combination of it's chemical similarity to amphetamine/methamphetamine (allowing for easy clandestine synthesis of more powerful psychoactive compounds), and people dying because they didn't realize they were taking completely unregulated substances on par in seriousness with other, culturally/politically demonized stimulants. If one were to compare the 2d structures of both ephedrine and amphetamine/methamphetamine, even with no chemistry knowledge, one can see how similar these molecules actually are. Not to imply that molecular similarity necessarily always leads to similar pharmacological effects, but in this case it certainly does.
  - meowface 8y ago
    While using it for weight loss does sound unnecessarily dangerous, how risky is it really, comparatively? High daily doses of amphetamine are still regularly prescriped to young children.
    - cc-d 8y ago
      The dangers of Ephedrine are benign when used correctly (oral, low dose amounts), as is both amphetamine and methamphetamine (the United States gives meth to kids for ADHD, there's a reason it's schedule 2). Even what one might call a 'high dose' (but still under the prescribing guidelines max limit) of prescribed amphetamine is still rather benign, unless one has a pre-existing condition which increases the risk of adverse health effects.

Sounds like the hype cycle surrounding supposedly "non addictive" or "non habit forming" sleeping pills.

jerf 8y ago

Also reminds me of weight loss pills, which for whatever biochemical reason, seems to always fry the hearts of whoever takes them. I think I've seen the cycle "new hot pill -> publically available -> oh crap, people are having heart attacks" at least three times in my life.

cc-d 8y ago
It's because weight loss pills tend to rely on the appetite suppressing effects of stimulants. Often, the compounds are intentionally chosen because they behave near identically pharmacologically to traditional stimulants. As such, they carry similar cardiac risks, if not significantly more because unlike traditional stimulants, the "diet pill/supplement" market is completely unregulated. This compounds the issue, because any vendor can provide incorrect dosage amounts, and also because people tend to treat 'unregulated diet pills' less seriously than say, methamphetamine. A good example of this is Ephedrine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephedrine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephedrine It was widely used in 'weight loss' pills up until 2004, whenever it was restricted due to a combination of it's chemical similarity to amphetamine/methamphetamine (allowing for easy clandestine synthesis of more powerful psychoactive compounds), and people dying because they didn't realize they were taking completely unregulated substances on par in seriousness with other, culturally/politically demonized stimulants. If one were to compare the 2d structures of both ephedrine and amphetamine/methamphetamine, even with no chemistry knowledge, one can see how similar these molecules actually are. Not to imply that molecular similarity necessarily always leads to similar pharmacological effects, but in this case it certainly does.
- meowface 8y ago
  While using it for weight loss does sound unnecessarily dangerous, how risky is it really, comparatively? High daily doses of amphetamine are still regularly prescriped to young children.
  - cc-d 8y ago
    The dangers of Ephedrine are benign when used correctly (oral, low dose amounts), as is both amphetamine and methamphetamine (the United States gives meth to kids for ADHD, there's a reason it's schedule 2). Even what one might call a 'high dose' (but still under the prescribing guidelines max limit) of prescribed amphetamine is still rather benign, unless one has a pre-existing condition which increases the risk of adverse health effects.