I think the term "research chemicals" came out of the necessity to call these substances anything but drugs. They can't legally be sold as drugs, that would re

I think the term "research chemicals" came out of the necessity to call these substances anything but drugs. They can't legally be sold as drugs, that would require some kind of approval from a regulatory agency, which they obviously don't have. So they call it by a name that don't suggest human consumption. "research chemicals", as if they were reagents, "bath salts", "plant food", etc... often with a "not for human consumption" label. Certainly not "designer drugs", that's a term I generally only see in articles with an "anti drug" stance.