4 ms·

Yup. For a moment, I thought he'd made synthonol (that's one for Star Trek fans), but your explanation makes much more sense. Here's the background: UK drugs

by Pitarou 13y ago

Yup. For a moment, I thought he'd made synthonol (that's one for Star Trek fans), but your explanation makes much more sense. Here's the background: UK drugs law places drugs on 3 levels of illegality. Class 1 (e.g. heroin): very illegal. Strict punishments for possession. Class 2 (e.g. marijuana): illegal. If you're caught with a small quantity, you'll probably be let off with just a caution. Class 3 (e.g. body-building steroids): illegal to sell. Legal to possess in small quantities. The law requires the Secretary of State, under the advisement of a panel of experts, to classify drugs according to the level of harm they cause. David Nutt was on that panel. The panel advised, among other things, that marijuana should be moved to Class 3. And, for a time, that was what happened. It was actually legal to smoke marijuana in the UK. Then the government changed its mind, and moved marijuana back to Class 2. The panel resigned in protest. David Nutt complained especially loudly, and started comparing the risks of MDMA to horse-riding and so on. Apologies for any errors. This is just from memory.

erichocean 13y ago
For a moment, I thought he'd made synthonol There's also soma from Brave New World. Not sure if Aldous Huxley was the first to write about the idea, but it's hard to argue that he wasn't the first to bring it up well.
cmdkeen 13y ago
No, cannabis briefly became a Class C drug which did not make it legal, or even decriminalised. Class C drugs in the UK carry a theoretical penalty of 2 years in prison for possession and 14 for supply and production. Though the sentencing guidelines are nowhere close to that. The police do have a system of "cannabis warnings" over here which treats being caught along the lines of an official "don't do this again" unless you're either a child, keep being caught, or the circumstances warrant a straight up arrest.
derleth 13y ago
> synthonol Synthehol. Synthetic alcohol. http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Synthehol http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Synthehol (Not nearly as interesting to engineers as the real stuff, which is apparently at its best when it's green.) http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/By_Any_Other_Name_(episode) http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/By_Any_Other_Name_(episode)

by Pitarou 13y ago

erichocean 13y ago

For a moment, I thought he'd made synthonol There's also soma from Brave New World. Not sure if Aldous Huxley was the first to write about the idea, but it's hard to argue that he wasn't the first to bring it up well.

cmdkeen 13y ago

No, cannabis briefly became a Class C drug which did not make it legal, or even decriminalised. Class C drugs in the UK carry a theoretical penalty of 2 years in prison for possession and 14 for supply and production. Though the sentencing guidelines are nowhere close to that. The police do have a system of "cannabis warnings" over here which treats being caught along the lines of an official "don't do this again" unless you're either a child, keep being caught, or the circumstances warrant a straight up arrest.

derleth 13y ago

> synthonol Synthehol. Synthetic alcohol. http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Synthehol http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Synthehol (Not nearly as interesting to engineers as the real stuff, which is apparently at its best when it's green.) http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/By_Any_Other_Name_(episode) http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/By_Any_Other_Name_(episode)