[rayrayray]

hey guys

I'm not a chemistry dude, i dunno the basics but i'm hoping i can get help with something from this forum.

currently i'm writing a screenplay which is essentially about a hypothetical illicit drug made from the the chemicals within the human body. As i have such no knowledge of chemistry i really really need some assistance.

The questions i would like to ask would be,
(A) is this possible, the process of breaking down the chemicals in the body and using them in a drug while leaving no DNA traces or anything. (even theoretically so)
(B) what chemicals in the human body 'could' (theoretically) be used in a drug
(C) what class of drugs (Methamphetamines, cannaboid etc.) could one create from the chemicals in the human body,
(D) is there a chemical within the human body that could be the base of a drug (like the carbon or something,) with that chemical base, how would the drug be taken (inhaled, snorted, etc.)
(E) would the process of extracting the chemicals from human body cost less than just buying the chemicals.

needless to say that i will need to ask many follow up questions once these have been answered. I realize this is a exceedingly complicated question and would require someone with great expertise. I did email a science professor at my university and she believed that i was trying to make drugs

any how

thanking you in advanced

Raymond Truong

[Jasim]

This is an interesting question and one that isn't new.
When you say 'illicit drug' I'm assuming you mean a psychoactive drug.

In Fear and Loathing, Hunter S. Thompson wrote about a drug from the pineal gland. I assume the idea for this came from the speculation that DMT (a hallucinogenic drug) may be produced in the pineal gland. No scientific evidence of DMT in the pineal gland has ever been found and traces would be far too low to cause any hallucinations, but that hasn't stopped a lot of speculation and discussion on the matter.

I do want to make clear that one would be taking a lot of artistic liberty in this endeavor. There is certainly no way a substance could be taken from a human and turned into a psychoactive drug in any viable or feasible manner. Even if the extraction and synthetic aspects were worked out, only trace amounts could ever be made. But literature and film often take such liberties, so on to your questions:


(A) I think you are asking if it is possible to purify a chemical found in the body, making it pure so that no other chemicals or substances (such as DNA) would be present in the sample. Yes, and chemists do this kind of thing all the time (ie extraction and purification).

(B, C, D) The vast majority of drugs, and nearly all psychoactive drugs, act by activating some natural 'switch' in the body. That 'switch' is generally activated naturally by some substance made in the body (a 'drug' that the body makes on it's own). Any number of these would be good starting places...
For a stimulant like cocaine or methamphetamine the naturally occurring substance is dopamine.
Anandamide is the natural substance that marijuana mimics.
Herion and morphine act like opiate peptides such as endorphine.
LSD (acid), magic mushrooms, peyote and other hallucinogens act on certain serotonin receptors.

(E) I briefly discussed the feasibility above, the answer is a resounding no. Obtaining the chemicals from another source would be astronomically more viable.