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Life

My recreational drugs can defeat organised crime

Drug designer Dr Z says prohibitionist policies don’t work. Instead, we should provide legal mind-altering drugs to improve society

By Michael Slezak

6 August 2014

New Scientist. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Dr Z goes by a pseudonym out of concern that some may misunderstand his intentions

(Image: Jonathan Bloom)

You invented mephedrone, aka “m-cat” or “meow meow”, which was probably the world’s most famous legal high [editor’s note: see clarification below]. Why did you do it?
I’m a discoverer by trade and by nature. I also believe that healthy balanced adults should be free to make up their own minds about how to alter their mental state, and that they should have access to whatever they would like to experiment with – as long as they don’t harm others. And if I discover a really exciting…

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