Not for Human Consumption:

Modernity, Cyber-Globalization, and the

Sociocultural Odyssey of the Research Chemical
in America

Logan A. Kirkland
Anthropology of Modernity and Identity
Georgia State University
Spring 2011
Objectives
• What are ‘Research Chemicals’ (RCs)?
• How did they come to exist as a modern sociocultural
phenomena, and how did the culture surrounding them develop?
• How are they used, and what kinds of behaviours are associated
with their use?
• What kind of economic forces are at play with concern to them?
• Explore the nature of the battle between the (American) State
and the ‘Research Chemical’ community (persons engaged in
the production, distribution, and consumption of RCs).
• What is the role of the Internet, the digital market, and various
digital communities in relation to RCs?
• Explore the emergence of the new ‘Herbal Incense’ sub-market,
and its role in propelling RCs into the public sphere.
 What is a Research Chemical?

• Research Chemicals (RCs) generally:

1. Are grey market, quasi-legal (or quasi-illict) products.
2. Are sold under the guise of them being ‘Not for Human
Consumption’, and intendend for ‘Research’, or under some other
misnomer of intent (Bath Salts, Incense, et cetera)
3. Include chemicals from numerous pharmacological classes.
4. Are ‘Designer Drugs’, which means they are most commonly
synthesized to circumvent drug bans, by either:
A. Being a chemical analogue of an illicit substance.
B. More rarely, being discovered to have effects similer to
another substance, but an entirely different chemical
structure.
5. Have a (relatively) short history of human use.
6. Being the social/market evolution of the ‘Designer Drug’
category, in the age of Globalization and the Internet.
 Common Drug Classes
Found Among RCs
Cannabinoids
Hallucinogens
Empathogen-entactogens
Sedatives and Hypnotics
Stimulants
Steroids
Opioids
Nootropics
PDE5 Inhibitors
 The Grey Market and
the American State
• Two main distribution methods:
A) The Internet.
B) The Brick-and-Mortar Store (Headshops/Smokeshops,
Adult/Erotic boutiques, some Gas Stations, et cetera).

• “Not for Human Consumption” moniker

A) RCs are sold as incense, (having been sprayed on a
variety of herbs: damania, mullien, mugwort,
marshmallow, mint, et cetera); as ‘bath salts’, fish food,
plant fertilizer, dye, VCR Cleaner– the variations are endless.
B) Problematic for the State, because while it may be
against the law (under the Federal Analogues Act) to
ingest many of the RCs, they are still legal to possess
‘without the intent to consume’.
 ”Recreational Drugs”
and Virtual Communities‘
• Virtual communities, resources, and suppliers dedicated to recreational drugs
(both purely illicit and RCs); flourish in cyberspace by promoting rational
discourse, research, and harm-reduction. These websites come in several
forms, such as:
A) Erowid.com– An enormously comprehensive library database
concerning itself with psychoactive substances; contains a wide range
of both expert and experiential literature, including peer-
reviewed academic sources.
B) Various discussion forums which focus on ‘recreational’ chemicals,
such as Bluelight, Drug-Forums, and the Shroomery.
C) Chemical suppliers– these generally come in two types:
1) Large chemical supply companies (usually based outside the United
States), whom sell a huge variety of different chemicals for dozens of
applications, and include within their inventory RCs; such as
chinachemnet.com.
2) Smaller distributors, who often specialize in a select few RCs which
possess a high sale volume; these are often based within the United
States, Canada, or Europe. A historical example would be the now
defunct: notforhumanconsumption.ca.
 The Digital Grey Market

• Designer Drugs versus Research Chemicals, legality, and the Internet:

1) The internet allows the shadowy network (being both cellular and
globalized in nature) of RC chemists and distributors to undermine the
efforts (and even subversively take advantage of) the vertebral State and her
various agencies (IE, the DEA; the US Postal Se Service, et cetera).
2) In contrast to designer drugs in earlier decades, which were easily
banned by the State if their use ever was deemed to be to widespread,
the Internet has revolutionized these grey markets; making these
substances much harder for the State to (in the classic sense) evaluate and/or
ban, and much easier for the consumer to obtain.
3) Still, the State has cracked down on some of the largest distribution
cells, such as in the DEA’s Operation Web Tryp, on July 21, 2004.
 First Generation Herbal Incense
• The term ‘Herbal Incense’ refers to a variety of synthetic cannabinoid-based products that,
when smoked, produce effects that are moderately comparable to that of cannabis.
• They first appear on the market in 2008, containing a variety of RCs (JWH-018, JWH-073, or
JWH-200; as well as CP-47, 497 and cannabicyclohexanol, or HU-210– all of which are now
scheduled in the US); they most commonly are manufactured through one of two processes.
First, a mixture of non-psychoactive herbs is taken, and then they are either:
A) Sprayed with a solution containing one or more of the aforementioned cannabinoids.
B) Soaked in a solution made from one or more of the cannabinoids and a volatile
solvent
(usually either naphtha or acetone), and then the solvent is allowed to evaporate,
leaving the plant matter infused with the chemicals.
• The first generation of these blends to appear on the market include the now-infamous (as a
result of media sensationalism) Spice and K2 , as well as Serenity Now, Spike, and Gonjah. The
RCs contained in these early blends were banned by the DEA in March 2011; however, several
states, including Georgia, had already banned them months before.
 The Cellular Success
of Herbal Incense
• Despite the first generation synthetic cannabinoids being
banned, those Grey-market chemists who discover and
synthesize these substances continue to bring new, unscheduled
cannabinoids to the market; successfully evading drug
legislation by being one step ahead of the State’s agencies.
• The appeal of Herbal Incense over the classically illicit cannabis
plant for the consumer is multifaceted:
A) Synthetic cannabinoids, unlike THC and the other
cannabinoids in the Cannabis plant, do not show up on a standard
drug screening. Thus, those seeking employment, on probation,
or otherwise prone to drug- screening are able to use it
without the fear of discovery.
B) Possession of Herbal Incense doesn’t violate the law.
C) Availability. In the urban setting, Incense is easy to acquire– the
majority of ‘Smokeshops’ (headshops) and Erotic/Adult shops carry it.
D) Affordability. Incense, especially the most recent generations, is
often equally expensive or even cheaper by weight than its illicit
counterpart.
Survey of various
Herbal Incense
The Market’s Current
Flavour of the Month
 Fin

• Questions?