Blimey I think I'll become a TV critic!

Another evening, another TV programme that's gotten my brain whirring. I caught Channel 4's "Legally High" exploring the manufacture of the so-called Legal Highs popular in the UK at the moment.

As well as showing the stories of the teenagers taking them and highlighting the obvious dangers it also showed how the drugs are designed and the process they go through of manufacturing and distribution. The case that really shocked me was of 21 year old Baxter who kept a tick list of the drugs he'd taken over the years in the same manner I used to tick of birds in the Eye-Spy books as a kid! By the end of the programme Baxter had ingested over 61 different varieties of drug and was addicted to heroin.

Interviewed on the programme was Dr Z a chemist who invented M-Cat popular in the UK a few years ago and implicated in the deaths of teenagers. He is constantly working on new chemical combinations and with his scientific knowledge can pinpoint the exact parts of the brain that his substances will affect and what that effect will be. He was also quick to point out that he doesn't seek to make profits from his work (he only makes "Thousands" whereas his distributor makes "millions") and that his aim is to make recreational drugs more "democratic".

This lead me to wonder why a gentleman as evidently scientifically brilliant as Dr Z can't be persuaded to turn his knowledge and talent to drugs that may improve the brain's wellbeing? Think about it, he can design a drug in a matter of days that affects the brain's chemical processes so why can't he design drugs to combat depression, anxiety, bi-polar, OCD and so many more.

With him (and I'm sure there are other "Drs" out there like him) working purely on the drugs' structure and effects he can, for want of a better phrase, churn them out by the dozen ready for them to be tested by the medical profession. Whilst I know that all medical drugs must, quite rightly, go through extremely stringent safety tests that can take years at least the design element of the process could be sped up.

And it needn't stop there, imagine if employing these chemists could find cures for Cancer, HIV & AIDs. How many lives could be saved? Surely that would be pinnacle of drug democracy?

Xx Jen xX

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on O2