I was reading the Mondo 2000 Guide to the New Edge and in their section on recreational drugs (or maybe it was aphrodisiacs, I can’t remember), they discuss taking dopamine. IIRC, it was perfectly legal and possible to obtain through the mail.
My questions:
- Is it legal for me to possess and consume dopamine?
If it is, please proceed. If not, we’ll just close the thread.
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I assume that said dopamine would be synthesized and not extracted from the pineal glands of dying prisoners (or wherever HST got his adrenacrome).
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Negative side effects? Is it addictive?
Dopamine doesn’t cross the blood brain barrier, but you can buy a dopamine precusor that will.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-DOPA
“L-Dopa is produced from the amino acid tyrosine by the enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase.” So no worry about prisoner extraction.
The negative effects of overshooting dosage look like any stimulant, because basically what they do is release dopamine in the brain.
Umm, don’t you risk schizophrenic-style hallucinations and paranoia from excess dopamine?
L-Dopa is a drug for Parkinson’s patients, who have a dearth of dopamine in their brain.
Schizophrenics, IIRC, have too much dopamine, and have to take drugs to stem that. My sister-in-law’s father, when he was newly diagnosed with Parkinson’s, was mis-prescribed an anti-schizophrenic dopamine inhibitor (it’s name was very similar to the brand name of the Parkinson’s drug his doctor intended for him to receive). Needless to say, he had a really, really bad week before he figured it out.
:eek:
The FDA made L-Dopa unscheduled, and since then it has had a lot of interest from the body building and nootropic crowd, it seems to get good enough reviews. The symtoms you describe only come with very high levels of dopamine, controlled you should just have increased energy.