![]() ![]() ‘It’s a lot less dangerous than it seems’ … Dr Zee working on new chemical compounds. Isn’t it dangerous, putting himself forward as a human guinea pig? He claims to try one or two new compounds a week. “I make molecule after molecule then try them without prejudice. ![]() “It’s part of my working routine – not part of my private life,” he says. Zee tests every new concoction on himself. But there is no scientific method for predicting what effect it will have on the human body or mind or brain, and whether it will have any effect at all.” The only aspects of a novel molecule I can control are its chemical structure and its legality. Later, he stresses that concocting new drugs is a discovery process not an inventive one: “It’s not nearly as intentional as most people think. Before I’ve managed to get a proper question in, he tells me he’s got a meeting with his accountant he forgot about and that, actually, we’ll have to reschedule. “How long have we got?” he asks when we first speak on the phone, before embarking on a rather tangential monologue about the media and medical professions. I believe people should be allowed to alter their own state of consciousness and self-medicate, as long as it does not harm others or themselves.” The underlying belief of this activity is cognitive liberty. “My drive comes from the will to create something new, better, legal and safe. He says he makes a “decent living” from legal highs, but no more than he would have made in his previous job as a scientist and researcher in the pharmaceuticals industry. “My primary motivation is to help people have a good time without breaking the law,” says Zee when we talk. Photograph: Christian Cargill/BBC/Pulse Films Legal highs, from Magic Crystals to Cotton Candy Carnage. ![]()
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