Research chemicals

Research chemicals (also called experimental chemicals) are psychoactive substances which have undergone little to no human or animal medical investigation or research. There is little to no information on the toxicity, health risks, long-term side effects, or lethal dosage of these chemicals because they are unstudied. It is for these reasons that the use of research chemicals may be more risky than the use of more well-studied drugs such as MDMA, or cannabis. Most information about research chemicals are based on first-hand experiences and anecdotal evidence

Harm potential and toxicity

• Additionally, the reliability of many sources of these products can be questionable. Mislabeling, misidentification, issues of purity, adulteration, and misrepresentation (substitution) are unfortunately a common problem with research chemicals. https://www.erowid.org/psychoactives/research_chems/

• Some are very new, while others may have been around for years but haven't had adequate enough medical investigation to quantify health risks, have not been consumed by many people over a long period, or had much data accumulated about their use. Little is known about them, and a good deal of what is known is based only on first-hand psychonautical reports. Scant to no research has been completed on the toxicology or human pharmacology of these drugs. Few, if any, formal human or animal studies have been done. Because of this, some have suggested that they would more appropriately be called "unresearched chemicals". Another term for them is "experimental chemicals", and this may better communicate the unknown risks associated with ingesting these drugs.