Is anyone qualified doing experiments with lab rats to do experiments on with "research chemicals"? Do you think it could save lives?

Full transparency: I have never intentionally taken RCs. I had a horrific trip on a DOx compound years ago that I mistook for LSD. Since then I have been mostly sober. A recent video reminded me again of the booming designer drug industry and I got an idea: why isn't anyone actually experimenting with these compounds on lab-rats to provide users and the general public with a rough LD50 on mammals?

The ethics of it are the only thing keeping me from saying it actually is a good idea. Officially these chemicals are sold as "not for human consumption". In reality we know virtually nothing about their biological and psychological effects, both short and long-term. People are taking these substances with no known safety profile whatsoever. The smart ones are taking fractions of a fraction of a dose to allergy test, and then slowly build up to a recreational dose documenting it along the way (like the old Psychonaut Alexander S. did). But I feel like a lot of people don't do that and just say "fuck it" and snort a line.

It's a little fucked up but I was curious as to if anyone with research credentials was doing this? I.e. experimentally administering incrementally increasing doses to lab rats of these "new RC's" on the market to establish a rough LD50 estimate. I love animals and I think animal testing is fucked up, but at the same time it might save lives. I do not think such a responsibility would fall on me, as I do not have the qualifications. I am merely putting the idea out there.

I'm not talking about painfully long scientific studies into long-term effects or subjective psychoactive experiences, but rapidly determining, quite roughly, the LD50 of new psychoactive substances that are being produced and sold in Chinese labs somewhere to people like.... the people in this sub. It could be a huge harm reduction initiative. Imagine if such a thing was around when everyone was taking NBOMe substances. People started dropping dead like flies much after such substances hit the market and were being used. It's really Russian roulette. A new "Dr. Death" like compound might come out, chemically similar to recreational drugs, with an astoundingly low LD50 that kills nearly everyone who touches it. That is my concern. Such an organization, needless to say, would have to be a non-profit, scientifically and ethically sound. Perhaps experienced scientists could take up the task.

One guy theorized, synthesized and tested on himself over 230 new compounds. He also lived to be 88 years old. If done smart, we really don't need to use animals to get a sense of the potential dangers of a drug.

There will be some accidents. Animal testing itself is kind of starting to fall out of favor these days, anyway. It'll always be around and I'm sure research chemicals will eventually begin being administered to animals. I'm not in any hurry to see it started, though...

Who needs rats when there's 50,000 human lab rats just on this sub

I mean, lab rat testing is mentioned in PiHKAL, I remember on DOB at least, something about it being one of the last drugs he tested on rats since it was pretty pointless to just see how much it takes to kill them.

I don't think it would save lives to kill a bunch of mice.

It would require the end users to do more research and to know what they have. All the research in the world won't help if I think I've got one drug when I actually have a different one. Plus we already have evidence swallowing can kill people and yet users who try to do research are still convinced that if they have a strange drug, they should swallow it! 1

NBOMe class drugs were killing people long after they, uh, killed people. A lot of people thought they had LSD. Others knew what they had but didn't do any research. I don't know what an additional obscure paper about coagulapathy in sprague dawley rats would have done to change this. Conservatively such a paper might cost $20,000 and would be incredibly soul-crushing for the person who had to just kill high rats all day.

Also there is barely any funding for the research of "traditional drugs". While I completely agree that it would be useful and may even discover some really useful substances, I don't think the funding and public interest is there.

"people are taking these substances with no known safety profile" but that's not entirely true at all friend. Some of these drugs HAVE been studied on rats, although not often. And being analogs we can assume some things by drawing them from the parent compound. These aren't mystery chemicals, we aren't reaching into a barrel of chems and tasting our fingers. No one, or very few, are receiving unmarked bags of mystery powder and railing back half gram lines. Those of us that are semi responsible ensure we have the chemical we were sold, and titrate doses up until we hit the point we wanna be at. Using rats for ld50s isn't always the best way, rats react differently than humans due to the fact that rats aren't primates.

TLDR; RC rat testing already exists but no one in the community is doing it as very few/no one in the community is licensed by the DEA to conduct said tests. Also, these chemicals aren't really as frightening as Mr Fox news guy says on the 8 o'clock broadcast.

I don't think it would save lives to kill a bunch of mice.

It would require the end users to do more research and to know what they have. All the research in the world won't help if I think I've got one drug when I actually have a different one. Plus we already have evidence swallowing can kill people and yet users who try to do research are still convinced that if they have a strange drug, they should swallow it! 1

NBOMe class drugs were killing people long after they, uh, killed people. A lot of people thought they had LSD. Others knew what they had but didn't do any research. I don't know what an additional obscure paper about coagulapathy in sprague dawley rats would have done to change this. Conservatively such a paper might cost $20,000 and would be incredibly soul-crushing for the person who had to just kill high rats all day.