Gene Engineered Drug Production

[Jim Choate <ravage@ssz.com>]

Hi,

The topic of producing recreational pharmacuticals via gene engineered
organisms is an interesting topic and one we discussed at least briefly 3-4
years ago. Might be worth reviewing the archives.

There are some issues that I believe have kept this from being a commen
practice:

 *  Other than Marijuana and Cocaine most of the street pharmacuticals
    base chemicals take too much post-production to get them to a
    usable result. Either the process is something without an analog
    in the cellular systems or else it requires chemicals that don't
    occur in nature in great quantities and are such that you wouldn't
    want it produced inside the person taking the material.

 *  Marijuana's complete gene map has only been available for a little
    over 2 years.

 *  Educational and commercial institutions are not going to allow those
    with access either time or supplies to complete the project.

 *  The LEA's and drug cartels would hunt the original designer(s) down
    and most likely terminate with extreme prejudice. You would be taking
    money from their mouths (so to speak).

 *  Currently there is no country who has a legal structure such that they
    would be an acceptable haven.

 *  Where's the profit? The person who creates it most definitely will not
    get rich. Just imagine filing your patent app.

 *  E. coli or cooking yeast seem to be the best target. Both are fully
    mapped and acceptable to human systems.

 *  In the case of Marijuana the chemicals produced by the genes are
    further processed and THC gets produced at this stage. This means
    the entire 2-tier process must be moved over. Neither yeast or
    E. Coli have this process in place (both being animals that isn't
    a surprise). This complicates the process greatly.

 *  We are just waiting for some bright sole who believes that not only
    should "information be free" but so should drugs and is willing to
    spend 20 years or so on the run.

 *  Regulation of production is a big unsolved problem. Assume for a
    moment that you have ingested some yeast that is producing TCH.
    How do you turn the regulation up or down? How do you keep the
    production from running away? Most drugs LD50 is simply way too
    low for such ad hoc regulation, drugs like TCH and LSD have
    ingestion levels of such magnitude that LD50 becomes a side issue.
    LSD would have a self regulating effect so it would be mediated
    irrespective of the level produced. THC on the other hand if not
    regulated would keep you in a sleepy daze most of the time.

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