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MDMA Barcode

Certified highs.
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Buying MDMA is a risky prospect. Not only due to legalities, but to the lack of quality assurance. Pure MDMA is (relatively) safe, but all too often dangerous methamphetamine is mixed in as well.

Honest manufacturers attempt to build brand recognition by creating unique pill press designs, but a popular brand will soon be followed by counterfeiters. This could be prevented by applying digital security techniques to the pills.

After manufacturing, a batch of pills are loaded into a laser engraving machine. This works best if the pill shape tessellates easily. Each pill is then etched with with a unique 2D barcode containing a link to the manufacturer's website, which is then added to the system. These links are long and random, making the chances of someone stumbling onto a valid one very low.

Once purchased, the pill is scanned by the user, who is then taken to the website. There they find full product info, safe(r) usage instructions, and most importantly, whether or not the pill has been scanned before.

If a counterfeiter were to intercept and duplicate some barcodes, they would be discovered as soon as both the original and duplicate were scanned. This alerts the user to a possibly dangerous product. The manufacturer can then check their records, and determine where in their distribution network the copying occurred.

While using MDMA is still risky, this will hopefully reduce poisonings due to unwanted additives.

Aq_Bi, May 17 2013

[link]






       You should approach Mitsubishi about developing this technology.
calum, May 17 2013
  

       Sure, illicit drug manufacturers and consumers are all the time looking for new ways to link themselves to each other and put that information into a database. This is an even better idea than my frequent heroin buyer's discount card (“Chase nine dragons and the tenth is on us!”), or my CrackCo club membership.
ytk, May 17 2013
  

       This Idea is simply another reason for general legalization of all drugs. There already exist government agencies tasked with ensuring the quality and consistency of various things designated as being for human consumption, and so legalization would just-about-automatically invoke those agencies.   

       That benefit is is in addition to lowering the cost of the drugs (taking income out of organized crime), being able to more easily tax the drugs (increasing government income), encouraging the human species to become smarter by letting the stupid ones more easily die of drug overdoses, and so on.
Vernon, May 17 2013
  

       This inhibits counterfeiting at least as well as serial numbers on bank notes. i.e not at all.
4whom, May 17 2013
  

       The idea of drug legalization seems to assume that it will make drugs   

       1) Cheap   

       2) Accessible   

       3) More carefully managed.   

       With enough transparency, possibly, but who is protecting drug users from the pharmaceutical companies?
4and20, May 17 2013
  

       [4whom], serial numbers on bank notes would definitely protect against counterfeiting if they were randomized, only used once, verified against a central server, then destroyed.   

       This idea has potential for legitimate drugs as well. Counterfeiting is a major problem in the medical industry as well. Manufacturers can barcode their tablets, and ship them off. The pharmacy then dumps the pills through an automated scanner, validating them against the manufacturer's database.
Aq_Bi, May 19 2013
  

       [Aq_Bi] I don't know where you're from, but here in Massachussetts, there is far more "Molly" that goes around- supposedly purest and almost always in powder form.   

       I've never tried either, but I do know that I've only heard a few stories of buddies rolling on actual MDMA rolls; every time they turned out to be "meth-bombs"; even "Molly" can sometimes be a research chemical or MDMA analogue in disguise.   

       In this day in age, counterfitting technology what it is; the only way to know for sure is a cheap, readily available "bunk test".
acurafan07, May 20 2013
  

       Are people actually going to have the effort to scan every pill before they take it? Even if only a small percentage didn't bother, it would make the system unreliable.   

       The other thing is, I imagine the drugs change hands a lot before they make their way to a consumer. Every transaction may want to scan it, which would lead to them selling it on as "Ah yes, I already scanned it, it's legit" which most people would probably believe.
mitxela, May 21 2013
  

       In reading a fascinating HB post on "De-Coffeeize the USA", it turned up, in following research about Sassafras, that "Safrole is a precursor for the clandestine manufacture of the drug MDMA". [Wikipedia]   

       Safrole, but not sassafras has been banned as carcinogenic since the 1960s. Maybe the little ones are better off getting their highs from root beer?
4and20, May 21 2013
  
      
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