It is sometimes possible to give creativity its due, even when one takes issue with its results. Thus, when a 49-year-old Scot turns from crack addict to designer drug entrepreneur with the help of a pharmacologist, he merits a certain grudging acknowledgement for shrewdness in staying out of jail by selling drugs that are not yet illegal.
What does he do? He synthesizes drug knock-offs that are not technically illegal yet produce effects drug buyers desire. Evidently, Belgium offers an attractive base of operations for his business, according to the Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704763904575550200845267526.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_editorsPicks_3) Thus, it is the likes of David Llewellyn we have to thank for expanding the lexicon of recreational drugs with street names like Meow Meow and Nopaine. Indeed, Llewellyn boasts that Nopaine, a modified version of the attention-deficit drug Ritalin, serves as a working substitute for cocaine in its look and feel. Meow Meow, on the other hand, also known as Mephedrone, M-cat, and Drone, is an amphetamine surrogate.
Why Belgium? Evidently, Europe in general is a more friendly incubator for designer drugs because authorities lack the wherewithal to ban them or interdict their legal distribution before their purveyors realize substantial profits. Next stop? The United States – at least, for the gray area-drugs that can attract customers and outpace law enforcement.
Still, innovation in one area often inspires innovation in another. What are the Belgians doing to counter Llewellyn’s innovative synthesis of chemistry, legal hair splitting, and drug pushing? They are using different laws to shut him down, raiding his facilities on the basis of environmental law infractions and confiscating laboratory equipment for which he lacks the proper professional license. Who says bureaucracy cannot occasionally offer value elsewhere unavailable? Bravo, Belgium, for seeing to it that chemistry and law not only collude but collide.
-- Nick Catrantzos
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Nick Catrantzos + Tom Goff
- All Secure
- NICK CATRANTZOS is the lead author of the All Secure website and is the emeritus security director for a large public organization. He has also managed security aspects of corporate takeovers, response to international hostage situations, and finding and keeping secrets. He has been board certified in security management, licensed as a private investigator, and certified as an incident commander. He worked as a case officer for a discreet branch of public service. He protected stealth technology at Lockheed and, later, as a consulting security director for both Kroll and Control Risks, he assisted executives with workplace violence cases and with protecting VIPs and critical assets globally in volatile areas. Nick's partner, TOM GOFF, was a captain in the Military Police Corps, U.S. Army Reserve and has a law degree from the University of California at Davis. He is a former reporter for Fortune Magazine, was senior editor at New York Magazine and Esquire, and has provided crisis and communications counsel to senior executives at Fortune 500 companies, including Lockheed, ARCO, Microsoft, Nissan, and Sony Pictures.