By Thijs Roes and David Meulenbeld, This post originally appeared on VICE Netherlands
Every year around 40 new research chemicals are introduced to the market. These are then tried and tested by drugs nerds, psychonauts, and vendors hoping to have a new hit on their hands. While some of these drugs are created as an experiment to see what chemicals can do to your consciousness, most are simply brought onto the market because they’re not listed as illegal yet.
These drugs are often sold as ” research chemicals,” as they’re meant to be used in a laboratory. In reality, most of that research is done in bedrooms and basements by (generally young) people who willingly turn themselves into lab rats and describe their experiences online for the benefit of drug curious strangers. Each experiences carries with it some level of risk; often these aforementioned lab rats will have to blindly trust the vendor and pray to God that they don’t die in a puddle of their own vomit.
To make this list, we talked to designer drug reviewers, analyzed the drugs with the help of Google Trends, and browsed different forums. Then we decided on the following drug awards of 2014.
