It could be the future of the drug market. Scientists have been developing a new way to get access to prescription medication via the internet. A Glasgow chemist says he has, in development, a “3D Chemputer” that can create substances on a molecular level, allowing prescription drug patients to purchase chemical ink and a certain type of printer. The dosages and structure of the drugs could be altered so that things like allergies and side effects could be removed in order to ensure better safety for the recipient. This technology has the potential to completely change the pharmaceutical industry, but opens up worrying possibilities for synthetic designer drugs like LSD and MDMA to flood the online market.
3D printing is a highly-anticipated new technology that could soon “revolutionize” the drug market. This technology, now in development, could soon allow us to design and print everything from toys and tools to human hearts—and, inevitably, drugs.
This new technology could indeed make dosage errors, side effects and adverse reactions a thing of the past if it can truly function the way scientists hope. While this is an exciting phase in medical and pharmaceutical science, it is important to consider the ways that it could be misused. Theoretically, it could open up a rampant market for illegal substances, and there would be no way to control it. In the article they make the comparison of downloading illegal songs and albums from unknown sources and questionable quality. Without strict regulation even the prescription drugs could be labeled incorrectly with disastrous results.
More here:
http://theweek.com/article/index/246091/can-you-3d-print-drugs
