Drug panic followed news that Sons of Anarchy actor Johnny Lewis went on a violent rampage last week after allegedly ingesting the new designer drug 2C-I, aka "Smiles," but there are a lot of factors to consider other than a direct drug-to-violence link.
By Colin Lecher Posted 10.02.2012 at 9:00 am 9 Comments

Johnny Lewis Wikimedia Commons

Johnny Lewis, an actor known for his role on the FX show Sons of Anarchy, died last week, suspected of killing his landlady and her cat, then killing himself. The word leaked quickly that Lewis had been on a relatively new designer drug: "Smiles," or 2C-I. Several publications jumped on it, ready to lay the blame on drug use, or at least casually suggesting a connection. 2C-I is dangerous, yes, linked to overdoses and other erratic behavior--but is it linked to violence? Not especially.

2C-I is closest, symptomatically, to hallucinogens like psilocybin mushrooms and LSD. MDMA, or ecstasy, also comes up in discussions about it, but mostly because it's derived from the same family, the phenethylamines. (Hallucinations aren't a salient characteristic of MDMA.) It also shows stimulant-like effects, unlike traditional hallucinogens, which are, in some ways, safer--in the sense that a mind-altering compound can be "safe"--because users won't overdose, says Matthew Johnson, a professor of behavioral pharmacology at Johns Hopkins University. Not so with "Smiles."

"You can get violent behavior with any drug," Johnson says. There's even been a link, however short-term, between aggression and MDMA, a so-called "love drug." But that's the exception, not the rule. Anecdotally, Johnson says, someone might become aggressive during a bad trip, but if the two options are fight or flight, fleeing would be more common than no-filter rage.

The story gets murkier when you consider other factors. A person with a history of violence (as Lewis reportedly had) might be more inclined to react with violence while under the influence of a hallucinogen--that's not to say they will, or that a completely nonviolent person won't engage in violence, but it tips the scales toward the user with a history. "They're certainly very atypical for hallucinogens to have violent reactions," Johnson says. He uses the comparison of a "violent drunk," who might become violent only under mind-altering conditions. (It's important to say here that studies suggest people with mental illnesses and substance problems don't commit crimes any more than people with only substance problems.)

That's the general problem with discussing any behavioral links with drugs: we don't have a full file and controlled experiments to make many x-correlates-y assumptions. There aren't enough data points. "When you have thousands or millions of people using a drug, you're going to see the atypical responses," Johnson says. It was a similar story with "bath salts" being blamed for a string of violent attacks. Celebrity involvement or not, it's the sensational ones that cause us to draw a link, even when the evidence for it doesn't exist.

9 Comments

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firehorn
10/02/12 at 10:00 am

"A person with a history of violence (as Lewis reportedly had) might be more inclined to react with violence while under the influence of a hallucinogen..."

IMO, that is the answer right there. My girlfriend is a generally cuddly person, and when she gets drunk all she wants to do is snuggle. My friend has a pretty short temper, and when he drinks, he tends to look for a fight. I'd assume any other drug is the same: when your inhibition goes out the window, your personality quirks are greatly accentuated. Some of these 'zombie' drugs may have a more pronounced effect than others, but I don't think they inherently turn someone into a ferocious psychopath.

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Robot
10/02/12 at 10:05 am

By the time any person is caught doing something illegal or wrong, it is in fact at the end of the line of a lot of behavior they have been doing for a long time, then finally got caught.

This person obviously had other problems, prior to end use of this drug and his death.

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boka
10/02/12 at 10:36 am

I think it's great that people are creating these designer drugs. But the problem is there is not any quality control and appropriate testing. Humans need to get out of the dark ages and start accepting that changing our states of consciousness will allow humans to experience reality that are not achievable with our current primitive minds.

-

"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours"

- Stephen Roberts

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Cookiees453
10/02/12 at 12:17 pm

^
Walter Bishop would agree.

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dwatts1
10/02/12 at 12:40 pm

Robot, excellent point. Your AI is coming along nicely. Yes, nicely indeed... *evil laugh*

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The Flying Weasel
10/02/12 at 1:49 pm

How do you know that the human brain is not already evolving or changing ever so slightly? Perhaps we are evolving (our brains) comprehend reality and think in a different way. Take a look at a person with ADHD, we think in radically different ways than an non-ADHD person (i have it so i know what i am talking about). in fact our very brain structure is ever so slightly different that "normal" people, but that small change in brain structure has a big result. i know i am getting off topic here, but with drugs you have to take them in order to change your state of consciousness. but with ADHD you naturally are that way (well not high, but different way of thinking). take speed for an example, it makes people hyper (among other things), but for some one with ADHD it does something different. instead of being a stimulant, it acts like a depressant (i am medicated with amphetamines) it makes us drowsy, tired, radically increased attention span, speeds up our metabolism but eradicates the feeling of hunger (isn't it supposed to cause the munchies?).
anyway my point is that perhaps humans are already evolving to new "state of consciousness", maybe in the form of brain "disorders" such as ADHD.

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Robot
10/02/12 at 2:50 pm

dwatts1,
Thank you for that compliment. I am still kind of addicted to Saturday morning cartoons. I hope that is still in line with a proper developing AI?!

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El Guapo
10/02/12 at 6:44 pm

@Cookiees453

Indeed he would.

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lazer777
10/03/12 at 2:32 am

Colin, please do us all a favor and lay off the drugs while you are writing articles for a publication that at least tries to remain impartial by the very nature of the fact that it is a science magazine.



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