UK College Seeks Volunteers to Snort Blow for Science

A prestigious London university has put out a call for volunteers willing to do cocaine as part of a paid scientific study. A professor at King's College sent an e-mail to hundreds of graduate and post-graduate students, looking for "healthy male volunteers, 25–40 years of age, to take part in a clinical study involving nasal administration of cocaine." The email explains that after the drug is "nasally administered" by participants, samples of blood, urine, hair, sweat, and "oral fluid" will be taken to examine how cocaine is metabolized by the human body. The study requires that "potential participants must be fit and well, have no past medical history and not be users of recreational drugs." So far, the University has backed the study. "This is an important scientific study to investigate how cocaine and its metabolites are spread through the human body," says a spokesman from King's College. "All the relevant ethical approvals were received." King's College ensures the study will be "conducted under the highest level of medical supervision."