Students offered cocaine for research

London Evening Standard/London

A London university has offered its students the chance to take part in a clinical trial of cocaine in a bid to understand how the Class A drug affects the body.

King’s College London has sent an e-mail to hundreds of undergraduates inviting them to “take part in a clinical study involving nasal administration of cocaine”.

Students who use drugs recreationally will not be allowed to participate, nor those studying medicine or dentistry.

Those who are accepted will be given “reasonable financial compensation” for the time and expenses incurred. The e-mail explains the study will mean that: “After cocaine administration, repeated biological samples (blood, urine, hair, sweat, oral fluid) will be taken to compare and investigate how cocaine and its metabolites are spread through the human body.”

Participants will not be able to cut or dye their hair for 120 days during the study follow-up period as scientists investigate a wide range of physical effects on the body.

The project, which has been approved by London Westminster Research Ethics Committee, will be supervised by the clinical toxicology department at St Thomas’ Hospital.

A spokesman for King’s said: “This is an important scientific study to investigate how cocaine and its metabolites are spread through the human body. All the relevant ethical approvals were received for this study. The study will be conducted under the highest level of medical supervision in a dedicated clinical research suite.

“Further information about the NHS ethical approval process, which was followed, is available on our website.”

The e-mail has already attracted online comments and jokes from students.