Evil from good

Purdue University pharmacology professor David Nichols makes chemicals similar to ecstasy and LSD so he can study how parts of the brain function. He publishes the works for other scientits, hoping the work will one day lead to treatments for things like depression and Parkinson's disease. And he has an ethical dilemma:

But Nichols' findings have not stayed in purely scientific circles. They've also been exploited by black market labs to make cheap and marginally legal recreational drugs.

"You try to work for something good, and it's subverted in a way," Nichols said. "I try not to think about it."

[. . .]

You can't control what people do with what you publish, but yeah, I felt it personally," he said in a phone interview, explaining that his struggles are probably somewhat similar to those faced by the inventor of the machine gun, although not as severe. The journal Nature published his essay online Wednesday.

[. . .]

A story last year in the Wall Street Journal said Nichols' published research is a favorite for European chemists who make black market street drugs. That hit him hard, but didn't surprise him. In the past year or so, he's been getting inquiries about his research from investigators and forensic labs.

It's good that Nichols has a conscience and worries about the misuse of his research. But what's true for his research is true for all knowledge -- it can be used for good or evil. And once we know something, we can't pretend it doesn't exist