Language: The lecture will be in English.

Abstract

Adam and Eve... no, it's not about the birds and the bees. Or is it? These are code names for ecstasy (XTC) in the dance halls.

Professor Philippe Jorens (UZA, UAntwerpen), intensivist and pharmacologist, comes in to contact with drug use at the clinic on a near-daily basis. He will take us on a journey through the present, but also the history of drug use together with elements of geography, biological effects, botany, and much more. Furthermore, he will delve into the chemical aspects: the production of amphetamines, the decomposition of cocaine into crack when heated in the presence of bicarbonate, using NaOH to make "liquid ecstasy", or the miraculous crystal structures of many drugs. The whole lecture is peppered with historical facts. The wide range of available drugs (amphetamines, cocaine, cannabis, heroin and many others) are given an original look.

This is not just a story about the pure analysis, detection, production of structure-activity relationships and addiction, but also the interaction between chemistry and a part of the medicine that is not always so well known.

Practical

Location: UHasselt, Campus Diepenbeek, Building D, room A102.

Members of KVCV are admitted for free, others pay €4.

Pay on-site, preferentially by card (Maestro/Visa/Mastercard, also contactless), or cash.

After the lecture, you are invited to a reception.

Registration is mandatory. Register here.