US spends $150mn on questionable recreational drug-related animal tests

US health institutions have cashed in more than $150 million to sponsor 95 experiments on how recreational drugs affect animals – without any apparent scientific benefits, according to a new report by the Taxpayers Protection Alliance and the Animal Justice Project.

Just a few disturbing examples: a $9.6 million research that involved injecting LSD into the brains of rabbits to check if the drug would trigger more eye-blinking and head-bobbing; a $7.6 million study to look into whether psychedelic drugs cause mice to twitch their heads; or a $1.1 million study to find out if Methamphetamine-addicted monkeys would prefer food to the drug.

A little less pricey research ($709,981) was aimed at determining if lonely rats are more likely to develop an addiction.

The report was compiled by the Taxpayers Protection Alliance and the Animal Justice Project, outraged over the information.

The document notes that most of the studies led to predictable results, and the scientists sometimes killed the animals who didn’t behave the way they had expected.

Julia Orr, Animal Justice Project spokeswoman, has told RT that the experiments are even more futile, as there is direct evidence the drugs have the same effects on humans.

“They are trying to find some miracle cure, which they’ll never find, because as we know, every drug addict is addicted for very many different reasons. So it’s really hard to figure out what exactly they are trying to achieve with these ridiculous experiments,” she said.

The studies are also kept under the rug, carefully hidden from the public eye, Orr said.

“All of these experiments are veiled in secrecy. The universities aren’t open about what they are doing. We know that 95 percent of the animals that they use don’t have any laws covering them, they aren’t counted,” she said, urging “public research into what is happening and why.”

Orr’s concerns are echoed by the report’s co-author, the president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, David Williams.