General Question

brianinsco's avatar

Is taking l-dopa illegal ?

Asked by brianinsco (2points) April 16th, 2009

i tested possitive for meth, could l-dopa do that?

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9 Answers

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Dog's avatar

Just to clarify – are you saying that you have not done meth ever but you have taken L-dopa?

YARNLADY's avatar

Yes, L Dopa is sold both as a dietary suppliment and as a prescription drug. It was L Dopa that was administered to coma patients in the book (made into a movie)called Awakenings.

As for a specific test, you would have to further research, I don’t know how it affect meth tests.

SeventhSense's avatar

@Dog
Good question.

nikipedia's avatar

Taking L-DOPA is legal.

Taking L-DOPA also has nothing to do with methamphetamine.

Jeruba's avatar

The patients in Awakenings were Parkinson’s patients, I believe. Why would a person take this drug voluntarily?

nikipedia's avatar

@Jeruba: They suffered from encephalitis lethargica, which produces symptoms similar to some Parkinson’s patients.

L-DOPA is an amino acid synthesized from L-tyrosine, and a precursor to the catecholamines: dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. People may take L-DOPA to try to increase levels of these chemicals in the brain.

YARNLADY's avatar

Wikipedia: “In work that earned him a Nobel Prize in 2000, Swedish scientist Arvid Carlsson first showed in the 1950s that administering levodopa to animals with Parkinsonian symptoms would cause a reduction of the symptoms. The neurologist Oliver Sacks describes this treatment in human patients with encephalitis lethargica in his book Awakenings, upon which the movie of the same name is based.”

Dog's avatar

@nikipedia is right. Lurve!

I still would love to know the answer to my question

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