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by zo1 1641 days ago
I share your concerns about it, and there is definitely potential for it to be abused and for it to create an underclass. But even for those, why not at least explore the option and at the same time use regulation to make it safe and not open for abuse? We're perfectly fine doing all sorts of games of wack-a-mole with other areas that we're trying to regulate but the free-market is constantly working around, so why not here too?
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But this is what we've done, right? Drugs are tested on people, but only after they've been proven to be (a) somewhat promising and (b) somewhat safe in animal models. This helps make human trials safe.

Secondly, we've removed the profit motive, so that people are not allowed to be coerced by money into trying out someone's drug, and drug companies are not incentivised to test their drugs exclusively on the poorest people - this helps prevent abuse.