Can an autism diagnosis help you in court?

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You don't really get to choose what your obsession(s) happen to be. My main obsession for the past 10 years has been psychoactive substances. I'm studying chemistry in uni and planning on going on to study pharmacology and/or neuroscience afterwards and probably getting a PhD in one of these fields so thats a good start at making my obsession a little more legitimate in the eyes of the law but the fact that there are organisations telling me what substances I can and cannot possess, ingest or experiment with is an assault on my beliefs, goals, the very core of my being and in my honest opinion, the physical, mental and spiritual evolution of humanity. The only laws I follow are my own laws which are dictated by what I believe to be right and wrong. I'm not saying I intend on breaking any of the laws concerning psychoactive substances any time in the future but in the event that I do find myself on the wrong side of the law while conducting psychopharmacological research in the future I'm wondering if the fact that I am on the autism spectrum and that chemistry and pharmacology happen to be my life obsession would influence the judges decision. It makes me sick that someone who devotes 95% of his time pursuing an overall objective of doing his part to catalyse the evolution of humanity (and all other species for that matter) and free us from our afflictions has to put up with society treating them like the bad guy but this is the way it is in this twisted society we live in.

Lawyers have abused the crap out of the ASD defense, and courts are sick of drug users. Stay out of trouble or else forget about leniency.

Yes, that is the way it is ... unless, of course, one is willing to work within "the system" to do so ... and here is an interesting story you might enjoy ...

In the earliest days of LSD, Bill W., of Alcoholics Anonymous, was invited to participate in some clinical trials of some kind. Always open-minded to anything that even might be helpful, Bill joined in ... but then he eventually backed away since the effect he received there was only temporary and he was keyed for finding permanent solutions. While all of that was going on, however, Timothy Leary was being denied participation in the study and had even asked Bill W. to try to help get him in there.

I have AS and if I was on your jury I would be laughing my ass off when they presented your defense.

Bill W. participated in a medical experiment. It's not like he went to fry with a bunch of hippies.


You won't be the first person to try it and you won't be the last to fail. The only reason psychedelics seem like they offer any new insight is because they create a temporary severe psychotic episode.

You need to find and align yourself with one of the universities or organizations legitimately studying psychoactive substances. even then - it would be an 'excuse' to carry around a pocket full of 'shrooms outside the academic setting. It won't buy you any leniency if you have a dropbottle of LSD in your fridge.

Being intensely interested in the science of it is one thing - being intensely interested in personally testing it is another.

Basically, you want to live in a fully libertarian society where you can do whatever you damn well please as long as it doesn't hurt anybody.

If you find such a place to live, let me know.

Until then, you are choosing a path with a great deal of risk, heavily loaded against you if the negative side of the risk equation is ever invoked.

You should know that the government keeps a list of students who graduate in chemistry, chemical engineering and pharmacology to monitor them for signs which indicate the production of psychoactive chemicals.

you might want to be careful what chemicals you are ordering

I don't think it would work as a defense. It would be kind of like a serial killer saying "but I'm very interested in killing people." I know it's not a direct comparison, but it does illustrate the same defensive argument for a different illegal action.

Please be safe in your explorations; if you choose to go such a route. I'm lucky I didn't get myself into serious trouble in my late teens and early twenties.

Good point. lol I can imagine a serial killer using that as a defense in court. I think its a very silly society we live in today. Despite the fact we are not even free to alter our own neurochemistry, the majority of people believe we live in a free society. They punish people by providing them with shelter, a bed, free food, laundry and maybe even a TV in an environment where they can learn how to become criminals and actually pose a threat to society. I could indiscriminately teach every inmate I came across how to setup and operate a clandestine lab and synthesise a variety or psychoactive and explosive compounds. Nice to know we have this system to keep us safe lol. I'm talking about doing psychopharmacological research in a laboratory setting though. Thats the field I'd like to get into but I've been researching the matter and found out that the government has placed so many restrictions on this area that it is nearly impossible to conduct this kind of research legally these days. Thats why many scientists have to operate under the radar. It'll be at least 5 years until I have my degrees though so maybe the laws will have changed by then.

i dont know if any are familiar with the john odgren case in boston.he was a 17 year old with aspergers who was obsessed with stephen king novels.one day he acted out his obsession.the jury convicted murder 1 and the judge gave him life without parole.if its a non violent first offense asd could get you some mercy at sentencing,but i wouldnt try it.obey the law

After posting this NOPE! The prosecutor would find your post and use it as evidence against you saying that the act was premeditated planned and you intact have the cognitive abilities to know and understand what you did was illegal and "wrong," Also in something like this I think it is wrong to use Aspergers as a defense you might be obsessed with the subject but it doesn't mean aspegers made you do the illegal activity,

Now in a case where you have a severe meltdown lose control of yourself and say you hit someone I can see using autism as a temporary insanity plea on the basis that you didn't and couldn't control your own body at least I know I can't when I have a severe meltdown. But what you described seems upas though you have premeditated committing the crime and planning a defense before you actually do it. So no it won't work especially since a prosecutor would deffinatly find this post.

@OP

You will likely have to do your research in another country.

I once tried something like that (at least in principle) after retaliating against a bully, but "crime of passion" ended up being the kind of verbiage that actually helped keep my prison sentence short.

As a rule, disabilities don't become ways to avoid a conviction.

The only way it would help you is if a particular aspect of your DOCUMENTED affliction means you have no capacity to control your own behavior or comprehend society's rules.

The best example would be someone with significant mental retardation who essentially has the mentality of a 5-year-old. Such a person might not comprehend that an act is "wrong" and conviction and imprisonment would be cruel on such a person.

For someone with AS, I suppose if you were arrested and charged for creating a public disturbance or other similar charge because you had an ugly meltdown in public, that you are DOCUMENTED as having AS and that you suffer these meltdowns might get the case tossed out because you can't control yourself during a meltdown and a properly educated peace officer would know better than to arrest and charge you rather than get you aid until you calmed down.

The human mind has amazing capabilities on it's own, kind of sounds arrogant imo that you are using the excuse of helping humanity for you own drug obsession. My mind doesn't need the crap, through cognitive therapy, working hard, I AM changing my brain.