Sangamon's Principle

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Sangamon's Principle is a principle put forward in Neal Stephenson's novel Zodiac by the character Sangamon Taylor, an environmental activist, which states that simple molecules make better recreational drugs than complex ones, because you never know what side effects more complicated compounds will have.

The following is a rough list of drugs, ordered according to Sangamon's Principle:

# of Atoms	Drug	Formula
2	Oxygen	O2
3	Nitrous Oxide	N2O
9	Ethanol (alcohol)	C2H6O
29	Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstacy)	C11H15NO2
36	Psilocybin (mushrooms)	C12H17N2O4P
49	LSD	C20H25N3O
53	Tetrahydrocannabinol (cannabis)	C21H30O2

Sangamon's Principle is often quoted by nitrous oxide (N₂O) users to justify its use over other drugs.^{[citation needed]}