There aren’t many ways you can earn over a thousand pounds for a couple of weeks work which doesn’t involve you having to do any work. Most people will have to work hard to be able to go on holiday, pay off their credit cards and have money left over for a shopping spree.

Are your ears pricking up at the thought of being able to buy the pair of shoes you’ve wanted for weeks? If you do want to take part it would be in what’s known as "phase 1" trials, this is when healthy volunteers are used to test if the drugs are reasonable and safe. Louis Sanford, a student at the University of Huddersfield, got paid £1,800 for taking part in a fifteen day "phase 1" trial in Leeds last year.

Anybody who takes part in the trial is at risk of suffering side effects. Although Ley argues: "You’re as safe taking part in drug trials as you are anything else." All trials in the UK have to follow a strict ethical code and safety procedures, which means the medical staff at the clinic monitor you constantly and stop the trial straight away if somebody has an allergic reaction.

Louis said he didn’t suffer any bad side effects: "everyone had a short spell of dizziness and we experienced flashing in our vision, like seeing a police siren light flashing on the wall, it was a bit funny but not that bad."

But not all the trials are as straight forward as that one. Last year a "phase 1" trial known as "elephant man" went horrifically wrong. The six volunteers who took part ended up in intensive care when the injection they were given over-stimulated their immune system. One participant, Ryan Wilson, a twenty year old plumber, had to have all his fingers and toes amputated.

Ley says the case last year "was a totally, absolutely, exceptional case". It was unprecedented and that's why it hit the headlines." In most medical trials the drugs which are given are trying to suppress the immune system, Ley thinks the reason the "Elephant Man" trial went so horrifically wrong was because it was the first trial trying to stimulate it.

Louis hasn’t been put off the trials by what happened and is currently taking part in another trial which he is going to pocket £1,200 for. "I thought it was a shame that one isolated incident managed to turn so many people off the idea of it."

Another thing to consider, a part from the pay out, is that the risks are for a reason. Ley says that volunteers should do it because they want to help and not just for the money. "The work is going to benefit people because hopefully a medicine is going to come out of it, if not we know to go down another road."

Maybe this is because if you do take part in the trials, despite being thoroughly briefed about the drug before the trial, you never know what is going to happen. If you really believe it’s for the greater good it might help you deal with any bad side effects. Rob, 32 who took part in the "elephant trials" last year, told the BBC that he still thinks being a drug volunteer is something "gallant".

"I think it's a great thing to do for society, just watch out who you're doing it for. They're not all Marie Curie." Medical trials seem a lot like gambling, easy cash is as long as your lucks in. Of course with gambling is not your health you’re betting with.

Robyn Walker