Methaqualone

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Methaqualone
Systematic (IUPAC) name
2-methyl-3-o-tolyl-4(3H)-quinazolinone; 3,4-dihydro-2-methyl-4-oxo-3-o-tolylquinazoline; 2-methyl-3-(2-methylphenyl)-4-(3H)-quinazolinone
Identifiers
CAS number	72-44-6
ATC code	N05 CM01
PubChem	6292
DrugBank	?
Chemical data
Formula	C₁₆H₁₄N₂O
Mol. weight	250.30
Physical data
Melt. point	113 °C (235 °F)
Pharmacokinetic data
Bioavailability	?
Metabolism	?
Half life	?
Excretion	?
Therapeutic considerations
Pregnancy cat.	?
Legal status	Schedule I (USA) Schedule III (CA)
Routes	?

Methaqualone tablets and capsules.

Methaqualone¹ is a sedative drug.

It is similar in effect to barbiturates, a general CNS depressant. It was used in the 1960s and 1970s as an anxiolytic, for the treatment of insomnia, and as a sedative.

Usual effects include relaxation, euphoria, and drowsiness, also reducing heart rate and respiration. Larger doses can bring about depression, muscular miscoordination, and slurred speech.

An overdose can cause delirium, convulsions, hypertonia, hyperreflexia, vomiting, renal insufficiency, coma, and death through cardiac or respiratory arrest. It resembles barbiturate poisoning but with increased motor difficulties and a lower incidence of cardiac or respiratory depression. Toxicity is treated with diazepam and sometimes an anticonvulsant.

Methaqualone was discovered by the Indian researcher M. L. Gujiral in 1955 during an anti-malaria research program. It was marketed as a sleeping pill during the 1960s under a number of tradenames including Renoval and Melsed and in combination with an antihistamine as Mandrax. From 1965 it was sold on the U.S. market as Quaalude, Sopor and Parest, by 1972 it was the sixth most popular sedative in the US. The name Quaalude was apparently derived from the phrase 'quiet interlude' with an added 'aa' by the manufacturers in order to elicit a more positive public recognition, as was done with the drug Maalox. It was hoped that it was a 'safer' drug than barbiturates to use for sedation; however, it was found to have similar problems of tolerance and dependence.

Quaaludes became increasingly popular as a recreational drug during the 1960s. The drug was more tightly regulated in Britain under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and in the US from 1973. With its addictive nature clear, it was withdrawn from many developed markets in the 1980s, being made a Schedule I drug in the US in 1984. Up until the fall of Nicolae Ceauşescu's Communist regime in 1989, methaqualone (along with other sedatives) was used to pacify orphans in Romania's state-run orphanage system. Internationally, methaqualone is a Schedule II drug under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances. [1]

Smoking marijuana laced with methaqualone has become a major problem in South Africa, rivalling crack cocaine as the most abused hard drug. Its low price (R30.00 average against R150.00 for crack) means it is the preferred hard drug of the large low-income section of society.

1 Street Names
2 Other names
3 In popular culture
4 External links

[edit] Street Names

Street names include:

714, Citrexal, Down And Dirtys, Gorilla Biscuits, Ndanda, Lemmon 714, Lemons, Lennons, Lovers, Ludes, Mandies, Mandrax (commonly misspelled as Mandrex), Q, Quaalude, Quad, Quay, Sopor, Vitamin Q, Wallbangers, Whore Pills and Turkey Gizzards.

[edit] Other names

Other names include:

Metolquizolone; ortonal; MAOA; MTQ; Mandrax; "Randy Mandy"; Cateudyl; Citexal; Dormigoa; Dormogen; Dormutil; Dorsedin; Fadormir; Holodorm; Hyminal; Hypcol; Hyptor; Ipnofil; Melsedin; Melsomin; Mequelon; Mequin; Metadorm; Methased; Mollinox; Motolon; Nibrole; Nobedorm; Noctilene; Normi-Nox; Omnyl; Optimil; Optinoxan; Parminal; Parest; Paxidorm; Quaalude; Revonal; Riporest; Rouqualone; Sedaquin; Sindesvel; Somnafac; Sonal; Somberol; Somnium; Somnomed; Soverin; Toquilone; Toraflon; Torinal; Tuazol; and Tuazolone.

[edit] In popular culture

Fee Waybill, the lead singer of San Fransisco rock band The Tubes created a persona for their live show, called 'Quaylewd'. Quaylewd was a drugged-up, drunken, fallen-from-grace cockney rock star who dressed in a silver spandex jump-suit with 12" silver platform boots and sported a large dildo in his costume. Quaylewd came to be the highlight of the finale of The Tubes live show. He vomited, spat and swore his way through songs such as 'White Punks On Dope' and 'I was A Punk Before You Was A Punk'. The character was in fact a parody of many 70s rock stars who had fallen to a lifestyle of drug abuse.[2]

In the 2000 movie Almost Famous, the character Penny Lane attempts suicide by swallowing Quaaludes. Her stomach is pumped, and she survives.

Hardcore Punk Band Gorilla Biscuits got their name from the drug, it was the drug of choice in their neighborhood. The name was only meant to be temporary but stayed with them.

Redd Kross wrote a song called "Beer and Ludes" on their album "Lovedolls Superstar".

On cult television show Strangers With Candy, the main character Jerri Blank talks about 'the good old days' and how no one makes good quaaludes anymore.

Celia from the Showtime show Weeds takes "ludes"

9 In the David Bowie Song "Time" (1973), one of the lines is: "Time - Through Quaaludes and Red Wine". In the song "Rebel Rebel" (1974), he sings, "You got your cue line and a handful of 'ludes".

Frank Zappa's "Pygmy Twylyte" (1973) tells a story about someone who's "hurtin' for sleep in the Quaalude Moonlight".

The Dead Kennedys' song "MTV - Get Off the Air" claims that the MTV VJs always talk like they're wigged out on Quaaludes.

Handsome Dick Manitoba declares, "Just give me a Sopor for the weekend!" in The Dictators song "Weekend" off of their 1975 debut album The Dictators Go Girl Crazy!

In Bret Easton Ellis' novel The Rules of Attraction, a character goes to a party dressed as a Quaalude for Halloween.

In the sitcom The King of Queens, after doing a favor for Doug, Supervisor O'Boyle mentions, "I wouldn't mind if a handful of Mexican quaaludes found their way into my drawer."

In the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the character Jeff Spicoli, while driving erratically and smoking a marijuana joint and drinking a beer, says "people on 'ludes should not drive" when everybody else is driving slower than him.