Drug urban legends
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[edit] Urban legends about LSD
Various urban legends exist about LSD. The aura of mystique popularly associated with the drug, and a great deal of misinformation issued and propagated by anti-drug groups, particularly in United States anti-drug education programs in schools, provide fertile ground for misconceptions to take hold. Such misinformation may be propagated due to simple ignorance, or through deliberate attempts to frighten students away from LSD usage through scare tactics.
[edit] Bad LSD
The most widespread misinformation about LSD, is that it is possible for LSD to be tainted, and bad, or adulterated. While it is possible that a pill sold with the claim that it contains LSD actually contains something else, there are few substances as potent as LSD and also psychoactive that can be ingested in blotter or droplet form; most are effective only in doses too high for such administration. (The only possible exceptions are various psychedelic amphetamines including DOB, which produce LSD-like effects but would require larger pieces of blotter paper and is noticeably more bitter in taste, and Salvinorin-A, a drug with a very different side effects profile.) The most famous example of this legend spreading was at Woodstock, where there was an announcement from the stage not to use a certain variety of blotter. Expecting an LSD trip to be bad (due to concerns about contamination, or any other reason) is likely to cause the trip to be bad, perhaps reinforcing the legend. Contamination is a concern with certain other drugs.
[edit] Blue star tattoos
One popular meme is the blue star tattoo legend. This meme frequently surfaces in American elementary and middle schools in the form of a flyer that has been photocopied through many generations, which is distributed to parents by concerned school officials. It has also become popular on Internet mailing lists and websites. This legend states that a temporary lick-and-stick tattoo soaked in LSD and made in the form of a blue star, or of popular children's cartoon characters, is being distributed to children in the area in order to get them addicted to LSD. The flyer lists an inaccurate description of the effects of LSD, some attribution (typically to a well-regarded hospital or a vaguely specified "adviser to the president"), and instructs parents to contact police if they come across the blue star tattoos. No actual cases of LSD distribution to children in this manner have ever been documented (also, LSD is not addictive and unlikely to be enjoyed by an unwitting user, so there is no motivation for a dealer to do this). The legend is debunked at Snopes. As a final note, even if this or a similar legend were true, propagating a warning about a specific tattoo design would be unlikely to help matters, since those responsible could simply switch designs.
[edit] Retention of LSD in spinal fluid
A meme with particular appeal to anti-drug educators who wish to instill a fear of the potential long-term effects of LSD in their pupils, and also among casual high school age LSD users, is that the body stores crystallized LSD in spinal fluid or in fat cells, which at some point dislodges and causes horrific flashbacks, perhaps years later. Although the body does store some toxins in fat tissue, and residues of some drugs and toxins can be found in spinal fluid, LSD is not among these. It breaks down entirely within the body in hours, and its metabolites are excreted within days.
"Flashbacks" are themselves a dubious phenomenon. Most LSD users never experience flashbacks in the sense popularly described -- a resurgence of the drug effect months or years after last having taken it. However, the small number of people who experience severely traumatic bad trips may have a similar effect to post-traumatic stress disorder.
===Different types of LSD===[dubious — see talk page]
A popular meme with high school and college age users is that there are different "types" of LSD, which produce different types of trips. The types are usually associated with a particular blotter paper design or other dosage form (e.g. sugarcube or geltab), and the resultant trips associated with each dosage form are typically described in terms such as that "blue pyramids [a blotter paper design] give body trips" (a trip of mainly physical sensations with not much mental effect) or a "head trip" (the reverse, mainly mental effects with little physical sensations) or "great visuals" (hallucinations).
While there is no actual physical variation in the LSD molecules carried on different substrates, this meme is self-reinforcing insofar as a user taking LSD who strongly expects to have a particular type of experience due to ingesting a particular substrate is thus much more likely to actually have that particular kind of experience. The only substantial differences could be the amount of micrograms per "dose".
An analogue of LSD could be present in material sold as LSD, such as ALD-52, which produces a less stimulating and more mental trip.
Although LSD is fairly standard in synthesis, different ingredients used in different batches, may be responsible for a different sort of trip.
[edit] Banana peel synthesis
Another popular theme among naïve LSD users is that it is possible to synthesize LSD from banana peels or other common household foods and chemicals, or that the synthesis of LSD can be easily accomplished in a bathtub. Variants of this legend often circulate on the Internet, and were popular on 'underground' BBSes run by high schoolers before the advent of widespread home Internet access. This myth is sometimes related in a way so as to bolster social standing within a drug-using social group through association with the purported chemist, e.g. "My boyfriend/cousin/friend/roommate makes LSD in the bathtub from banana peels". The actual synthesis requires university training in organic chemistry and requires both expensive laboratory equipment and expensive, carefully controlled precursor chemicals. A possible explanation for this particular urban legend is that it originated from a pun; to 'trip' on a banana peel could easily become a joke at the expense of the ignorant.
This rumor of "tripping" on banana peels has been disputed by the Researchers at New York University. The rumor started when William Powell had his book "The Anarchist's Cookbook" published in which he claimed "Musa Sapientum Bananadine" was a powerful psycoactive drug found in banana peels. The slang terms "mellow yellow" and "Saffron" (for the color of the peels) were borrowed to describe this possibly non-existent drug, giving rise to claims that the soda and/or song were coded references to the banana-drug.
An additional "banana" myth originating in the 1960s was the "electrical banana" mentioned in the Donovan song, "Mellow Yellow". One version of the myth was that if you chewed a piece of gum, inserted it in an unpeeled banana, wrapped it in electrical tape for about a week, the aged gum, when chewed again would get you "high".
See the articles on bananadine and the hallucinogenic effects of banana peels.
[edit] Strychnine
Anti-drug educators frequently tell their students some variant on the theme of inevitable strychnine poisoning through LSD use, for example, that strychnine is commonly sold as a cheaper substitute for LSD by unscrupulous drug dealers; that strychnine is a byproduct of LSD synthesis; that the body produces strychnine as a result of LSD metabolism; or that strychnine is somehow necessary to bond LSD to blotter paper. None of these are true. These memes may even be believed and propagated by drug users themselves. Occasionally, LSD users themselves assume that the minor aches and fatigue associated with "coming down" off the drug are the result of strychnine. In reality, most hallucinogens cause some degree of mental or physical discomfort after the "trip" is over. This is a direct effect of the drug, not strychnine or any other adulterant. Additionally, strychnine itself is one of the most bitter substances known. The bitter taste can be detected at 1 part per million, which is well below the toxic level. Finally, the dangerous dose of strychnine is too high to be contained in a blotter square, even if the entire square were composed of the poison.
Strychnine has indeed rarely been discovered mixed with LSD and other drugs in a few samples recovered by law enforcement agencies, but these were all found in murder or attempted murder investigations where someone was being specifically targeted for poisoning, and not associated with recreational LSD use.
A related myth is that a new type of gang initiation requires the initiate to put a mixture of LSD and strychnine on the buttons of as many payphones as possible.
[edit] Fruit juice synergy
Several legends claim that drinking some specific type of fruit juice (varying from legend to legend) will intensify an LSD trip. While there is no specific physical evidence supporting this claim, if a person under the influence of LSD does something that they believe will intensify their trip, then it is likely to do so. Note that grapefruit juice does interfere with the metabolism of some drugs; it has not been tested in conjunction with LSD.
It is, however, true that mixing a juice containing citric acid (lemon juice, orange juice) may help extract the alkaloids from other drugs such as psychedelic mushrooms, or san pedro cactus (desert cucumber). When making mushroom tea, the addition of citric acid will help make the psilocybin a salt (psilocybin citrate). Salt forms of alkaloids are more soluble in water. This myth may be a mutated form of this technique. It also may help the bioavailability of an oral drug.
It is also believed by some that ingestion of citric fruit juice can reduce the length of a trip if things have "gone bad".
[edit] Legally psychotic
There is an urban legend that a person who has used LSD more than seven times (or ten times, depending on the version of this legend) is automatically declared legally psychotic. The same is often suggested with large doses, the difference being that the person is considered psychotic for the duration of the trip. This is nonsensical because there is no exact definition of "legally psychotic" and no link between LSD use and lasting clinical psychosis have been demonstrated.
[edit] Various atypical psychotic reactions
Anecdotal legends retell the stories of LSD users who:
- believed they could fly and jumped out of a high window (the comedian Bill Hicks noted that more intelligent users would probably try to take off from the ground first);
- jumped off of the balcony at a Phil and Friends Warfield show in San Francisco, endangering themselves and those below them
- believed themselves immortal and walked onto a highway, only to be hit by a car
- stared at the sun (or "had a religious conversation with the sun", depending on the version of this legend) and thus went blind;
- thought that they were oranges and locked themselves in a closet for hours for fear of being peeled (or, more gruesomely, tried to peel themselves with a knife)
- had a sheet of acid in their back pocket, sat on a wet bench, and now they are in a mental hospital (possibly originating from the motion picture SLC Punk!.)
- someone "never came down" and now they think they are a glass of orange juice, constantly fearful of being "tipped" over and spilled, etc.
- fracture their skulls and die from banging their head against a door, trying to fit through the keyhole.
Although there is well-established documentation of one of these reactions (although this is disputed [1]), they are generally held to be rare and atypical; however, there is insufficient statistical data to warrant any precise claim. Ill-informed anti-drug educators sometimes present these reactions as common, possibly to warn students away from LSD by any means necessary. Delusions such as these are more common among LSD users with existing pre-psychotic mental illness. Some other drugs with hallucinogenic effects, such as DXM, have stronger tendencies to lead to such delusions (but DXM in high doses tends to interfere with physical coordination, in the same way alcohol does, which would make carrying out some of the above misadventures difficult).
[edit] Marijuana laced with LSD
There is a myth that sometimes shoddy blackmarket marijuana, dipped in LSD to give it more of a kick, makes the user hallucinate or have an acid trip when smoking marijuana. Anyone that knows about LSD, will know that as soon as LSD comes into contact with moisture, air or heat it begins to disintegrate. At a temperature of 80 degrees Celsius, LSD will be completely destroyed, and the THC in marijuana is only released at a temperature of 300 degrees Celsius, therefore making it impossible to smoke LSD. It is possible to lace Marijuana with other chemicals like PCP (sometimes referred to as embalming fluid, see Phencyclidine), but generally, if it is laced, then the person buying it will know about it because the dealer will sell the laced product for a higher price than the non-laced product, as the chemicals used to lace the product are very costly.
[edit] Urban legends about MDMA
[edit] Altered or variant ecstasy
A sort of "reverse urban legend" is that the impurity of street MDMA is an urban legend. While opinions vary on the allegation that ecstasy (MDMA) is often found on the street in an impure form, it is based on the fact that the majority of ecstasy pills tested in laboratories contain a mixture of several compounds: amphetamines, caffeine, dimenhydrinate (Dramamine), or other stimulants, anesthetics, and deliriants. Given such independent, publicly-available data, the "misconception" can be said to be usually true.
Often, evidence against the "misconception" is offered in the form of arguments to the low cost of MDMA, the consistency of street MDMA, and the fact that adulteration is common with most street drugs, as below:
MDMA is often thought to be cut with other drugs, such as cocaine, methamphetamines, or a variety of designer drugs. This then gave way to the classification of "molly", a pure form of MDMA, which is supposedly the pure form of ecstasy. This is, of course, based on the assumption that all ecstasy found in tablet form is lacking in purity. The idea that most pills of ecstasy are less than pure in their content is not true, mostly because MDMA is one of the least expensive drugs by weight to manufacture. Any drug that it was mixed with would have a higher monetary value than ecstasy. Though it can be found in powder or gelcap, its consistency is usually the same. Undoubtedly, shady people have tried to pass off other substances (such as aspirin or other over-the-counter medicines) as ecstasy (just like people looking to make cash have sold oregano as marijuana - but this happens with all controlled substances, blame the shadiness of people and not the drugs) but it is much rarer than has been accused. Though in many areas MDMA is hard to come by (it's never been produced in large amounts by any legitimate source and can be much harder than methamphetamine to synthesize) and thus to supply the demand other substances may be used such prescription amphetamines.
See recent MDMA testing data at EcstasyData.org.
[edit] Urban legends about mescaline
The primary urban legend about mescaline, claims that people have taken, found, or bought pure extracted mescaline, as opposed to buying it synthesised from "scratch". All evidence seems to show that mescaline has never been extracted in any large quantities and distributed. Most often alleged users have instead ingested another phenethylamine or LSD.
[edit] Urban legends about PCP
PCP is almost always described in pop culture in ways that are incompatible with its status as a dissociative anesthetic very similar to DXM and Ketamine. PCP is said to cause extremely powerful hallucinations, of the kind found in deliriants like Dramamine, but non-mundane.
Several drugs, such as PCP, crack, methamphetamine, etc. are said to cause superhuman strength, such that 10 strong and well trained policemen are needed to control an unarmed and untrained user of those drugs. This myth was promulgated in part by the movie "The Terminator", where Arnold Schwarzenegger's robotic character is mistakenly believed by police to be a man on PCP, because of his superior strength and violence.
Another popular source of this myth may be the Rodney King trial. Defense attorneys for the five white LAPD officers who were videotaped beating King claimed that the motorist was high on PCP at the time, and that they were using necessary force to combat the six-foot King's drug-induced "super-strength." Medical experts rightly dismissed the theory as urban legend, but the predominantly white jury found in favor of the defendants, clearing the officers of all wrongdoing. Reaction to this verdict led to the L.A. Riots.
This myth sometime results in unnecessary restraining violence against users of drugs. However, there is a modicum of truth in this, since it is hard to fight off an attacker who is under the influence of an anesthetic due to their diminished capacity to feel pain; or who is experiencing a possibly PCP-induced and adrenaline-enhanced rage. In either case, it may take a lot more force to bring someone down, contributing to the myth of super-human strength.
[edit] Urban legends about methamphetamine
Perhaps the best-known of the meth legends refers to people who heat/melt and then inhale crystal methamphetamine smoke. The legend states that the drug, once inhaled, will re-crystallize in large amounts inside the lungs, damaging them in the process. While inhaling meth fumes is likely to damage the lungs in some way, it isn't by crystallization. Street meth is usually in the form of methamphetamine hydrochloride, which is highly soluble in water. Human lungs are coated with a watery mucus, so any smoke inhaled will immediately dissolve in it, without any crystallization occurring.
[edit] Urban legends about drug adulteration in general
There are many myths about the substances that may be added to illegal drugs to bulk them out or to change the effects. One myth claims that a 'hard drug' (such as heroin or cocaine) is added to a non-addictive 'soft drug' (such as cannabis or ecstasy), possibly in order to get the users addicted to a drug that in itself is non-addictive. Often the claim will not offer a motivation for this adulteration. This is illogical because the 'hard drugs' usually cost considerably more gram-for-gram than 'soft drugs' so the dealer would lose money on such an operation, and hard drugs often carry more severe penalties for the dealer. Neither the 'hard drugs in soft' or the 'poisoned drugs' myths have ever been supported by analysis of seized drugs.
Drug adulteration is a widespread occurrence but in almost all cases the adulterant is an inert 'filler' such as flour or plaster, a complimentary (but cheaper) drug such as caffeine or fake designed to resemble the taste, smell or other qualities of the drug such as bicarbonate of soda or novocaine added to cocaine. This is done is increase the quantity of the substance in order to make more money. The greatest risk of dangerous adulterants is when a dealer deliberately sells pills or substances that do not contain the drug the buyer expects but another cocktail of chemicals, telling the buyer that they are a particular drug. In this case the dealer has no stake at all in the well-being of their customer (repeat custom not being a consideration) and may sell them anything he/she can find that vaguely resembles the drug required.
[edit] 'First Hit for Free' myth
This prevalent myth states that dealers of hard drugs will attempt to lure non-drug-users into drug use by offering the first dose of the drug for free, in the hope that they will become immediately hooked and provide the 'pusher' with a secure income stream. This scenario is illogical for several reasons. Unlike a willing drug user, the unwilling one has not committed any crime and could readily inform the police of such an occurrence without being charged with anything themself. Dealers would never operate this way as strangers could then easily purport to have never tried drugs, even if they had, in order to get more for free. Dealers would never be certain that the "hooked" individual will come back to them to buy further drugs.
However, there are certain dealers who may be considered pushers, as they will give the buyer "testers." There are many dealers who practice this somewhat illogical trade, perhaps believing the "First Hit for Free" myth themselves.
