Methaqualone

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	N05CM01
PubChem	6292
DrugBank	?
ChemSpider	6055
Chemical data
Formula	C16H14N2O
Mol. mass	250.30
Physical data
Melt. point	113 °C (235 °F)
Pharmacokinetic data
Bioavailability	?
Metabolism	?
Half life	?
Excretion	?
Therapeutic considerations
Pregnancy cat.	?
Legal status	Schedule III(CA) Schedule I(US)
Routes	?

Methaqualone tablets and capsules.

Methaqualone is a sedative drug that 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 and muscle relaxant. It has also been used illegally as a recreational drug, commonly known as Quaaludes (particularly in the 1970s in North America) or as Mandrax. In the 2000s, it is widely used as a recreational drug in South Africa. (Mandrax was actually methaqualone 250 mgs combined with diphenhydramine 5 mgs.)

Effects

Usual effects include relaxation, euphoria, and drowsiness, also reducing heart rate, respiration, increased sexual arousal (aphrodisia) and parasthesias (Numbness of the fingers and toes). Larger doses can bring about depression, muscular miscoordination, slurred speech, headache and photophobia (pain in the eyes when exposed to light).

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 other anticonvulsants.

Illegal use as a recreational drug

Quaaludes became increasingly popular as a recreational drug during the 1960s, and during the disco club scene in the 1970s. They were often used during sexual activity because of heightened sensitivity coupled with relaxation and euphoria. The drug was more tightly regulated in Britain under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and in the U.S. from 1973. It was withdrawn from many developed markets in the 1980s, being made a Schedule I drug in the US in 1984.

Smoking methaqualone, either alone or as an adulterant added to various legal and illegal smoking mixtures, gained popularity in the United States during the mid-1970s. When smoked, methaqualone gives the user an immediate trance-like euphoria that quickly wears off. Because the various binders and inert ingredients that were contained in the pill form were toxic when smoked, this practice was roundly decried by the medical community as a serious health risk. Smoking methaqualone pills can lead to emphysema and other chronic lung disorders, most notably talcosis.

South Africa

Commonly known as Mandrax or Buttons, it is not taken orally but is crushed and mixed in a pipe (or in the neck of a broken bottle) with marijuana. Mandrax is one of the most commonly used hard drugs in South Africa. The low price (South African Rand R30.00 average, which is about USD $2.60 or EUR €2.00) of methaqualone together with the ready availability of cheap, low-grade marijuana means that it (in addition to crystal meth and temazepam) is the preferred hard drug of the low-income section of South African society.

Because methaqualone is no longer legally produced, illicit manufacture either in India or in South Africa itself—or in other African countries—produces methaqualone for the South African market.^[1]

See also

• Cloroqualone
• Diproqualone
• Etaqualone
• Mebroqualone
• Mecloqualone
• Methylmethaqualone

References

1. ↑ van Zyl EF (November 2001). "A survey of reported synthesis of methaqualone and some positional and structural isomers". Forensic Sci. Int. 122 (2-3): 142–9. PMID 11672968. http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0379-0738(01)00484-4. 

• Bioavailability of Methaqualone

Smyth RD, Lee JK, Polk A, Chemburkar PB, Savacool AM (October 1973). "Bioavailability of methaqualone". J Clin Pharmacol 13 (10): 391–400. PMID 4490663. http://jcp.sagepub.com/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=4490663. 
Nayak RK, Smyth RD, Chamberlain JH, et al (April 1974). "Methaqualone pharmacokinetics after single- and multiple-dose administration in man". J Pharmacokinet Biopharm 2 (2): 107–21. PMID 4427217. 
Chemburkar PB, Smyth RD, Buehler JD, et al (April 1976). "Correlation between dissolution characteristics and absorption of methaqualone from solid dosage forms". J Pharm Sci 65 (4): 529–33. PMID 1271252. 

External links

• Methaqualone (Quaalude) Synthesis by Rhodium. General information and description of Methaqualone's synthesis plus many references
• The Meth Epidemic Frontline discusses quaaludes as part of the history of methamphetamine