Misc Does the absolute amount of drug consumed matter in terms of toxicity? (3-MMC)

[ketagoblin]

The title might be poorly worded. I understand toxicity varies chem to chem and many factors are at play. However, drugs' bioavailability differ greatly from each other, and I wonder if an equivalent dosage of drugs (adjusted to bioavailability), administered through different routes would cause the same amount of damage. (I realize the matter is more complex than that and some substances directly cause damage while others indirectly by their metabolites and whatnot)

An example being Ketamine having a BA of 20% orally, and 100% IV. Using these numbers, 500 milligrams orally should be equivalent to 100 milligrams of IV in terms of psychoactive effects?
The question is; would the high dosage cause more problems regarding toxicity, due to the sheer huge volume of the substance entering our system?

I am inquiring mainly about 3-MMC. For me it seems to be about 3 times potent intranasally than orally, but I would like to try the only oral route, but I wonder how healthy is it to chug down half gram 3-MMC capsules, as opposed to just doing 2 lines.

 

[negrogesic]

It's mainly about the total blood concentration those routes produce. Some drugs are poorly absorbed orally, so more direct routes can achieve higher blood concentrations (and thus having greater toxicity at lower doses). Also, first pass metabolism has a role in limiting the toxic effect of certain drugs.

But there may be cases where the oral bioavailability is so low that the quantity required to consume presents some risk of toxicity. Or cases when oral administration results in a higher rate of conversion to a more toxic compound (for example oral testosterone, which results in greater dihydrotestosterone blood levels than testosterone administered via intramuscular injection, and in turn, greater cardiovascular strain)

 

[SpiralusSancti]

An example being Ketamine having a BA of 20% orally, and 100% IV. Using these numbers, 500 milligrams orally should be equivalent to 100 milligrams of IV in terms of psychoactive effects?
The question is; would the high dosage cause more problems regarding toxicity, due to the sheer huge volume of the substance entering our system?

Well in case of K, yeah, it’s quite correct to say it’ll cause significantly more bladder and possibly other organ damage via less potent ROA. But than again as it lasts longer and hits differently taken orally you might end up using same amount snorting it during session.

In some other cases, even if difference in dose needed is as drastic as with K or just slight, drug can be a lot more dangerous via more potent or faster onset ROA, great example is 2c-t-x (but I think it might at least somewhat true for 2c’s in general as at least ime most produce noticeably less body load oral vs. snorted).

And there’s all kind of examples in between. There’s also direct damage for certain ROA to be taken in consideration too. And there’s a big chance some drug causes less of one kind of toxicity via some ROA while at the same time being more toxic in other ways when taken via that ROA.

There’s no simple or universally correct answer and that’s just scratching a surface as you’re not considering things like different addiction potential or likelihood of OD from different ROA.