Ox Blood? (Some sort of speed like substance)

I was listening to the radio (2BL-702 AM in Sydney) a few weeks ago and there was a person from the National Drug and Alcohol Center (the name of the organisation might differ slightly from the one I've put there) talking about a "new" speed like substance apparrently called Ox Blood. It had come to attention because it had caused a death in Melbourne and a near miss in Sydney. According to the person the substance is a lurid red, slushy liquid which is Amphetamine based. They then went through the whole "frightening new demon drug" thing and moved on to some other topic.
I have never heard of this slang nor anything that fits this description before in my life, and dispite a whole lot of trawling the media and the net over the past few weeks I havent been able to find a reference to it.
So if anyone knows anything at all about this please post your info!

Was it the National Drug and Alcohol Rearch Centre? And was it a man or a woman speaking?
You musn't have been trawling the net very carefully. Putting the words "ox blood" into the search angine at the top of this page gives you this link and this one.
[ 14 March 2003: Message edited by: johnboy ]

i have had 'ox blood' once, yes it is a pinky red but not too slushy (not like base or anything)
it was stronger than average speed on a weight to weight basis, although if you ask me it looked like a clever dealer just coloured a strongish batch of speed red - as ive only seen it once about this time last year.

ox blood = speed with precursors left after the reaction... usually very strong speed and uncut after a cook (and a very bad one). Hence speed retains dark colour without being cut. This speed of course should be avoided unless you want a killer come down and other adverse reactions from contaminants that can be found else where on the internet. The deaths they spoke may well have arose not from the actual meth but from the adulterants that give the red-brown colour.
Of course many would have had "ox-blood" which was no more then meth with food colouring.
Also, in relation to confusing it with "base", base is an oil. Ie. NO crystals... if someone is trying to flog you off "base" that's a liquid with crystals all through it, it aint base. You will not find base on the streets much simply because the greatest market are junkies that shoot, and base doesn't mix up as it is insoluble in water. Ie. Next time you are having "base", you are probably having a small amount of meth plus solvents and glues that make the meth somewhat liquid.

Would the red colour be due to the red phosphorus that is part of ghetto meth synthesis? (that is if red phosphorus actually can stand the air, cause it's quite reactive.)
But, yes, I concur that it's just meth that hasn't been cut and has a shitload of nasty leftovers.
Okay... just did a bit more research, and it MIGHT be red phosphorus cause it's not as reactive as the other allotropes (types) of phosphorus. Just my $0.02.
[ 14 March 2003: Message edited by: Fetish Jester ]

Runner, street slang for base incorrectly refers to the salt, not the freebase. As you know, while the freebase is a white coloured oil, the salt should be crystal if it is relatively pure and dried (free of solvents and H2O)
While colour can always be intentionally added (food colouring, iodine etc) or be present as dyes not removed from certain sources of pseudo, I believe most colour is simply the product of an incomplete or overdone reaction, with little if any purification carried out.
When the hypo/ I2 reduction of pseudo is carried out, the reaction is often described as first turning purple/red then to orange, and finally to yellow. If you go to the place where such things are discussed and look for a bee named SHORTY while searching – Enter: “meth color red” – you will notice this procedure is characterised by colour and smell, both of which change as the reaction progresses.
Because it is claimed a sloppy procedure can give reasonable yields and purity without a need for distillation, it makes perfect sense that many probably do not run the reaction to optimum, add incorrect ratios of reactants, or allow water in the mixture etc. If no distillation and few washes are done, these reaction intermediates, unreacted reagents etc will be in the final product.
A few weeks ago there seemed to be an abundance of red/orange speed around Brisbane. Rumors everywhere were that it was made and put out by the cops so that syndicates could be tracked, busted etc.
While this is possible I guess, it is hard to believe the police would (above board anyway) release something of this quality. It was absolute shit to look at and smell. God knows what that it would do to a person’s liver and kidneys over time!
Although colours may be readily identifiable by field officers, any speed can be linked to another seizure through lab analysis. The levels of impurities are a specific signature of a batch. It would make much better sense for police to release a clear or variety of different coloured batches if they were to do such things. That way, at least their part in distribution would have more chance of remaining surreptitious.
The basic fact of the matter in regards to colour, smell and appearance; is that meth can be cooked by a kid with no chemistry knowledge, in the boot of a car in one pot.
However, the same process can be used by someone concerned enough (and possessing the right knowledge) to produce a product of much higher purity i.e. crystals.

speaking recently to people that had tried 'ox blood' in sydney about 8 years ago...they described it as a blood red sludgy liquid that was sold in perfume sample bottles. trying to get the 'ox blood' outta it was a difficult task supposedly.
anyway these people know their drugs and they reckon that nothing they've had to date comes close to 'ox blood' in terms of potentency.
i doubt it was just coloured meth. could it be some type of amphetamine oil?

The "ox blood" I have had experience with (in Brisbane) is very dark - black untill you hold it up to the light and is as viscous as semi coagulated blood.
It is very oily and doesn't break down much in water and is therefore very hard to inject ( but they always seem to manage it somehow). I'm led to believe that the colour is from iodine added to level out the ph.

IODINE is USED as a reagent in the most common illicit synthesis of meth from pseudoephedrine.
(Iodine, Red Phosphorous, and pseudoephedrine)
So it is not added intentionally after, but there already.
Anyone that has used iodine-based antiseptics knows that even minute amounts of iodine contaminate everything with a reddish-brown colour. So certainly iodine could be the main cause of this "ox blood" meth.
An extremely worrying suggestion as to what some of it could be (based upon peoples description above) is cooks not even attempting to separate the meth (the most BASIC effort at purification) they have made.
It would go like this:
Perform the reaction(without completing it of course) --> filter off the RP --> you are left with mix of meth, pseudo, iodine, salts, impurities, probably Hydroiodic acid (very poisonous) and the reaction solvent which i believe to be an alcohol such as ethanol or methanol)
If the cook simply evaporated the alcohol as much as he/she could without attempting to extract the methamphetamine via an acid-base extraction, you may be left with what could be described as a deep red/brown/black coagulated residue.
With the reaction still being strongly acidic you wouldnt have the freebase but possibly an iodide salt of methamphetamine. This could be very potent left undiluted BUT the sheer amount of impurities/poisons left in this mess is mind boggling. And yes iodine would be present.
(Another reason for the claimed potency is a mixture like i have described is very DENSE. Hence what appears to be a small amount may in actual fact have a significant milligram amount of methamphetamine in it bound up with all the rest of the crap - so the user thinks they are ingesting minute amounts when they may be ingesting far more)
Just an idea but assuming it is true and i had to choose, i'd take my chances with PMA over such "ox blood".
(Disclaimer: in no way am i suggesting consuming PMA, just giving a demonstration of how i would feel about any substance manufactured this way)

^^ Thanks for the clear description Biscuit. All should now understand what Ox blood is.
Future inquiries on the subject should be directed straight to Biscuit's post; consider it the w0rd on the subject.

Thanks for the info guys. That seems to have cleared it up. :D
Johnboy: Yeah thats the organisation and it was a chick talking. Also you are right, I actually didnt do much trawling. I just said that so I didnt look like a total lazy bastard.
[ 15 March 2003: Message edited by: josh_nexus ]

So you just let the smart people do the work for you eh nexus?

We can always count on the Biscuit Boy to give us a well thought out, scientifically based response. *high five*

When I read the title 'ox blood' I was all ready to refer someone to the opiate family. I remember reading about red opium called Ox Blood on these very pages a few years ago... anyway that's not it so..

So if this Ox Blood is such a colour because its so damn dirty, why do Perthians get all excited about pink (or champagne) speed? Wouldn't it just be a similar case? Just less dirtiness but still not as clean as say something that's crystally and white?

^ You can also add a drop of red food colour to some cut street speed, and sell it for 2x price, if the people are gullible...

BigTrancer

I must say my idea was only an idea - which only came to me on reflection of what people have described.

However i did not say that everything sold as "ox blood" will necessarily be as hideous as i made it out to be.

If it LOOKS like speed, with visible powder/crystals but is simply reddish in colour then its likely to be dyed delibrately or perhaps contaminated with a small amount of iodine.


However if its a horrid, dark, coagulated/sticky/very stinky mess then it may well have been made exactly as I stated and then should unquestionably be avoided. (and if the theory has got phase_dancer's backing, then it must automatically increase in credence


(I am more than impressed with this new layout - very cool; Bluelight keeps storming on)

the last lot of 'ox-blood' i saw was a bright red colouring.it was crystally but also had a bit of thick liquid in it. sorta a slushy consistency...

question: this lot of stuff i saw also had to be kept frozen/cold in order to maintain its slushy/crytally form.is this normal? i know the different consistencys between speed and crystal and base etc and what they look like.but ive never seen any have to be kept cold before i took it off the ice pack thing and the crystals stayed in together but the liquid got thinner...

like BigTrancer said...it is soooo easy to fool someone...some red food colouring and some glucose a bit of water and bang u have what looks like ox-blood.

from my observations it seemed to be more of a 'high' and 'awake' sorta thing. not a real nrg burst at once. more of a constant 'yeah im not tierd' feeling. there was dancing nrg and long lasting nrg...but not a man i got so much nrg to burn right now thing...there didnt appear to be much of a 'head fuck' involved...maybe a slight one...but it definantly wasnt a 'speeding' sensation...

I've had "ox blood" which looked like red playdoe with crystals in it and some other ox blood which was a thick rusty brown coloured oil. I've always wondered exactly what that shit was cos it definantly wasn't dyed speed.

Ox Blood is very old slang from years ago and it definitely refers to a type of amphetamine, probably locally manufactured. Recently the term seems to have made something of a comeback.

The thing about all slang terms is that they are not accurate terms. Different people will call different substances by the same term. So there are undoubtedly many different "Ox Bloods" on the market, depending on who manufactured them and how.

We are usually talking backyard laboratories with all sorts of impurities, not high-tech pharmaceutical set-ups, so there will be a lot of variance in quality and appearance.

In short, just about everybody who has posted a reply here is right.

It's the old story, "caveat emptor"... let the buyer beware.

Ox Blood is very old slang from years ago and it definitely refers to a type of amphetamine, probably locally manufactured. Recently the term seems to have made something of a comeback.

Click to expand...

Just one thing a little Off Topic. You would probably find most if not all meth/speed you get is locally produced.

Nothing to add about ox blood that isn't in here or in old threads.

erm... wazza... my understanding from the NDARC Party Drugs Symposium last month was that a lot if not most methamphetamine is being imported from southeast Asia these days.

My impression was that this refers to the purer stuff. I wouldn't call Ox blood pure, of course.

Johnboy could probably correct me on this as he wasn't sitting in the back row surrounded by large policemen making sarky self-satisfied comments that drowned out some of the speakers.

Or maybe I'm just going deaf

I had ox blood 13 years ago in adelaide , it came in perfume sampler bottles and was the best amphetamine i have ever had . Nothing has come close since . For $ you would get a full sampler bottle of red liquid which you dipped a piece of tissue in and sucked . The buzz was intense , full head tingles and amazing amounts of energy the peak lasted at least 6-8 hours . There would have been at least 20 hits in that bottle and for $ !!!! . It wasn't methamphetamine i am sure of it , it was another drug but fuck knows what . If you tried to cut it with water it would turn brown so it was easy to tell if you had the pure stuff . It was around for about 6 months. The guy making it was apparently a chem student and fairly knowledgable . But back then chemicals were much easier to get . It was here one minute then gone the next , i heard he had ended up in jail .

[Edit: Price details removed. Please read the posting guidelines. BigTrancer]