Harm Reduction absolutely asinine question on water used to shoot up

does is matter/make a difference if its luke warm, cold, hot or any variation in between?

Well, it depends on what you're IVing, etc...

This is an IV HR question, so I'm going to move it on over to Other Drugs.

BDD --> OD

If it's opiates (there aren't many other pills you should be shooting) then COLD water.

There's no real purpose to using anything warmer than room temp water, but generally speaking, most opiates/pain pills are extremely soluble in cold water, so heating the water won't do much other than dissolve cuts in the drug or fillers in the pill.

^ This.

Make sure that you are using sterile water. Bacteriostatic water is ideal, but you can use bottled water which may be more practical. You need to use a new, unopened bottle each time though, because once you open it some germs and bacteria will get into it, making it unsterilized for next time. If you are ever stuck using tap water (which you should never do) use cold water, boil it for 30 minutes, and then let it cool back down before using it. Tap water contains chlorine, fluorine, orthophosphate, and sodium hydroxide, which is why you should not use it to prepare IV solutions.

Sorry off topic, those ( heavy metals and other insoluable solutions) never fully escape the H2O molecular structure when we shoot it do they? I thought heavy metals and other chemicals like flourine do not leave despite the boiling point. I never had problems with old prepped water solutions. But i here ya on a HR model. Just curious.

If you want to be safe, use distilled water. Or doubly distilled water if you're paranoid.
Bacteriostatic water (e.g. water + 0.9% benzyl alcohol) works for storing solutions.

Tap water is not acceptable for injection unless boiled for 15 mins and cooled. Even then, as easy as said, metal salts or contaminants may remain.

HOT water makes your meth dissolve quicker GOGOGOGO

No, no, no. This is all wrong.

DO NOT use distilled water, it is meant for industrial applications, and will have unfamiliar pathogens.
DO NOT use bottled water. Again, much of it comes directly from springs and natural sources.

DO use a sterile bacteriostatic solution.
the second best source is, surprisingly, cold tap water boiled for 30 minutes and left to cool.

There is a great hr water safety thing somewhere on the internet. Ill go try and find it.

^ Please post that if you can find it. I was under the impression that bottled water is safer than tap water due to the micron filtration, and disinfection treatment it undergoes, whereas tap water is not micron filtered (although it is treated). Yes, bottled water comes from springs, but it's not like theres a person standing on the edge of a spring with a bunch of bottles, filling them up, and then going straight to the store to put them on the shelves.

The poland spring website documents the treatment process it undergoes. The quality of tap water varies a lot by region, and it can become contaminated at times. Therefore, I think that boiling bottled water for 30 minutes (and then allowing to cool) would be the next safest thing to use after bacteriostatic solution.

I've read the sodium in bacteriostatic water can prevent certain drugs from dissolving, although I have never experienced this myself. But I thought sterile water was the best choice. I dont think you need to use a new bottle each time though, If you swab the top with an alcohol pad and use a clean syringe it shouldnt be necesary. I certainly dont use a new bottle and ive never had any problems.

In regard to the temp, I always heat my shots (heroin) to boiling becausse I was under the impression that it killed some of the germs and it also helps the dope dissolve completely very fast. I know that the cuts also dissolve but I thought the killing of some of the germs was worth the trade off.

Don't inject bottled spring water or distilled water.

Heirachy of water for injection safety

^ Thanks for the link. My only question is how there can be a higher chance of bacteria in bottled water if the company uses pharmaceutical grade micron filters. I live in NY where the tap water is considered to be very good, but about 6 times a year there is a boiling water advisory put into effect for certain towns by me due to contamination of the water supply.

Why would distilled water be bad yet boiled water be good? If you distill the water yourself, I can't see how it could possibly be worse than boiled water.

The thing that bothers me about boiled water (esp for 30 mins) is the vessel in which you boil the water. Does iron/aluminum/etc contaminate the water? I think I heard that somewhere....not sure tho. Any info would be appreciated. (Although I've recently started using bacteriostatic.)

Also. using hot tap water is extremely dangerous as in most modern homes/setting, it is being piped in from a hot water heater located somewhere in a garage or basement etc. These are semi-closed systems that hold the water in a tank that is not only completely dark inside, but also hot. This is a perfect breeding ground for bacteria as the water does not get hot enough to destroy it. Add to that the fact that your water heater may be upwards of 15, 20 + years old and you have a virtual cornucopia of bacteria and fungus growing in your tank.

My father owns a plumbing company and I have seen the inside of many of these old tanks and they are FUCKING DISGUSTING !!! Srysly, it makes you not even want to take hot showers anymore. Cold tap water boiled is the way to go in a pinch. Obviously bacteriostatic water is the safest, but many people do not that as an available option.

WP

Flexistentialist, thanks for posting that... exactly what I was looking for.

Page 10 and 11 here show the testing results of the tap water in my area. Page 17 and below here are the testing results for poland springs bottled water. I am failing to see how tap water is safer to use than bottled water, at least when comparing NY tap water with poland springs bottled water. Among other things, lead is present in low levels in the tap water due to the piping. It's a good thing that I don't IV.

J.D. said:

The thing that bothers me about boiled water (esp for 30 mins) is the vessel in which you boil the water. Does iron/aluminum/etc contaminate the water? I think I heard that somewhere....not sure tho. Any info would be appreciated. (Although I've recently started using bacteriostatic.)

Click to expand...

There was a case study about a person that got sick from doing this with liquid methadone I believe, and whatever the metal pot was made out of was getting into solution. It might be somewhere in the case studies thread.

Tommyboy said:

There was a case study about a person that got sick from doing this with liquid methadone I believe, and whatever the metal pot was made out of was getting into solution. It might be somewhere in the case studies thread.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll check it out!

OH FUCK, whenever I read someone's post about water quality for injecting drugs I am reminded of an episode of Intervention the A&E series. This guy was a chronic black tar heroin user and they showed him getting ready to fix himself up in a fast food restaurant restroom, and he uses water from the toilet for his shot. He even mentions that it is clean for fucks sakes. I believe it is season 5 episode 4: Charles.

Pretty much anything has got to be better than that.

Now I have never IV'd before but I have seen people mention Spring Water, and the question I have about that is: Wouldn't it be better to use a bottled water like aquafina which has been purified 7 different ways including Reverse Osmosis opposed to using spring water that has simply been bottled at the source. The reason I ask is because you are not supposed to make baby formula with spring water because the spring water has certain bacteria in it, and it would make sense to me that injecting those bacteria (if there are any present in the given spring water) would not really be the healthiest option.

Anyway, like I said I have never IV'd and I don't have much knowledge about it so forgive me if this has been covered multiple times before, but I would still like to know if someone could explain it to me. Also another thing I wondered about is why don't you ever see people mixing salt into their shot making it into a saline like solution. I ask because I thought I heard before that injecting plain water can really hurt you.