Whats the hardest drug you can think of?

[unodelacosa]

pcp is forgiving, like ketamine. dxm is way more dirty.

Oh for sure. DXM is a hostile bastard. I think it’s interesting though that methorphan is a racemic drug, but check it out: dextromethorphan (DXM), the d-isomer, acts primarily as a dissociative; while levomethorphan, the l-isomer, acts primarily as an opioid analgesic. Optical isomers are oddly specific about what they do sometimes, aren’t they?

But see, DXM is difficult to enjoy and not recreationally sought after, much like that rat bastard fuckface, diphenhydramine, which believe you me, has the ability to become a powerful deliriant on which it is 0% fun to trip. And so it polices itself and they leave those two alone, over-the-counter. Because most people who go through the effort of downing an entire bottle of Robitussin or who gobble up 18 Dramamine discover: though powerful, these are not good drugs. And being that they’re 100% OTC and not too sought after, I would not classify these as “hard” per se, though from an inebriation standpoint, they can be heinously effective. Still, I think for a drug to make the list of “hard drugs” it needs a checkered past, scheduled status (or damn-near it), and perhaps the real possibility of compulsive re-dosing and dependency-building… on top of having profound effects… PCP tops that list, I think.

I think the route of administration (RoA) weighs in heavily here, too, in terms of social perception. When administered intravenously, diacetylmorphine (Heroin) is difficult to top in terms of coming across “hard”. Really, as soon as people start injecting a drug IV, it seems like it becomes much harder, from cocaine to meth, to Dilaudid and other opioids, even Ketamine. IM is right behind that, followed probably by smoking something from a piece of glass that requires a torch lighter of some sort. In the public consciousness, these things probably seem more worrisome than the actual drugs’ effects.

In the 70s and 80s I think insufflated, powdered, cocaine.hcl was seen as a hard drug with ties to organized crime in Central and South America. It could not be shown favorably or comically very much until circa 2000 when shows began to use drug dealers as new anti-hero protagonists. Consider: Breaking Bad, Weeds, The Wire, Orange Is the New Black – all of these feature drug dealers as protagonists. The audience is allowed to approve of dealing drugs, but it is still forbidden to show anything but dire consequences for attempting to use any of these drugs.

 

[izo]

i always wanted to try levorphanol, its desomorphine without the epoxide bridge. i think its available in poland in 4mg units. i used dxm often during my youger years, bought 100 grams from leather lars when nothing else was available. diphenhydramine is the only psychoactive antihistamine i tried, snorted some in 25mg doses a while back, that was ok. but if you take higher doses, which you need orally it gets yucky.

Consider: Breaking Bad, Weeds, The Wire, Orange Is the New Black

seen it all. blue meth, ok? when it comes to mainstream media reliable information is hard to find. the wire was good though, favorite series of obama.

In the 70s and 80s I think insufflated, powdered, cocaine.hcl was seen as a hard drug with ties to organized crime in Central and South America.

in europe when cocaine became available a gram costed around 200 deutsche mark which was 100eur. now its everywhere and you can get good coke for 50 euros a gram. but i dont buy from the black marked anymore, street dealers are so annoying, also was never that interested in cocaine.

 

[unodelacosa]

diphenhydramine is the only psychoactive antihistamine i tried, snorted some in 25mg doses a while back, that was ok. but if you take higher doses, which you need orally it gets yucky.

Oh I know about this all too well, don’t worry.

seen it all. blue meth, ok? when it comes to mainstream media reliable information is hard to find. the wire was good though, favorite series of obama.

So the writers took some poetic license in making Walter’s meth blue. It was useful throughout the series as a prop of sorts. Most of the remaining underground chemistry that is spoken about on the show is surprisingly realistic. I’m not sold on Walter not just synthesizing his own methylamine instead of stealing it, but eh, only a few other minor complaints… better than most shows anyway.

The Wire is excellent, though a bit depressing.

in europe when cocaine became available a gram costed around 200 deutsche mark which was 100eur. now its everywhere and you can get good coke for 50 euros a gram. but i dont buy from the black marked anymore, street dealers are so annoying, also was never that interested in cocaine.

Same here, but I was just remarking that it was once considered a hard drug in the western world social super-consciousness, if you will. Whereas today in 2021, I don’t think most people would classify powdered Cocaine as a hard drug, nor is the route of administration, insufflation, considered a sign of a hard drug any longer if it ever was in the first place.

 

[Jabberwocky]

So the writers took some poetic license in making Walter’s meth blue. It was useful throughout the series as a prop of sorts. Most of the remaining underground chemistry that is spoken about on the show is surprisingly realistic. I’m not sold on Walter not just synthesizing his own methylamine instead of stealing it, but eh, only a few other minor complaints… better than most shows anyway.

And then blue meth became a real world thing. It’s available on the DN markets from Australian based vendors and marketed as Mexican meth. I’ve not seen it in other countries though so it might be re-rocked stuff dyed blue here after it’s imported. By all accounts it’s nothing special but not the worst buzz around.

 

[izo]

btw ive seen amphetamine.hcl on the darknet, at last.

 

[tweakerguy]

And then blue meth became a real world thing. It’s available on the DN markets from Australian based vendors and marketed as Mexican meth. I’ve not seen it in other countries though so it might be re-rocked stuff dyed blue here after it’s imported. By all accounts it’s nothing special but not the worst buzz around.

Blue crystal had already been around for a long time before Breaking Bad came along.
It used to pop up in California pretty sporadically and I remember getting it a few times. Quality was always great but I remember someone at the time telling me the blue color meant it was "anhydrous" or something and not dye.
This was back in 2003-04.

 

[unodelacosa]

And then blue meth became a real world thing. It’s available on the DN markets from Australian based vendors and marketed as Mexican meth. I’ve not seen it in other countries though so it might be re-rocked stuff dyed blue here after it’s imported. By all accounts it’s nothing special but not the worst buzz around.

No you see, on the show Breaking Bad Walter's blue meth was the best, purest meth on the market. However, the very fact that it was blue tells us that it could not, in fact, have ben but so pure given the discoloration. This impurity leading to the color blue IRL would either come from someone deliberately adding blue food dye to their meth to stylize their product (whether or not paying homage to Breaking Bad), or it comes from a byproduct of either iodine from the Nagai route that forms HI acid from iodine and red phosphorus, or it comes as a discoloration from anhydrous ammonia and lithium being reacted and not properly cleaned afterward, the latter of these two options being much worse for your health.

Blue crystal had already been around for a long time before Breaking Bad came along.
It used to pop up in California pretty sporadically and I remember getting it a few times. Quality was always great but I remember someone at the time telling me the blue color meant it was "anhydrous" or something and not dye.
This was back in 2003-04.

Yeah that's what I was saying above. There are certain route-specific impurities that could lead to this discoloration, but this is the result of sloppy, untrained chemists putting in a greedy, half-ass effort of making meth from Sudafed…

btw ive seen amphetamine.hcl on the darknet, at last.

Are you certain it was the hydrochloride salt and not the sulfate? Amphetamine.hcl is very hygroscopic, drawing moisture from the atmosphere around it very rapidly. I'm talking like, leave a couple lines out on a plate and it's turned to yellow goop within 30 minutes, tops. Conversely, Amphetamine.H₂SO₄ is only slightly hygroscopic, and it's mostly sold as "speed paste" because the moisture lends itself nicely as a weight-adding cut for unscrupulous dealers.

 

[AutoTripper]

High % Salvia extracts are for brave hearted men too IMO. I’d sniff a 2 gram line of ketamine if it was practical without the nerves I’d feel handing my house and keys over to full on Salvia for a few minutes.

Can be outright incredible though.

Terrence McKenna was quite emphatic about the potency and power of Salvia extracts. He basically described it as being on perch with LSD, quntatively per dose weight I think, and he spoke about it with as much or a little more awe than he did with DMT, the one particular interview I heard.

 

[4meSM]

Hardest drug?
Not sure... Nutmeg is a pretty hard one. So hard it will break your teeth if you don't use a nutcracker or grind it into a powder first.

Serious answer: It depends on the context

 

[houseman5]

Heroin

 

[Pickledlemons]

dexedrine. those beads are a fucker to bust up.

 

[Just a little pinprick]

A good old speedball brought me to my knees

 

[Jabberwocky]

I agree alcohol is the most destructive...though freebasing coke is problematic in terms of the damage it causes to body, soul and life in general. The fact all h is cut with fent has kept me clean: I know I couldn't stay alive.

 

[deficiT]

Is it just me, or is more suited to drug culture? I'm gonna send it over there.

OD-----> DC

 

[jasperkent]

I remember the 1970's when cocaine was generally considered only slightly "harder" than marijuana. Unless you injected it, of course-- the public always freaks out over needles.
Then in the 1980's we all realized "oh shit this stuff is REALLY addictive" and there was freebase & the "crack epidemic"....

So yeah, cultural perception is everything.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I agree alcohol is certainly a hard drug, but difficult for me to call it the hardest mainly due to the fact that it's one of the least potent psychoactive chemicals known to man by weight/dose...

Most drugs are in micrograms, milligrams or maybe grams... alcohol is dosed in ounces lol

if you took 1g of pure ethanol you wouldn't even feel it (debatable but just go with me).

You're average shot of alcohol contains at LEAST 15-20+ grams of pure ethanol.

It's really weak drug/molecule pound for pound.

 

[guy1234]

I agree alcohol is certainly a hard drug, but difficult for me to call it the hardest mainly due to the fact that it's one of the least potent psychoactive chemicals known to man by weight/dose...

Most drugs are in micrograms, milligrams or maybe grams... alcohol is dosed in ounces lol

if you took 1g of pure ethanol you wouldn't even feel it (debatable but just go with me).

You're average shot of alcohol contains at LEAST 15-20+ grams of pure ethanol.

It's really weak drug/molecule pound for pound.

All relative and not at all relevant. LSD makes methamphetamine look like alcohol in potency comparison doesn't make LSD a "harder" drug

 

[Jabberwocky]

All relative and not at all relevant. LSD makes methamphetamine look like alcohol in potency comparison doesn't make LSD a "harder" drug

is it not though?

I guess not, question seems subjective

if you gave me 1 LSD I would be happy
if you gave me 1 beer I would punch you in the face

how is that not relative to the hardness of a drug?

How people use such drugs and the doses definitely need to be factored in, in my opinion.

I use alcohol as a crutch to not relapse on heroin/meth all that. It's a less hard drug to me, and 1 unit of alcohol is extremely weak compared to 1 unit of any other drug, therefor it is a weaker drug by HOW PEOPLE USE IT. (in my mind, because the typical person has 2-3 drinks then stops... the typical meth user takes HUNDREDS of doses...)

everyone has their own definition of what "hard drugs" are, anyways

shrug

1 unit of alcohol will make you significantly LESS high than 1 unit of almost any other drug. It's less potent and less hard. Not the hardest drug.

 

[plumbus-nine]

For me it's probably alcohol, as long as you only count pharmacologically active substances and not e.g. huffing paint thinner.

Hard as in potency, then carfentanyl.

 

[guy1234]

is it not though?

I guess not, question seems subjective

if you gave me 1 LSD I would be happy
if you gave me 1 beer I would punch you in the face

how is that not relative to the hardness of a drug?

How people use such drugs and the doses definitely need to be factored in, in my opinion.

I use alcohol as a crutch to not relapse on heroin/meth all that. It's a less hard drug to me, and 1 unit of alcohol is extremely weak compared to 1 unit of any other drug, therefor it is a weaker drug by HOW PEOPLE USE IT. (in my mind, because the typical person has 2-3 drinks then stops... the typical meth user takes HUNDREDS of doses...)

everyone has their own definition of what "hard drugs" are, anyways

shrug

1 unit of alcohol will make you significantly LESS high than 1 unit of almost any other drug. It's less potent and less hard. Not the hardest drug.

Again this is the point, it is all down to personal definition, "hard" not actually being a metric of any kind

For instance I have IVed heroin on several occasions many years ago but it was never "hard" to me because I never became addicted to it. It was just a random very pleasant high

I have been variously seriously addicted to ketamine, mephedrone, ethylphenidate, amphetamine sulphate, alcohol and am currently trying hard to bring a codeine habit under control. I have experienced much "harder" and more life disrupting/destroying effects from each of these. But nobody in their right mind would say that codeine is a harder drug than heroin

Regarding LSD, it could be considered hard to those who have dramatically negative experiences on it which can affect them long term. In this sense it is "hard" especially considering this can happen on virtually any dose to the inexperienced or poorly prepared. However I can guarantee that meth, heroin, crack etc have ruined and ended many many orders of magnitude more lives. I have taken LSD likely upwards of 100 times ranging from low to excessive doses and despite some difficult experiences have never had any long term negative effects, the opposite really. Beer alone has been more detrimental to my mental and physical health and my life in general

So again the question is meaningless if someone is looking to create a "standard", it is really only relevant asking what the hardest drug is for each individual. For some it'll be weed, for some it'll be hydromorphone, for some it'll be alcohol, for some psylocybin may have proven the most hard-core and altering force in their life...