This thread brought back a memory or two.
My first encounter with drugs was with Mandrax - at school. I didn't actually take them, but, as they were being given out I secured a free hand full (don't know why, I never really intended on taking them)
That was the day several of my mates - some normally very straight students, and a couple of meatheads- all experienced a large slice of temporary insanity
It was high school 1974, and the person who was most expected to, was the one who turned up with them; a record sleave (cover) zip bap about half full. The guy- a mate - was handing them out for free, saying about 3 were the go.
Despite some emergency ringing out across the PA while we were in class, I didn't think about the pill-heads until our teacher was called away and a chick poked her head in the door to say some people on drugs had gone nuts. I freaked and ducked out to get rid of what I'd been given.
We heard the stories at little lunch; couple of guys had been taken away and another big dude (1st 15 rugby player) smashed up the art room and assaulted the lady teacher. At lunch, lots of people were obviously very out of it.
After lunch most of the junior school were at the swimming baths for that ol' compulsory activity designed to find the fastest swimmer. Of course, the same guy won as he did every year, so it was pretty boring. By this stage my mate with the pills was pretty rubber legged and free of all concern. But the day was catching up on him fast. A bunch of teachers entered the baths area and scanned the grounds before pointing in our direction. The Deputy Head pulled him up from under a tree and made him empty his pockets. He proceeded to extract the largest bag from a small trouser pocket - in front of all the kids!! The WOO's almost came simultaneously.
Ol' rubber legs couldn't stand up without falling and was escorted off the school grounds forever....
He was actually a really smart - misunderstood maybe - but smart kid. I believe he could have gone places. But he seemed to decide there was no place for him in his world of the time and turned to dealing. I guess he saw his future as being rather limited after getting kicked out of school. So he sold stolen prescription drugs until moving onto smack around the time we graduated. He eventually died alone from a heroin overdose.
Mandrax huh? For me, the first memories are of a day of chaos at school, and the beginning of the end for a friend. I was probably one of only a few friends the guy had- he never made many real friends - people gave him shit because he was into anything and everything unusual. But I learned more factual stuff about drugs and the broader side of life from him than from anyone else at that time. RIP Phillip
To be fair, I did know a girl who when she first tried E in 1989 said the feeling reminded her of how happy she felt while on Quaaludes. And a few guys I know used to snow cone mandrax and don't seem to have had any lasting problems. But all other stories I have are bad. If there's a large quantity of these old pills, please be careful with what you do with them.