Storing injectible solns (safety question)

[Jamshyd]

Assuming one has lab-grade powder, and one dissolves it in an approriate solvent (still using micron filter just in case, despite powder being pure), and then one puts said solution in a sterile vial for long-term storage (preferably at room-temperature) so that occasional doses can be simply drawn out with a needle and readily-injected.

How safe is such practice as a whole, in your opinion?

I guess the main concern would be the vials being contaminated with germs over-time. What kind of safe (easy to obtain!) additives can one add to the solution to make it sterile (assuming the main solvent isn't antiseptic on its own)? I assume ethanol is out of question due to its harshness when injected. Another important thing is that the additives themselves would not degrade intro something toxic if left in soln for a long time. Any other concerns I may have missed?

I am actually asking this for harm reduction. It is just an idea to prevent the hassle of having to prepare shots every time one wants to do so (wich, thankfully in my case, is not very often these days). If you guys discourage such practice, I will actually heed your advice .

I was just dead-curious about it.

 

[MagicJigPipe]

If you call around a little bit to some compounding pharmacies you can buy some USP (or better) sodium benzoate and citric acid. Use no more than .1% sodium benzoate by weight and 1% citric acid. This is used all the time in professional injectable formulations. I'm not sure but I believe the same amount of benzyl alcohol can be used (.1% by weight).

These substances are semi readily available and you should have no problem finding them. Compounding grades are expensive but that's the only grade I would use if I was going to do IV or IM injections. Price shouldn't be a problem in this case since it takes so little. The only problem I've had is with benzyl alcohol. One time the pharmacist said he would have to "call the state board" to make sure it can't be used for "anything illegal". Technically, it can, but he still gave it the okay. It was incredibly expensive.

Remember, these formulations are only bacteriostatic, meaning they will only not support the growth of bacteria and will not kill existing bacteria. Maybe a small amount of ethanol (in addition to NaBenzoate/Citric acid/Benzyl alcohol) would do the trick?

 

[myfavoriteaccident]

not sure about the benzyl alcohol, but sodium benzoate is suppose to be used as a nasty tasting chemical that would make it taste like shit from what i know of additives.

Wow yeah benzyl alcohol can be used to make benzaldehyde, and that can be made into Phenyl-2-propanone which can be made into methamphetamine, im surprised you got it.

 

[fastandbulbous]

Just store it in a sealable bottle & let it sit in freshly boiled water for 5 mins before drawing up a diose - that's my method & it's very effective

 

[CretiNation]

I do this all the time (at work and home!) and, even with a 0.22 micron filter, I would only use a bacteriostatic solvent (preferably saline) and mind the expiration date on the bottle. 9mg/ml benzyl alcohol is added to the h2o and saline I use, I dunno how easily available that is though...

oh yeah and never open the vial, always wipe the top with a sterile cleanser (IPA) before use and always use clean needles!

 

[LivingOnValium]

I usually dissolve the substance in steril H2O and draw the solution into a syringe so there's a single dose of the substance in each of the syringes.

Then i just stick the syringes in the freezer. When frozen i cap each one of them so no unneeded impurities find their way in.

When i've decided to enjoy the substance I just defrost it. Holding the syringe under warm/hot tap water will guarantee it takes no time to be liquified again if you're short of patience.

 

[jykkE]

I would also consider what substance you are using, as some do degrade over time. Heroin does.

 

[MattPsy]

What sort of rate do the esters on diacetylmorphine (heroin) hydrolyze at, in a neutral or slightly below pH 7 solution? I wouldn't expect it to be overly fast...

 

[fastandbulbous]

^ Very quickly; with the NHS they supply diamorphine amps as a freeze dried powder and recomend discarding after 2 hours of being made up into a solution

 

[MattPsy]

Oh... I eat my hat.
That's rather inconvenient.

 

[fastandbulbous]

The NHS has plenty more where that came from - if you look at the price of it in mims or the BNF, most users would start crying...

 

[CretiNation]

^ Very quickly; with the NHS they supply diamorphine amps as a freeze dried powder and recomend discarding after 2 hours of being made up into a solution

Is that the fb?? When I make hcl solutions I dilute with saline and the expiration date of the drug is the same as the date on the saline bottle (usually ~1.5 years from order date).

 

[fastandbulbous]

^ That's what they used to recommend. The freeze dried amps contain a shiney white powder that's made up with 0.9% saline or sterile water. Diamorphine hydrolyses in a moist atmoshere and is propably responsible for the slight vinegary smell of some street heroin (pretty certain it's not acetic anhydride from the synth as it's washed to remove that after synth - not many people want to smoke, snort or inject something that causes the pain acetic acid does in high enough concentration!)