Tchort
Bluelight Crew
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2008
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The information about different drug combinations generally is limited to slang terms and the actual combination; possibly pharmacologic information, but that's usually it. Very little information is together on how, why and where drug combinations are developed. Here's my amateur attempt at describing the origins of T's And Blues- Pentazocine and Tripellenamine.
Pentazocine is a partial-agonist synthetic opioid of the Benzomorphan family. It was originally created in 1958, and began to be used in medical practice around the world in 1967. Brand names include Talwin and Talacen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentazocine
Tripellenamine is a first generation Ethylenediamine-class Anti-Histamine. It has been replaced by newer classes of Histamine antagonists, but was one of the first to be created and used medicinally (created in 1943). Brand names include Pyribenzamine (PBZ) and Pelamine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyribenzamine
The Intravenous combination of Pentazocine + Tripellenamine was a sort of fad among certain segments of the Heroin using population of the US from the 1970's to 1980's. It was said to be used by Heroin addicts in place of Heroin when it either wasn't available to the user, or they couldn't afford it.
The combinations main slang name is T's And Blues. T for the first letter of the common brand name for Pentazocine, Talwin, and Blues for the color of the Tripellenamine tablets.
Other variations of this slang term and other slang terms for this combination include:
T's and B's, Tease and Pies, Teddies and Bettys, Tops and Bottoms, Tricycles and Bicycles.
http://parentingteens.about.com/cs/herpes/l/blsldicher.htm
To get to the origins of T's & Blues, you first have to discover an earlier drug combination: Blue Velvet (IV injection of Paregoric & Tripellenamine)
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/bulletin/bulletin_1966-01-01_3_page004.html#s050
The link above is excellent, in that it outlines the narcotics situation in the US with regards to Paregoric following the Harrison Narcotics And Tax Act of 1914 which ended Over The Counter sale of Opiates, Opioids, Cocaine, Cannabis. However, Paregoric (Camphorated Tincture Of Opium, containing 16mg powdered Opium per 4ml; 1.6mg Morphine per 4ml) was given "exempt" status in a number of states, and in these states, it could be purchased by asking the Pharmacist and signing a log (an individual could not buy more than 2 ounces of Paregoric from a pharmacy in a 48 hour period).
Michigan was one such state where Paregoric was an exempt narcotic, available OTC. As the article states, Detroit, Michigan is very close to Windsor, Canada. Even today Canada sells anti-Histamines OTC that are Prescription-Only in the US (such as Orphenadrine and Promethazine).
So from, at the latest, the 1940's there developed a fad among a segment of the Heroin addict population of the US, in certain states (but specifically Detroit, MI) to inject Paregoric when Heroin was unavailable or the user couldn't afford it.
The Anti-Histamines were a new class of drugs in the early 1940's. They were revolutionary; as up until then, Amphetamines and Opioids were typically used to treat hay fever, allergies, etc.
Though there is an interesting aspect to the Anti-Histamines as it relates to Heroin addicts.
William S. Burroughs describes in his first novel Junky, in detail, the use of Anti-Histamines to 'cure' Heroin addiction. Junky was written about the life of Burroughs circa 1944-1950. At one point Burroughs is admitted to a Sanitarium for Heroin addiction, where he arranges to get a shot of Meperidine (Demerol). After a couple days of reduced dosage Demerol injections, his doctor gives him something else: an injection of a first-generation Anti-Histamine, Thephorin. He describes the effect it has on his withdrawals and the Morphine-like feeling following the injection. He goes on to write that at this time, the Anti-Histamines were considered a promising new way to cure Heroin addiction (due to the Histamine-overload during acute withdrawal syndrome).
Knowledge of the effects of Anti-Histamines, specifically as it relates to Heroin addiction, may have spread to Heroin addicts in the Detroit, Michigan area. As the early Anti-Histamines were prescription-only in the US, addicts would have to travel to Windsor, Canada, where they were freely available without a prescription OTC.
While in a period of deprivation, my guess is that an individual Heroin addict attempted to try the Anti-Histamines for his withdrawal sickness, along with his usual injection of treated Paregoric. The resulting effect of the simultaneous injection of Paregoric & Tripellenamine being superior to a Paregoric-only injection, the user spread by word of mouth news of the combination to other local addicts, and so the trend manifested itself. It is likely that multiple individuals acting without communication with the others experimented on their own, and independantly discovered the combination and its effects.
This combination, known as Blue Velvet remained popular, especially in the Detroit, MI area until the mid-1960s when Paregoric exemptions were withdrawn nationwide.
In the late 1960's, Pentazocine came on the market. Like other new synthetic opioids, Pentazocine was treated as a non-addictive, or less addictive opioid than Morphine, Heroin, Meperidine, Methadone, etc. (Similar treatment was given to Propoxyphene, Tramadol, etc).
Because of this, it was a popular drug for doctors to prescribe for routine pain. Even into the 1980's, Tripellenamine was still a fairly common prescription Anti-Histamine prescribed to people complaining of allergies, hay fever, etc.
This combination of easy availability, under developedunderstanding of opioids and addiction/abuse liability, and most importantly the existing history of the Blue Velvet combination among Heroin addict lore led to the development of the T's & Blues combination.
By the mid 1970's, news reports sensationalizing the combination made it even more popular. It was found that poor Heroin addicts were using Medicaid to get free prescriptions of Pentazocine and Tripellenamine (sometimes in the same visit) to inject at their leisure. This realization led to a decline in prescribing these two drugs. A number of deaths and horrible health consequences from injection of Pentazocine + Tripellenamine eventually lead to the manufacturer of Talwin to introduce the first Opioid + Antagonist combination pill to dissuade people from injecting them: Talwin NX- Pentazocine & Naloxone.
By the early 1980's, newer generation Anti-Histamines were being used in place of Tripellenamine, and Talwin-NX had all but replaced plain Talwin. These events ended the fad that was T's & Blues.
Pentazocine is a partial-agonist synthetic opioid of the Benzomorphan family. It was originally created in 1958, and began to be used in medical practice around the world in 1967. Brand names include Talwin and Talacen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentazocine
Tripellenamine is a first generation Ethylenediamine-class Anti-Histamine. It has been replaced by newer classes of Histamine antagonists, but was one of the first to be created and used medicinally (created in 1943). Brand names include Pyribenzamine (PBZ) and Pelamine.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyribenzamine
The Intravenous combination of Pentazocine + Tripellenamine was a sort of fad among certain segments of the Heroin using population of the US from the 1970's to 1980's. It was said to be used by Heroin addicts in place of Heroin when it either wasn't available to the user, or they couldn't afford it.
The combinations main slang name is T's And Blues. T for the first letter of the common brand name for Pentazocine, Talwin, and Blues for the color of the Tripellenamine tablets.
Other variations of this slang term and other slang terms for this combination include:
T's and B's, Tease and Pies, Teddies and Bettys, Tops and Bottoms, Tricycles and Bicycles.
http://parentingteens.about.com/cs/herpes/l/blsldicher.htm
To get to the origins of T's & Blues, you first have to discover an earlier drug combination: Blue Velvet (IV injection of Paregoric & Tripellenamine)
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/bulletin/bulletin_1966-01-01_3_page004.html#s050
The link above is excellent, in that it outlines the narcotics situation in the US with regards to Paregoric following the Harrison Narcotics And Tax Act of 1914 which ended Over The Counter sale of Opiates, Opioids, Cocaine, Cannabis. However, Paregoric (Camphorated Tincture Of Opium, containing 16mg powdered Opium per 4ml; 1.6mg Morphine per 4ml) was given "exempt" status in a number of states, and in these states, it could be purchased by asking the Pharmacist and signing a log (an individual could not buy more than 2 ounces of Paregoric from a pharmacy in a 48 hour period).
Michigan was one such state where Paregoric was an exempt narcotic, available OTC. As the article states, Detroit, Michigan is very close to Windsor, Canada. Even today Canada sells anti-Histamines OTC that are Prescription-Only in the US (such as Orphenadrine and Promethazine).
So from, at the latest, the 1940's there developed a fad among a segment of the Heroin addict population of the US, in certain states (but specifically Detroit, MI) to inject Paregoric when Heroin was unavailable or the user couldn't afford it.
The Anti-Histamines were a new class of drugs in the early 1940's. They were revolutionary; as up until then, Amphetamines and Opioids were typically used to treat hay fever, allergies, etc.
Though there is an interesting aspect to the Anti-Histamines as it relates to Heroin addicts.
William S. Burroughs describes in his first novel Junky, in detail, the use of Anti-Histamines to 'cure' Heroin addiction. Junky was written about the life of Burroughs circa 1944-1950. At one point Burroughs is admitted to a Sanitarium for Heroin addiction, where he arranges to get a shot of Meperidine (Demerol). After a couple days of reduced dosage Demerol injections, his doctor gives him something else: an injection of a first-generation Anti-Histamine, Thephorin. He describes the effect it has on his withdrawals and the Morphine-like feeling following the injection. He goes on to write that at this time, the Anti-Histamines were considered a promising new way to cure Heroin addiction (due to the Histamine-overload during acute withdrawal syndrome).
Knowledge of the effects of Anti-Histamines, specifically as it relates to Heroin addiction, may have spread to Heroin addicts in the Detroit, Michigan area. As the early Anti-Histamines were prescription-only in the US, addicts would have to travel to Windsor, Canada, where they were freely available without a prescription OTC.
While in a period of deprivation, my guess is that an individual Heroin addict attempted to try the Anti-Histamines for his withdrawal sickness, along with his usual injection of treated Paregoric. The resulting effect of the simultaneous injection of Paregoric & Tripellenamine being superior to a Paregoric-only injection, the user spread by word of mouth news of the combination to other local addicts, and so the trend manifested itself. It is likely that multiple individuals acting without communication with the others experimented on their own, and independantly discovered the combination and its effects.
This combination, known as Blue Velvet remained popular, especially in the Detroit, MI area until the mid-1960s when Paregoric exemptions were withdrawn nationwide.
In the late 1960's, Pentazocine came on the market. Like other new synthetic opioids, Pentazocine was treated as a non-addictive, or less addictive opioid than Morphine, Heroin, Meperidine, Methadone, etc. (Similar treatment was given to Propoxyphene, Tramadol, etc).
Because of this, it was a popular drug for doctors to prescribe for routine pain. Even into the 1980's, Tripellenamine was still a fairly common prescription Anti-Histamine prescribed to people complaining of allergies, hay fever, etc.
This combination of easy availability, under developedunderstanding of opioids and addiction/abuse liability, and most importantly the existing history of the Blue Velvet combination among Heroin addict lore led to the development of the T's & Blues combination.
By the mid 1970's, news reports sensationalizing the combination made it even more popular. It was found that poor Heroin addicts were using Medicaid to get free prescriptions of Pentazocine and Tripellenamine (sometimes in the same visit) to inject at their leisure. This realization led to a decline in prescribing these two drugs. A number of deaths and horrible health consequences from injection of Pentazocine + Tripellenamine eventually lead to the manufacturer of Talwin to introduce the first Opioid + Antagonist combination pill to dissuade people from injecting them: Talwin NX- Pentazocine & Naloxone.
By the early 1980's, newer generation Anti-Histamines were being used in place of Tripellenamine, and Talwin-NX had all but replaced plain Talwin. These events ended the fad that was T's & Blues.
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