24 - Season 3, Episode 1, 1:00PM - 2:00PM (SPOILERS)

[Larry_Mudd]

Intravenous cocaine use is very common, IUHomer. Cite for ya.

In order to describe the patterns of use in the open drug scene in Hamburg, a study was carried out among 616 drug users in the drug scene and in or in the vicinity of low-threshold institutions close to the drug scene in summer 2000. […] 57% used cocaine intravenously…

Or, if you prefer…

[IUHomer]

Larry,

   OK, you are sighting a study in Hungary and a fictional character over 100 years old.  I guess I should have been more specific and stated in the United States, or more specifically LA, in this day and age (or 3 years after whenever the last "day" was....I assume it is somewhat present day), I was not under the impression cocaine was often injected, though I'll admit I am sure it could be.  Again, though, I don't think its that important but if I were a betting man, I'd say its heroin rather than cocaine.  Doesn't greatly influence the course or outcome of the show, though, whichever it is.

[IUHomer]

I meant Germany, not Hungary.

[Larry_Mudd]

The Sherlock ref was for a giggle. IV cocaine use is common anywhere cocaine is, though. From the U.S. DOJ:

Powder cocaine is usually abused by snorting (intranasal administration) or by dissolving in water and injecting into a vein (intravenous administration).
[…]
The typical intravenous cocaine user injects between 7.2 and 9.6 grams of cocaine per week.

Heavy users often switch to IV use because of its more efficient delivery system.

[Monstre]

from Sol Grundy
I thought it was painfully obvious this is the major plotline this season. He was attacked with a weaponized virus, there was a body discovered infected with a weaponized virus, and the first day he’s back in LA, an attack is announced. These aren’t two separate stories here. What am I missing?

Like lurkernomore, I also didn’t see any solid connection between the virus and the poison attempt on Palmer. The latter was fast-acting (within minutes), putting him to the ground. Plus, he was obviously cured – he’s still alive. I get the impression from the discussion so far on this virus that this is not something they have a known cure for. I could be wrong, but evidence so far seems to point to the fact that this is some experimental super-virus strain, and they would not be able to “cure” its victims.

On the drug… maybe Jack’s now addicted to “beroglide”. Ever since last season when Torture Guy shot him up with it, he just loves it, can’t get enough.

[Pablito]

So no one else thinks Jack might be taking Methadone? I have no idea whether it’s ‘brown’, but I do know it can be injected and believe that it’s still the drug of choice for treating Herion addiction. Makes sense to me.

[Algernon]

I was going to ask “But if it’s methadone, why would Jack be so anguished about injecting?”

Then I did a little research. Methadone is as addicting as heroin.

Regarding its effect on Jack and its appearance; from here.

Heroin wears off after a couple of hours, thus requiring several hits each day. Methadone, on the other hand, lasts anywhere between 24 and 72 hours, depending on the dose that you take and on your individual metabolism. … Methadone has several different apperarances: Liquid mixture, orange, yellow, green or clear;

Rather than brownish it could have been orangish. While I assumed heroin, methadone has some plausibility with me. I too thought you had to heat heroin to get it into a liquid state, but from here.

For injection, heroin is first dissolved in water.

There was an earlier cite here saying that it was heroin. Could go either way I suppose.

[dalovindj]

I believe methodone is also brown. Searching the web a bit (I did a google search on “identify drugs”), I find that methamphetamines can sometimes be tan. So I’m betting that the syringe contained heroin, will accept that it may well be methadone, and wish it was a methamphetamine but doubt it. Place your bets. Don’t vote for crack - vote for smack!

DaLovin’ Dj