Hey,
Anyone know what sedative Dexter (you know, the ‘good guy’ serial killer) supposedly uses? Is there a real sedative that works that fast? It seems like he injects people and they instantly fall unconscious… I figure if something like that really existed, we might hear of a lot more very unpleasant crimes being committed.
Thanks,
thwartme
Dexter’s Wiki page says it’s etorphine hydrochloride or M99. Wiki says it’s an opioid that can knock out elephants, and it’s only approved for veterinary use.
There are lots of fast-acting sedatives- they are just difficult to obtain.
I knew an MD once who would inject himself with pentothal in order to fall asleep. But he had to time it right, because he’d shoot up in the garage then walk/run to bed. At least a few times, he’d miss the dose and pass out half in and half out of the garage.
QtM knew him, I think. maybe he’ll verify or correct the pentothal ID…
Still, on Dexter they always shows the victim getting stuck and losing consciousness pretty much immediately, without even being able to get a word in edge-wise. I think even the fastest sedatives still take more time than that – if only to make it to your heart and up to your brain.
friedo, that fits with the effects of M99:
“M99 (etorphine hydrochloride) was synthesised by Bentley & Hardy (1963) and is chemically related to morphine. When given subcutaneously, M99 is 1,000 to 80,000 times more potent than morphine as an analgesic. Its use for immobilising game animals results largely from its ability to cause catatonia at very low dose levels (for example, the total dose for a rhino may be as low as 5 mg).”
I wonder if Dex gives his victims something else to wake them up after he’s taken them to the kill room.
Oh, and one website says that anyone using the drug is required to have an antidote ready to go, in case someone is accidentally scratched by the needle or if it gets on their skin. It sounds like very fast-acting powerful stuff.
Yeah, that’s sort of why I was asking. I feel the writers/directors are taking a little artistic license with how fast the sedative works, I was just wondering how much artistic license.
But, wow. Elephant tranquilizers. Yeah, that’d probably work. You know, I actually know a couple people who work at a zoo … I’ll try to remember not to annoy them…
thwartme
The effects, sure, but what about the timing? How quickly does the rhino go down after getting stuck with 5mg?
It seems like they always try to set the scene up so that it looks like he’s injecting directly into a carotid artery.
Looking at this, it’s a target rich environment. (Why are there decent no anatomical drawings of this that aren’t side views :mad:.)
CMC +fnord!
Have a look online for a video of Nadezhda Tylik… she was the mother of one of the victims of the Russian submarine (Kursk) which sank with all hands.
She was arguing with local officials, and film cameras showed a Russian doctor (or FSB Agent…) injecting her with a sedative. It instantly made her unable to speak, and then made her collapse.
It’s quite a chilling video if you can find it.
Not sure about a rhino, but a human will go down as soon as it hits the bloodstream.
There was an episode in the first season explaining that Dexter forged credentials as a dentist (I think? Maybe a vet?) in order to get the sedative.
Do you mean “Doctor, Alcoholic, Addict” from the Big Book, or did you know someone else in real life who did this?
I knew Paul, the guy who wrote that, casually.
I have a buddy who works for a hospital and according to him, they do have drugs which they can inject into you and put you out in a couple of seconds. These tend to get used in the ER, when you’ve got patients who’re less than cooperative for a variety of reasons.
The pharma companies and the doctors tend to be very quiet about discussing these things.
I just watched that episode. I was amused (but a bit disappointed) that his alias was “Patrick Bateman, M.D.” Bateman is the serial killer in American Psycho.
I like to think that Dexter is smart enough that he wouldn’t use a fictional serial killer to cover his tracks, but I guess the writers couldn’t help making a little homage.
Yeah, he and Max were pretty fucking .
Missed this the first time I read this thread, but he could do that and have it still be realistic.
Naloxone (brand name: Narcan) is an opiod receptor competetive antagonist that is strong enough to bring someone from the most blissful heroin high of their life (or an overdose) to screaming in agony from opiate withdrawal (if used on an addict) in the space of two minutes.
For real, I mean the damn heart hasn’t even had time to beat once. But hey, it’s TV and that’s how it goes in Hollywoodland…
Dexter must use an extremely powerful sedative called Etorphine to knock out his victims in such seconds of time… He also uses a chemical to counter that… its a chemical that is capable of reversing the effects of the etorphine… this reversal substance is in a very tiny sachel and sniffed or placed at the nose of the unconscious victim and when inhaled it reverses the effects almost instantly… Dexter also uses it in an attempt to stay awake in the first episode in season 4 when he kidnaps a dude and takes him to an abandoned boxing gym…
The second post mentioned Etorphin and the second to last post gave a name of a drug used to bring people to consciousness.
