# Do People Still Do Old Drugs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 8, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456 "2009-12-08T15:23:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Joe\_Meager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Joe_Meager)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/21 "2009-12-09T21:37:35Z")
In Washington, DC cigarettes dipped in PCP are available from street pushers (so I’ve been told, but can not personally confirm). They’re called “dippers”. Apparently part of the attraction is that they can be smoked openly and it just looks like a regular cigarette being smoked. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/22 "2009-12-09T21:53:35Z")
> [@Astroboy14](#): > > Apparently there isn’t a lot of acid floating around these days… It’s extremely prevalent in California and Oregon. I can’t go to a concert w/o having to turn it down. ---
**Author:** ![kitemaker\_chuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a88e4f/32.png) [@kitemaker\_chuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitemaker_chuck)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/23 "2009-12-09T22:04:15Z")
I remember reading somewhere that people used to crush-up morning glory seeds and use them as a recreational drug of sorts. ---
**Author:** ![Astroboy14](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@Astroboy14](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astroboy14)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/24 "2009-12-09T23:11:37Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > It’s extremely prevalent in California and Oregon. I can’t go to a concert w/o having to turn it down. Really? I usually get to one or two concerts a year, and it’s been a long time since I heard anyone selling doses… maybe I just no longer look like someone who would be interested! ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/25 "2009-12-09T23:20:36Z")
> [@Kenyth](#): > > I think opiates are on the downslide. Even the most uneducated slob knows that particular family of drugs is very dangerous. They produce strong addictions quickly, develop tolerance just as quickly, and are easy to overdose on. The side effects are pretty nasty as well. I’m guessing the drugs are also harder and more expensive to get. Hell, when even [Lemmy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmy#Drugs) tells you that you shouldn’t do heroin, you’re sort of obliged to think twice 😃 ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/26 "2009-12-09T23:46:42Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > Don’t think so. It was intended more as a reminder that heroin isn’t something new. Didn’t Bayer get the trademark on heroin stripped from them as part of the Treaty of Versailles? ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/27 "2009-12-09T23:51:54Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > It’s extremely prevalent in California and Oregon. I can’t go to a concert w/o having to turn it down. > [@elmwood](#): > > I always thought of hash as a “European” drug; maybe popular in someplace like Oslo or Paris, but not really in North America. > > Wasn’t heroin an “old drug” before its revival of sorts in the mid-to-late 1990s? Heroin seemed to be associated with the junkies of the 1960s and 1970s, and then it disappeared for a while, becoming another one of those “European” drugs you’d see far more frequently on the streets of Geneva than Kansas City. > > Don’t hear much about LSD anymore, either. I know of LSD around here in Washington, and I know that the source for it is Oregon. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/28 "2009-12-10T00:22:58Z")
> [@Astroboy14](#): > > Really? I usually get to one or two concerts a year, and it’s been a long time since I heard anyone selling doses… maybe I just no longer look like someone who would be interested! > [@appleciders](#): > > I know of LSD around here in Washington, and I know that the source for it is Oregon. Specifically Northern California and Oregon. I don’t get to San Diego much. ---
**Author:** ![bintang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8edcca/32.png) [@bintang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bintang)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/29 "2009-12-10T00:23:57Z")
> [@kitemaker\_chuck](#): > > I remember reading somewhere that people used to crush-up morning glory seeds and use them as a recreational drug of sorts. It works! My buddy at USC filled me in on that one. Blender and some stuff to keep your stomach from throwing up (supposedly the seed companies put chemicals on them to make you yak them out). We tripped pretty nicely. Had a 3 inch tall black guy in a suit singing upbeat love songs to me. Very visual, very cheap, very easy to do. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/30 "2009-12-10T00:42:40Z")
> [@Kenyth](#): > > I think opiates are on the downslide. Even the most uneducated slob knows that particular family of drugs is very dangerous. They produce strong addictions quickly, develop tolerance just as quickly, and are easy to overdose on. The side effects are pretty nasty as well. I’m guessing the drugs are also harder and more expensive to get. I think it’s because opiate/opioid use has mostly moved to prescription drug abuse. You don’t go out on the street to buy opium, heroin or morphine as much, but you can get your doctor to prescribe all kinds of fun opioids. [This list](http://www.pharmer.org/forum/discussion-prescription-and-otc-meds/opioid-comparison) has both oxycodone (Oxycontin) and hydrocodone (Vicodin). We know there’s a huge market for abuse of both. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/31 "2009-12-10T01:02:27Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Didn’t Bayer get the trademark on heroin stripped from them as part of the Treaty of Versailles? Like almost everything about heroin, this is at best a partial truth. It helps to start with aspirin, about which the same thing is said. But in fact the U.S. government stripped the trademark protection from Bayer before the war ended and sold it to Sterling Drugs. This and a nickel got them a cup of coffee. Aspirin was already widely used as a generic term, with dozens of competitors, and it didn’t help that Bayer’s patent had run out in 1917. In 1921 Sterling lost a landmark case in the Supreme Court ruling that aspirin was a generic and unprotectable term. Bayer had for a long time combatted that by stamping the name Bayer into the pill (as I believe it still does) making the pill its own advertising and a irrevocable analog of trademark. Heroin’s career went along the same lines, although I’m having trouble finding exact dates. The Harrison Act of 1914 (which didn’t go into effect into 1915) effectively drove heroin out of the markets and converted it to a street drug for junkies only. (I believe Germany also made it illegal around the same time.) As a result, its name became genericized, since junkies looking for something to shoot up didn’t care about brand names. The taking at Versailles was a technical issue, affirming something that had been effectively true for years. Th. Metzger’s [The Birth of Heroin and the Demonization of the Dope Fiend](http://www.amazon.com/Birth-Heroin-Demonization-Dope-Fiend/dp/1559501774/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260406621&sr=1-1), is, as the title implies, good information about the early legal history of heroin, but he doesn’t go into trademark issues. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/32 "2009-12-10T06:52:48Z")
Yeah people still do LSD and smoke opium in America. Although apparently they are harder to get than some other drugs. Lots of people use hash in the US, but regular cannabis is much more common. There doesn’t seem, at least to me, to be a huge demand for PCP. I’ve known people who’ve claimed to have used it, but I’ve never seen anyone use it and I’ve never heard anyone say “Let’s go get some PCP,” or “Damn I wish I had some PCP.” I strongly recommend this video about PCP [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah7ApyeyneY) No nudity violence or cursing, but they do say PCP alot, so this one might not be totally worksafe ---
**Author:** ![pendgwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3da27b/32.png) [@pendgwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pendgwen)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/33 "2009-12-10T17:46:24Z")
People still do PCP. Had one in ED last night. But it’s certainly not common. He’s the only PCP case I’ve seen in the last 5 months but I’ve seen countless heroin users. ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/34 "2009-12-10T17:51:05Z")
Do old people still do drugs? ---
**Author:** ![Kenyth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kenyth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenyth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/35 "2009-12-12T14:07:27Z")
> [@thirdname](#): > > Do old people still do drugs? Not if they’re smart. Drugs tend to be a youthful indiscretion. Mostly because older people see what they cause and where they lead. ---
**Author:** ![Kenyth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kenyth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenyth)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/36 "2009-12-12T14:11:52Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > I think it’s because opiate/opioid use has mostly moved to prescription drug abuse. You don’t go out on the street to buy opium, heroin or morphine as much, but you can get your doctor to prescribe all kinds of fun opioids. [This list](http://www.pharmer.org/forum/discussion-prescription-and-otc-meds/opioid-comparison) has both oxycodone (Oxycontin) and hydrocodone (Vicodin). We know there’s a huge market for abuse of both. With my recent kidney stone (ouch!), I got prescriptions for these drugs. They’re great if you’re in pain and want to get some sleep, but the side effects when you take them for a couple days are rough. The nausea and constipation are almost as bad as the pain. I see now why the classic heroin junkie is portrayed as very skinny. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/37 "2009-12-12T16:06:44Z")
I don’t know anyone who has done PCP. Of my friends who discuss their use of illicit substances, there doesn’t seem to be any desire to try it. I think its ill effects are exaggerated, but no one wants to be that naked guy on Cops. I have no idea what the supply is like. It’s ridiculously easy to make. The precursors aren’t stuff you buy at the pharmacy, but I definitely had them all at my old lab bench without any extra paperwork. Hmm, wikipedia says, “Piperidine is listed as a Table II precursor under the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances due to its use (peaking in the 1970s) in the clandestine manufacture of PCP” so maybe there _was_ some extra paperwork involved. I never saw it though. Now I wonder what else I may have been working with that was legally naughty.:eek: ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/38 "2009-12-12T16:33:58Z")
My niece had a drink spiked with PCP just a couple of weeks ago. So apparently someone is behind the times on designer drug usage. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/39 "2009-12-13T06:49:13Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > My niece had a drink spiked with PCP just a couple of weeks ago. Spiked? Color me dubious. PCP smells like a mixture of extremely concentrated diabetic cat urine, rotten citrus fruit, and your worst childhood memory. A single drop of the stuff will overwhelm a large room. Dealers keep it in tiny little airtight jars sealed in bags kept in coolers with bags of ice, since chilling reduces the smell. Larger suppliers will go to great lengths to make sure it has its own refrigerator, so the smell does not contaminate their food. As for the OP, I’d say that yes, people are still doing all the old drugs. It’s just that particular ones will wax and wane in visibility. And the OP is correct to some extent that the popularity of certain drugs will also wax and wane. As for the ones specifically mentioned in the OP, I can give you the perspective of someone working in a city prosecutor’s office for a couple of years (i.e. I see only the people who actually get caught selling or holding drugs):[ul][_]PCP - extremely common. Extremely.[_]Quaaludes - pretty rare[_]hash - never seen it here (I have to suspect some degree of sampling bias: I don’t think most hash dealers peddle on the sidewalk where the cops are watching)[_]opium - ditto hash[_]crack - oh yeah.[_]meth - surprisingly, very little. Not really a big city drug. [_]heroin - about as common as crack[_]prescription painkillers - extremely common. The narcotics cops tell me these are the fastest growing drugs in the city.[\*]cocaine - eh. Occasional.[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456/40 "2009-12-13T21:32:12Z")
> [@Kenyth](#): > > Not if they’re smart. Drugs tend to be a youthful indiscretion. Mostly because older people see what they cause and where they lead. Yeah, that must be why old people don’t drink or smoke or drink coffee. There seems to be no objective reason why some drugs are legal and others are not. Pot won’t kill you, though it does have negative side effects, but alcohol certainly can. MDMA (XTC) can get you dangerously dehydrated, but other than that, it seems to be fairly harmless. Cocaine is fairly addictive and expensive, but tobacco is by all accounts more dangerous and harder to quit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-still-do-old-drugs/520456.md?page=3)