# Dope injecting dopers: bonecrushers?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-injecting-dopers-bonecrushers/110723
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 24, 2002, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-injecting-dopers-bonecrushers/110723 "2002-05-24T23:24:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@choosybeggar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choosybeggar)
#### Post date: [May 24, 2002, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-injecting-dopers-bonecrushers/110723/1 "2002-05-24T23:24:49Z")
Can someone with first hand experience in the intravenous drug use arena please define this term?
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2002, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-injecting-dopers-bonecrushers/110723/2 "2002-05-25T03:57:02Z")
š
Google, ādrug slangā.
According to Indiana University, itās slang for ācrackā.
[http://www.drugs.indiana.edu/slang/home.html](http://www.drugs.indiana.edu/slang/home.html)
According to this website, itās slang for ācrackā.
[http://www.addictions.org/slang.htm#B](http://www.addictions.org/slang.htm#B)
According to the U.S. Government, itās slang for ācrackā.
> **[Office of National Drug Control Policy | The White House](https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/)**
>
> The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) leads and coordinates the nationās drug policy so that it improves the health and lives of the American
Hmmā¦Iām starting to see a trend hereā¦ š
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### Author:  [@Eran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eran)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2002, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-injecting-dopers-bonecrushers/110723/3 "2002-05-25T13:38:44Z")
It was also a name given to me in HS football, when, as a lowly member of the scout team, I ran a WR route wrong, collided with the starting cornerback, and sprained his ankle.
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### Author:  [@choosybeggar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choosybeggar)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2002, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-injecting-dopers-bonecrushers/110723/4 "2002-05-25T13:42:24Z")
**DDG,** thanks for you efforts. I should have elaborated a bit more on the OP.
When I worked on a Psych detox floor, all the patients used bonecrusher as a synonym for crack. Now, Iām finishing a month on a medicine floor, and taking care of a bright young lady (who happens to be a heroin addict of 20 years duration) who insists that a bonecrusher is a pain experienced after injecting heroin. I directed the OP to intravenous drug using dopers to tap their particular experitise.
From this site:[Volume I, Issues No. 6 & 7 of Methadone Today](http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/heroin/methadone/dont/v1n7_6.htm)
> [@](#):
>
> When you shoot someone elseās blood, you might get a highly unpleasant reactionācalled a ābonecrusherā on the street.
I know this question is googleable. I had hoped to stimulate some interesting discussion, though. Guess not.ā¹
And BTW, hereās another [site](http://www.readmag.com/bonecrusher.html) that says:
> [@](#):
>
> ābonecrusherā is an East Coast term for kicking heroin.
Too bad thereās no OED for this stuff
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### Author:  [@Church\_Key\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Church_Key_Kid)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2002, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-injecting-dopers-bonecrushers/110723/5 "2002-05-25T16:18:27Z")
From the novel, āThe Story of Junkā by Linda Yablonsky, bonecrusherās syndrome is when a small thread of cotton gets sucked into your needle and then injected into the blood stream. Apparently it makes you sick and is pretty painful.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Frink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Frink)
#### Post date: [May 25, 2002, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-injecting-dopers-bonecrushers/110723/6 "2002-05-25T16:39:49Z")
^^^^ Also known as the dreaded āCotton Feverā
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2002, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-injecting-dopers-bonecrushers/110723/7 "2002-05-26T02:24:13Z")
Iām guessing that the websites havenāt caught up with the evolving street slang, then.
It doesnāt help with Googling that there is apparently a punk rock band called Bonecrusher. š
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### Author:  [@choosybeggar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choosybeggar)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2002, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dope-injecting-dopers-bonecrushers/110723/8 "2002-05-26T10:49:34Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by fatdave \*
> \*\*From the novel, āThe Story of Junkā by Linda Yablonsky, bonecrusherās syndrome is when a small thread of cotton gets sucked into your needle and then injected into the blood stream. Apparently it makes you sick and is pretty painful. \*\*
This makes the most sense. The girl who described this to me sweared she NEVER shared needles. Our guess was that the pain (and other symptoms) is secondary to injecting (bacterially) contaminated material. The cotton likely serves as the vehicle to conduct organisms into the circulation.
> [@](#):
>
> _originally posted by DDG_
> **Iām guessing that the websites havenāt caught up with the evolving street slang, then.**
I guess. For punishment, please cut and paste the phrase, āGoogle does not know everything,ā one hundred times.
š