# Favorite fictional ILLICIT drug? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 11, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740 "2004-02-11T23:19:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/1 "2004-02-11T23:19:47Z")
Just a little poll about your favorite illicit drug…your favorite FICTIONAL illicit drug, that is. Those are the rules…the drug has to exist only in fiction, and, even then, still be illegal. (Or, at the least, is commonly used for “recreational” purposes, not for valid medical ones.) •“Kick” from Marvel comics. Temporarily enhances the powers of mutants. •“Dust” from Babylon 5. Temporarily gives the user telepathic abilities, even if they weren’t a telepath to begin with. •“Poly-Dichloric-Euthynol” from the movie [Outland.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082869/) Used as a stimulant/stamina booster…but cumulative exposure turns it’s users into uncontrollable psychopaths. So…any other suggestions? Ranchoth (OP’s free, man.) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/2 "2004-02-11T23:22:41Z")
The ‘milk’ in A Clockwork Orange - the description in the book is brilliant, it lucidly introduces you to a whole new dialect and seductively makes you wish you could try that drink yourself. (Actually, I’m not sure if it was illicit…) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/3 "2004-02-11T23:52:18Z")
“Death” from Philip K. Dick’s _A Scanner Darkly_. He didn’t have to elaborate on meth very much to make it a real mind-bender. Of course, Choosy chewers chew Chew-Z (_Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch_) Yeah, the _moloko_ in _A Clockwork Orange_ was legal, like “Soma” in Huxley’s _Brave New World_. I’m too look it up, but, if I recall correctly, the Korova Milk Bar’s “Milk Plus” was Milk + Mescaline. (An emulsion, I guess.) ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/4 "2004-02-11T23:53:44Z")
“Swank! Ten times more addictive than marijuana!” I always really liked Venom too. ---
**Author:** ![Shill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@Shill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shill)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/5 "2004-02-11T23:54:24Z")
I like **dreams** t\*\* from ‘Perdido Street Station’ by China Mieville (it’s great, read it!). It’s the droppings of creatures known as slake moths (who feed by sucking out people’s thoughts), and when people eat it they essentially live out the dreams of other people around them. It seems horrible at the time and you get a really bad hangover from it, but it’s horribly addictive too. ---
**Author:** ![akrako1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@akrako1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akrako1)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/6 "2004-02-11T23:54:51Z")
‘Soma’ from Brave New World. A drug used by the government to placate the masses. Honerable mention (sarcasm) - ‘Nuke’ from Robocop 2. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/7 "2004-02-12T00:02:16Z")
Hey, nuke was great. It came in different colors and all. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/8 "2004-02-12T00:10:53Z")
Hands down, it’s got to be thionite, from Doc Smith’s _Lensmen_ books. When you’re on thionite, you get a full, completely detailed hallucination of whatever it is you most deeply and truely desire. There’s one passage where a Lensman is forced thionite, and he has a hallucination of a completely civilized, lawful galaxy. The fact that it comes exclusively from a planet so screwey that it can only be successfully navigated by clarivoyants is a nice touch, too. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/9 "2004-02-12T00:13:09Z")
There’s green honey, which seems to give a glimpse of paradise, in the Umberto Eco book I’m reading, but I’ll get back to you when I’m finished 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Stimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/779978/32.png) [@Stimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stimpy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/10 "2004-02-12T00:14:35Z")
CAKE! British comedian Chris Morris introduced ‘Cake’ to unsuspecting celebrities and politicians, asking them to comment on the ficticious drug. Jeffing brilliant!! [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk\_news/1460805.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1460805.stm) never done a link before… fingers crossed. ---
**Author:** ![Stimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/779978/32.png) [@Stimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stimpy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/11 "2004-02-12T00:16:33Z")
drug in new jack city anyone? ---
**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:** [February 12, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/12 "2004-02-12T00:19:19Z")
I’ll take me some Spores from Star Trek:TOS. But only if I get to hang out in a tree on Omicron Ceti 3 makin’ sweet love with Jill Ireland all day. And listenin’ to that rockin’ flute music. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/13 "2004-02-12T00:29:12Z")
AUM, from Wilson and Shea’s Illuminatus! trilogy, which causes the user to become both wildly imaginative and completely gullible, to the degree that a group of evangelical Christians slipped some spontaneously become sun-worshippers. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/14 "2004-02-12T00:44:04Z")
I want some of that soy sauce that The Cheat and Strong Bad were guzzling… ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/15 "2004-02-12T00:49:48Z")
What did they call that wire Louis Wu had plugged into the pleasure center of his brain? Tasp? Anyone out there who can score me some of that? ---
**Author:** ![Ave\_Minerva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@Ave\_Minerva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ave_Minerva)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/16 "2004-02-12T01:18:24Z")
Dream Fuel from Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds. Talking about what it does and where it comes from would be too much of a spoiler - and it’s a fairly new book. Oh, and I’ll second what Shill said. Perdido Street Station kicks ass. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/17 "2004-02-12T01:47:20Z")
While not a _drug_ per se… the total immersion video game “Better Than Life” from **Red Dwarf** was both illegal and highly addictive. It was so much better than life that players would end up just wasting away. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/18 "2004-02-12T03:37:37Z")
Argh, _I_ was gonna say **Better Than Life**! Vurt, from the Jeff Noon book of the same name, was pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Stimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/779978/32.png) [@Stimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stimpy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/19 "2004-02-12T03:47:26Z")
sex is a drug… sex in Demolition Man fictional? at the moment it feels like it :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/20 "2004-02-12T03:51:34Z")
Melange, aka Spice, from the Dune series. Gotta go with something that allows you to see the future and turns your eyes blue. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740.md?page=2)