# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![akrako1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@akrako1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akrako1)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/41 "2004-02-12T19:59:04Z")
How’s about ‘Mist’ from ‘Prayer Of The Rollerboys’? Drug dealers on rollerskates! How much more exciting can you get!! ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/42 "2004-02-12T20:56:41Z")
Make, from Jonathan Lethem’s first novel, _Gun With Occasional Music_. It’s a snortable powder that’s given by the repressive government to the citizenry, who can determine their own personal blend from a variety of creepy-sounding ingredients (I remember one was “forgetol”). ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/43 "2004-02-12T23:05:06Z")
I’d say that both Can-D and Death are good choices. Death is such a powerful drug that, other than seriously fucking with your brain, it causes users to freak out if they have less than 300 doses on hand. Melange from Dune is not illicit, however Semuta was. It is like heroin but much more addictive and it makes you want to listen to atonal music - hello Primus. Semuta was given to injured soliders after it was found to remove any fear of dying. Personally, I don’t think Vurt was all that cool, I mean deep throating feathers? Plus, weren’t most of them widely available? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/44 "2004-02-12T23:07:19Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > … who can determine their own personal blend from a variety of creepy-sounding ingredients (I remember one was “forgetol”). Sounds like the drug that Milhouse was taking, Represitol. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/45 "2004-02-13T00:18:47Z")
Vraxoin from _Doctor Who_, since it comes from the natural decomposition of silly-looking monster costumes. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Death](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecccb3/32.png) [@Evil\_Death](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Death)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/46 "2004-02-13T00:37:29Z")
Rapture, from the _Wild Cards_ novels, is a drug that turns any physical sensation into the most intensely pleasurable sensation corresponding. The problem is that after a short time of using the drug, you lose the ability to feel anything at all. ---
**Author:** ![Stimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/779978/32.png) [@Stimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stimpy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/47 "2004-02-13T00:45:16Z")
i seem to remember a serial book about banned forms of music. when listened to, the music changes you somehow. it messes with your molecular structure, creating races of people who look and act different from each other. you were able, then, to distinguish a person’s musical orientations from the way they looked. for example, some people turned into half-human, half-feline creatures from listening to certian recordiings. i guess it was like punk music, one step beyond… or maybe not; one step back! i only ever read the first chapter of this ‘book’ - anyone recognize this description?? ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/48 "2004-02-13T00:59:49Z")
I was going to say “adrenochrome” from _Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas_, but a quick google search reveals that it’s real, and apparently [doesn’t have to come from a live human source.](http://www.agscientific.com/Item/A1008.htm) So I suppose it’s only the “no good if it comes from a corpse” part is fictional, unless this company has a farm of humans with taps in their skulls. Of course, gonzo literature in any form is best taken with a grain of salt. Followed with a shot of tequila and a wedge of lime. ---
**Author:** ![Iacob\_Matthew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Iacob\_Matthew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iacob_Matthew)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/49 "2004-02-13T01:02:17Z")
Betaphenethylamine, from Gibson’s _Neuromancer_. It manages to get through a trick liver, replaced pancreas, and metabolize in Case’s genetically-altered drug-immune blood (I think that’s all he’s got, but there’s probably more.) I’m not sure how it would work on a normal human being, but it’d have to be good. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/50 "2004-02-13T01:28:42Z")
Hmm, got this far without any mention of Tek? Another _Red Dwarf_ drug (though it only appeared in the first novel) was “Bliss”, which made you think you were God. You could get addicted by looking at it, and the depression after the drug wore off lasted 25 years. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/51 "2004-02-13T01:35:10Z")
Slight course deviation- In Ringworld Engineers, Louis Wu had become a current addict, he did have a plug in his head. At some point in the book when he was asked how he got that way he said it started when someone “made his day”. This being the slang for when someone shoots you with a tasp, taking you unaware. The Hindmost ( I think) at first controls Wu by withholding his current until he does what the puppeteer wants. -Returning to the regular thread- ---
**Author:** ![Clear\_Air\_Turbulence](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Clear\_Air\_Turbulence](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clear_Air_Turbulence)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/52 "2004-02-13T03:58:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Nitpicks: First, Wu didn’t have a wire in his brain. Second, a tasp is wireless, but operates on the same principle. Third, Nessus used the tasp on Speaker to Animals (who was humiliated at the prospect of an un-warrior-ly addiction), not on Wu. Wu DID become a wirehead between ‘Ringworld’ and ‘Ringworld Engineers’. When Chmeee (formerly Speaker to Animals) threatens to pull it from his brain in ‘Ringworld Engineers’ Wu tells him it would cause a lot of damage. The droud is the device you attach to the head-socket on a wirehead that delivers the specified amount of current. A tasp can cause a similar but weaker effect without having to put hardware in someone’s brain. Both Wu and Speaker had the tasp used on them, and Wu had the operation to become a wirehead later because he remembered how good it felt. My favorite fictional drug is ‘Jet’ from the RPG ‘Fallout 2’. It’s essentially an inhalant form of methamphetamine that is made from the dung of two-headed cattle. All the drugs in ‘Fallout 2’ were pretty neat, though (and I had many characters become addicts). ---
**Author:** ![The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Universe_Lashes_Out)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/53 "2004-02-13T09:25:08Z")
I’ll go with the incredibly potent DMZ from David Foster Wallace’s “infinite Jest.” ---
**Author:** ![malaka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@malaka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malaka)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/54 "2004-02-13T15:11:59Z")
Whatever the “bug powder” Bill Lee was taking in _Naked Lunch_. ---
**Author:** ![akrako1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@akrako1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/akrako1)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2004, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/55 "2004-02-13T20:31:36Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > Hmm, got this far without any mention of Tek? Yeah!! And there were whole wars about it! Shatner style… Oh… my god… I’m… loosing… my… mind… ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Jenkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Brown\_Jenkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Jenkin)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/56 "2004-02-14T06:56:06Z")
Mugwump jism, from \*Naked Lunch \* - ground up enormous Brazilian centipedes. I’m not sure if it contained any of your actual jism. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/57 "2004-02-14T08:48:52Z")
I’ve always suspected I was just somebody else’s hallucination. Wonder what drug they’re on? ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2004, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/58 "2004-02-14T13:27:00Z")
> [@Clear Air Turbulence](#): > > Wu DID become a wirehead between ‘Ringworld’ and ‘Ringworld Engineers’. And I was wondering … can this really be considered “fictional,” since a wire-in-the-pleasure-system-of-the-brain really is done, or at least has been done in the past, to people? And now that we have the transcranial magnetic stimulator, even the wireless “helmet” version of the droud that Niven has written about exists. I suppose a tasp, operating from such a large distance, is still purely fictional. As is the droud and all the formalized wireheading hardware that Niven came up with. But that’s just paraphernalia, really, and not the “drug” itself. ---
**Author:** ![hansolo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/22d042/32.png) [@hansolo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hansolo)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/59 "2004-02-16T04:59:59Z")
spice from star wars universe and romulan ale ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740/60 "2004-02-16T05:33:28Z")
I want a new drug One that won’t make me sick One that won’ make me crash my car Or make me feel three feet thick I want a new drug One that won’t hurt my head One that won’t make my mouth too dry Or make my eyes too red One that won’t make me nervous Wondering what to do One that makes me feel like I feel when I’m with you When I’m alone with you I want a new drug One that won’t spill One that don’t cost too much Or come in a pill I want a new drug One that won’t go away One that won’t keep me up all night One that won’t make me sleep all day One that won’t make me nervous Wondering what to do One that makes me feel like I feel when I’m with you When I’m alone with you I’m alone with you baby I want a new drug One that does what it should One that won’t make me feel too bad One that won’t make me feel too good I want a new drug One with no doubt One that won’t make me talk too much Or make my face break out One that won’t make me nervous Wondering what to do One that makes me feel like I feel when I’m with you When I’m alone with you [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-fictional-illicit-drug/228740.md?page=4)