A mod on the bulletin board I run posed this question. Since it’s an urban planning-related site with only about 700 members, as opposed to the millions of Dopers that call this place their virtual home, I was thinking the odds of having it answered here would be better.
*OK, I’m trying NOT to freak out, over-react, or be confrontational, since this is probably NOTHING. I need help identifying some pills. Some pills I found hidden in our house, out of sight, but in easy reach behind a bunch of stuff if you knew they were there. The bottle is an emptied boulion cube jar, filled 3/4 full will round white pills. They are stamped on one side with “325” and on the other side with the letter “N” inside a house-shaped pentagon. My first reaction was nytol, but why put 3x the amount of a normal OTC bottle in a boulion cube bottle and hide it? I checked drugs.com - they have a pill identifier, couldnt find anything similar. Deb, anyone, any thoughts?
Just a disclaimer: The “Straight Dope” in our message board title does not refer to drugs. It’s more like the hot skinny, the real scoop, or right from the horse’s mouth. We hope to pool our knowledge to offer the truth.
If your pill ID site didn’t have the pill, it may be from a forest of shadowy companies that make phony “speed” (mostly caffeine and ephedra) and alleged male sexual drugs. They’re sold in the back of men’s magazines and over-the-counter in truck stops.
Do they smell faintly of vinegar? If so, it may be aspirin.
I know, I know. (Look at my post count.) It’s not really a post advocating illegal activity, though; I’m not asking for tips on growing “good, sticky kindbud.”
I tried a pill ID site before posting here, and didn’t find much. 325 milligrams is a common size for asprin, but it’s also a common size for some opiate-based painkillers. Nothing matching the description of the OP on my site.
I typed “pentagon” into a pill id wizard and it came back with “Pentazocine.”
Pentazocine is a narcotic pain reliever. It’s available in “Talwin Compound” a mix of Pentazocine and aspirin, in small white tablets of 325 mg size.
I couldn’t find a picture or a description of the markings, so I’m just offering this as a possibility. But the form and size match, the pentagon might be a symbol for pentazocine, and it is the kind of med that could be abused.
I hope I’m wrong though, and that it’s something harmless.
The picture of that specific drug in the PDR shows a small, scored, yellow oblong tablet not a round white pill. I looked also and the only round white pill I found with a pentagon in the middle (no “N”) was an drug for killing larval tapeworms by Smithkline Beecham called “Albenza”.
BTW if I found a hidden bottle like that and that quantity, and there was a teenager or early twenty-something around the house my first thought would be “ecstasy”.
If there is a real concern that these pills are illegal drugs and you want to know for sure, you can submit a sample pill to the folks at dancesafe.org. The are a research group dedicated to determining the contents of pills so that users can have information about the substances they are ingesting. I have searched their database and found no pill that matches your description, but their database is limited to pills that they have. It is possible that you have a new pill there that dancesafe hasn’t seen. It sounds like you’re concerned about your house being used as a stash for illegal drugs. If so, you can also contact local law enforcement and tell them what you’ve found. If someone in your house is using your house as a stash, you can be incriminated and possibly be held responsible unless you take steps to stop it. Good luck.
I have some (probably) good news. I work in a hospital (I’m a health librarian) and I took the OP’s info to the hospital pharmacy. It is …
Acetaminophen, 325 mg, made by Procter & Gamble.
Really. Just Tylenol.
They also said that would be happy to answer such questions by phone, and I’m guessing that would be true of other pharmacies.
My WAG would be that someone split a giant bottle (like a Sam’s club mega-size) into smaller quantities, or that someone had trouble opening a childproof bottle and put them in a easier to open bottle. I’d suggest that the person who found them should just toss them.
My disclaimer : as I was passing along third-hand info to the pharmacy and they of course couldn’t actually look at the pills, I am not gonna give a 100% guarantee. Have the pill-finder call their own pharmacist.