Google Versed…
You can still order ether and chloroform from industrial chemical suppliers. They don’t sell to individuals, but I assume there’s a warehouse somewhere that can be burgled. For that matter, if all you want to do is get the victim out of the way for awhile, why not just slip him Ambien?
Narcan reverses the effects of opioid drugs (heroin, morphine, opium) in less than two minutes. So you could conceivably have a person nearly OD on an opioid, which would normally, in large doses, make someone sleepy, and keep 'em sleepy for quite a while. When you need the docs to wake him up, they administer a Narcan IV push "(or, if he’s not breathing on his own, it can be given through the endotracheal tube), and 2 minutes later, your guy is talking rationally. It’s possible that he might get wonky again, if he’s been brought in early and the effect of the opiod outlasts that of the Narcan, but Narcan can then be administered again. Still, might make for an interesting plot development or two, if he seems rational, then isn’t, then is again.
Yep, opioids and naloxone are pretty perfect for the situation at hand. There are even experimental gaseous versions of opioids – the Russian military used some kind of fentanyl-based gas in that theater hostage situation that ended up killing a bunch of people. And inhalation gets the drug to the brain even faster than intravenous injection. You might just have trouble getting a proper dose into him that way … but you could make the guy woozy with a hit of gaseous fentanyl, then knock him out with an IV injection of morphine, heroin, or fentanyl once he’s nice and incapacitated. Then, once he’s actually out, give him another injection of a long-lasting opioid like methadone to keep the effects going for hours and hours.
And then, when he’s at the hospital, an injection of Narcan (aka naloxone) and he’s awake and lucid within a minute or so as the naloxone displaces the opioids on his receptors … but he’s probably freaked out as hell wondering what happened and where he is, and possibly suffering from injuries from lying still for hours.
ETA: Oh, and then, since methadone lasts for 8-12 hours but naloxone wears off in about 30-60 minutes, have him start getting whacked-out and goofy and passing out again as the police are talking to him, until the doctors realize he needs another injection of naloxone.
I was going to mention this - the problem is that the russian military was so secretive about the knockout gas that they did not tell the hospitals what they had used. Many of those who died could have been saved with a little bit more information (and a shot of naloxone).
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My exact thought!
Don’t know how practical this is, but diethyl - ether is readily available as a starting fluid for engines. I think its the same thing as the anaesthetic.
You could introduce him to my high school calc. teacher. He was great at putting anyone to sleep.
But seriously, I once took a zanbar and was completely and utterly wasted for about five hours. I still to this day cannot remember anything that happened during that time. I was told I basically was in a zombified state. I would answer questions, after being pushed or shaken and would fall if I tried to move. Apparently we were pulled over on the way home and the cop asked what was wrong with me. They told him I was just sleeping off a hangover. I remember none of it. Perhaps your character could maybe dose his victims with more than one zanbar? It will definitely put them out of comission for a while.
You know, that was my first thought, too, and I looked up the drug he supposedly used on his victims. Unfortunately, I don’t think he could use the animal tranquilizer named on the show, etorphine hydrochloride, on humans in reality:
I’m actually kind of awed that there’s a substance so deadly that it can kill you with a single drop on your skin. That’s hardcore.
(zanbar = xanax, for us old fogeys playing along at home)
I’ve only used morphine as a veterinary technician, and only with dogs. It universally makes them puke. Dangerous if the vomiting happens while passed out. Can anyone verify whether the extreme nausea happens in people? That might be a reason not to use it as a knockout drug if asphyxiation and aspiration pneumonia are not on the list of desirable outcomes!
What I can find about ether indicates it is difficult to cause an overdose, and it can be easily applied, probably through a soaked piece of cloth held over the mouth and nose in the way chloroform is portrayed in the movies. Sounds like you want something with an antidote for plot purposes though. One of the best scenes in Pulp Fiction was giving the antidote to Uma, didn’t do much plot wise, but entertaining.
You’re right, Immobilon would be no use for the scenario in the OP’s book.
I used to use Large Animal Immobilon in horses, it’s great for field anaesthesia. They go down quickly, and they stay down till you give the reversing agent, then they’re on their feet with hardly a wobble. A few years ago it became more difficult to get hold of, but we’d mostly stopped using the stuff by then anyway, we just didn’t feel we could justify the risk and the hassle anymore. A drop on your skin or mucous membranes, even if washed off, could be fatal. We had to work in pairs, you need someone present who is capable of giving you an IV injection of the antidote, which has to be ready in a syringe before you even think about preparing the Immobilon. Naloxone will keep you alive for 2-3 minutes. If you’re lucky, you’ve remembered to pack enough for a few doses, and this will hopefully keep you going till the ambulance arrives. Worst case scenario, you’d have to use Revivon, the animal reversing agent. This drug in itself is hallucinogenic to the point where some survivors have said death would have been preferable.
I’d use Midazolam (Versed).
It comes in an oral solution that is commonly used to treat epileptic seizures in children. To stop a seizure in a child you squirt the dose into the mouth and it is absorbed from the oral mucosa, the child doesn’t even need to swallow it. It is quite easy to OD on and although their is an antidote (flumazenil) it isn’t as straight forward as narcan.
It also comes in a solution you can inject as well- it is used commonly for twilight anaesthesia and sedation. It has an amnesic effect so you don’t even have to be out cold in order to not remember what happened.
Chloral hydrate is used a lot with kids- but it does cause paradoxical excitation in a significant proportion- which may be a positive plot point (victim fights back).