# name this drug! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 8, 2001, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-drug/75389 "2001-08-08T01:44:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2001, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-drug/75389/1 "2001-08-08T01:44:50Z")
In **Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas** (movie, not book), Duke and Gonzo occasionally indulge in a drug which is broken open and then inhaled. Any ideas/guesses what it is? My guess is pills, but why snort pills? ---
**Author:** ![Trucido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@Trucido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trucido)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2001, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-drug/75389/2 "2001-08-08T01:53:32Z")
I believe (from the book) that they were amyls. They snorted it because snorting works faster than ingestion. You did say movie and not book… but in the book they broke open amyls and snorted them at several points. ---
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2001, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-drug/75389/3 "2001-08-08T01:53:45Z")
Ether is my guess. But then I don’t know if amyl nitrate is a solid, liquid, or gas. From the book: > [@](#): > > two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half-full of cocaine and a whole galaxy of multicolored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers… A quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls For other use/misuse of ether, see [The Cider House Rules](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0124315). ---
**Author:** ![Holly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/48db29/32.png) [@Holly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Holly)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2001, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-drug/75389/4 "2001-08-08T02:03:28Z")
Black market Prozac is becoming popular: open the capsule and snort the powder. Supposedly, it gives a high similar to cocaine. The capsules are whitish-beige on one end and medium-green on the other. Warning to the intellectually impaired: don’t try this at home. ---
**Author:** ![Amazing\_Magic-Gro\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e95f7d/32.png) [@Amazing\_Magic-Gro\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amazing_Magic-Gro_Monster)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2001, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-drug/75389/5 "2001-08-08T02:11:30Z")
The items in question were [Amyl Nitrate cylanders](http://www.totse.com/en/drugs/speedy_drugs/amyl.html). A short-term euphoric, kind of like nitrus oxide with a stimulent effect too. HST wrote a whole article about the days when they were available as an over-the-counter athsma aid and how he’d crack the cylanders open like nuts, ingesting the drug-soaked wad of cotton inside with his morning coffee. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2001, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-drug/75389/6 "2001-08-08T02:26:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Amazing Magic-Gro Monster \* > \*\*The items in question were [Amyl Nitrate cylanders](http://www.totse.com/en/drugs/speedy_drugs/amyl.html). A short-term euphoric, kind of like nitrus oxide with a stimulent effect too. > > HST wrote a whole article about the days when they were available as an over-the-counter athsma aid and how he’d crack the cylanders open like nuts, ingesting the drug-soaked wad of cotton inside with his morning coffee. \*\* Slight correction - yes, amyl nitrate ampules were what the OP is referring to in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”. They were originally intended as a treatment for angina. The OTC asthma aid you are referring to with the soaked cotton wad is a benzedrine inhaler. Yes, they used to be heavily abused as well, which is why they quite allowing the drug OTC. ---
**Author:** ![gwar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/96bed5/32.png) [@gwar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwar)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2001, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-this-drug/75389/8 "2001-08-08T17:31:58Z")
Pills are broken up and snorted all the time. I tried snorting No-Doz before a test, but it was a horrifying experience. I don’t recommend it.