In the Dead tune Truckin’, Jane is described as “…livin’ on reds, vitamin C, and cocaine…”
What exactly are these “reds”? I assume they’re pills of some sort, but what exactly?
In context (song lyrics, above), it sounds like they’re downers (“…livin’ on (downers), vitamin C, and (uppers)…”), but what exactly are they?
If you lived in Haight Ashbury in 1968 and you purchased “reds” from a dealer, what would you have received?
My WAG is that reds are a barbituate of some sort, to take the edge off the cocaine.
Seconal(secobarbital), known on the street as reds, red birds, red devils.
DESCRIPTION
Orange capsule marked “Lilly F42” (50mg) or “Lilly F 40” (100mg).
It’s a common barbiturate or “downer.”
**ImInvisible **nailed it, to my–and I hope the OP’s-- delight! Just love accuracy in regard to all those old drugs I don’t take any more.
Orange? They’re, obviously, red. I’m positive about that. I also know from experience that these are some powerful fuckers that should not be used for recreational purposes ever.
spoilsport!
I was trying to find a half-remembered quote re. seconal [and barbiturates in general] from Keith Richards; with no luck.
It was roughly to the effect that he deplored 'all the new-fangled drugs on the market, and pined for the old days with good old standbys like barbiturates…"
Orange? They’re, obviously, red. I’m positive about that. I also know from experience that these are some powerful fuckers that should not be used for recreational purposes ever. **
[/QUOTE]
As a former pill-popper, I will definitely second that. Damn things almost killed me. Pills are bad … pills are very bad…
-Syko
My first post was simply copied from a website I found by entering “reds seconal” into Google (I instinctively knew that “reds” were Seconal, as I grew up in the '70s). It says they are “orange,” as I quoted. After further research, I was unable to find another physical description or a picture.
Perhaps they are reddish/orange? I don’t think I ever took them and, if I did, I don’t remember. It does seem strange that all the slang names for an orange pill would contain the adjective “red”. Maybe color perception among drug users in the '70s was impaired. But, then, they seemed to be able to identify “orange sunshine” and “brown acid.”
Anyway, here is a link to the webpage that called them “orange”:
I lived in L.A. in the 60’s and the “Reds” were a red Capsule containing Seconal, a white powder that was very bitter tasting. They were made by Lilly and sometimes called F40 Rockets. This along with Whites were the main two drugs available back then. The Whites were an amphetamine that cost 10 cents each, or $35 for 1000 of them. They were a fairly large tablet that was scored into an X on the surface, and called Bennies because they were Benzadrine. Later they became much smaller and were called Mini Bennies, or Truckers. Both of these were the staples for all the Hippies and used with Mexican Weed which was $10 for an ounce, or $100 for a pound.
The whites, if prescription, were probably Benzedrine and also known as cross tops for the scoring on the tablet.
The Seconal I dispensed was a large reddish-orange capsule, and most commonly given to women who’d just had a baby and weren’t breast-feeding, as a PRN sleep aid. I don’t remember seeing it ordered anywhere else. This was in the late 1990s.
Some caffeine tablets, which are often to this day sold as fake speed, are also white with a cross top (or an X, depending on which angle you look at it).
I once saw an “Antiques Roadshow” episode where a woman had an intact sample pack of drugs from the 1930s. It included Seconal, which was apparently OTC in some areas. :eek:
We called them white cross, there were commercially sold under the name Desoxyn. I rarely slept more than 3 hours a night freshman year.
One of my favorite stories from college was giving a ride home to a girl who had taken one white cross the night before to cram for final exams. She talked non-stop for the entire 2-hour trip.
Up until 1965, amphetamines, marketed under the trade names Methedrine, Benzedrine and Dexedrine were OTC. At that point, they became prescription only, and controls were further tightened in 1970.
Benzedrine used to be marketed in inhalers intended for relieving congestion. People took the strips out of them and chewed on them.
I’m guessing in the dim light of nightclubs, dark alleys, and other places where drug deals would go down, the pills looked more red than orange?
Tim, Tim Benzedrine!
Hash! Boo! Valvoline!
Clean, clean, clean for Gene!
First, second, neutral, park!
Hie thee hence, you leafy narc!
Nice zombie thread.
The OTC white crosses of the 70’s and 80’s were ephedrine. You could buy them through the mail in bottles of 1000 and even 10,000 for next to nothing. I’d never understood why anyone would want 10K of them until I got into law enforcement in the early 80’s and learned they were used to make meth.
They gave a weird buzz. Made the hair on the back of your neck stand up and tingle. When mixed with a high dose of caffeine (some pills back then came with both in them) a guy could party all night. To a certain degree that combo negated the felt effects of alcohol.
I never liked them. Never felt quite right after taking them. My cousin thought he was Keith Moon and took an entire handful of them once and drank 12 beers.
Started spinning around like the Tasmanian Devil. That was in '77. We still don’t know where he ended up.
I hadn’t noticed that it was a zombie! :smack:
I have dispensed Desoxyn once, and that was for a person with terminal cancer, to combat morphine-induced lethargy. Those tablets were orange and triangular, with rounded edges, and scored.
Used to be, this stuff was dispensed like candy, as a weight-loss aid. In fact, Adderall used to be called Obetrol for obvious reasons. They even had Dexamyl which was dextroamphetamine and amobarbital. Uppers and downers at the same time - what could possibly go wrong there???!!!??? :eek: Apparently Judy Garland really liked those.
I believe White Crosses was a street name for Dexedrine or Benzedrine (amphetamines) and later ephedrine or even caffeine. But Desoxyn is the brand name for pharmaceutical methamphetimine. Never seen it with a cross on it (scored for pill cutting).