# What happened to qualudes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2017, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423 "2017-05-12T03:51:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![obbn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@obbn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obbn)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/1 "2017-05-12T03:51:19Z")
Hello Everyone, When I was much younger I remember qualudes being a big thing among drug users. If I remember correctly, they also went by the number 714. Where did they go? I never hear about them any longer. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/2 "2017-05-12T04:06:20Z")
Didn’t Bill Cosby use them all up giving them to women he wanted to bang? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/3 "2017-05-12T04:07:41Z")
I miss 'ludes! Just because it made a great line when my students were too rambunctious. “Kyle, sit down! Ky… Jenna, I’ll bet you’ve got some qualudes in your backpack. Can you forcefeed Kyle a handful?” ---
**Author:** ![steatopygia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steatopygia/32/3132_2.png) [@steatopygia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steatopygia)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/4 "2017-05-12T04:12:54Z")
I remember Quaaludes. So does the Dope. > **[Quaaludes](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=489407)** > > So . . . anybody got some? I kid. Real GQ: Do people still take them? I remember hearing a lot about them years ago. But I have not heard them mentioned at all in recent years. Still popular in the druggie culture? If not, why, and what has... > **[Does everyone know what “quaaludes” are?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=761682)** > > I was listening to news reports about the latest twists in the ongoing Bill Cosby saga. Allegedly, he gave quaaludes to women in order to have sexual intercourse with them (something like that). Some of the reports didn’t even bother to explain what... > **[What was the number on the Quaalude pill?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=302716)** > > I seem to remember it had a number. I remember Zonker, from the Doonesbury comic strip, wore a quaalude costume to a party once and it had the number displayed. Maybe somebody out there has access to a Physician’s Desk Reference. thanks, stupid... ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/5 "2017-05-12T04:17:54Z")
It was withdrawn from the American market in 1982, and made a schedule I drug in 1984. It’s still available in some other countries. > **[Methaqualone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methaqualone)** > > Methaqualone is a hypnotic sedative. It was sold under the brand names Quaalude (/ˈkweɪluːd/ KWAY-lood) and Sopor among others, which contained 300 mg of methaqualone, and sold as a combination drug under the brand name Mandrax, which contained 250 mg methaqualone and 25 mg diphenhydramine within the same tablet, mostly in Europe. Commercial production of methaqualone was halted in the mid-1980s due to widespread abuse and addictiveness. It is a member of the quinazolinone class. > The sedative–h... Here’s a BBC story about it from 2015. > **[The rise and fall of Quaaludes](https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33428487)** > > Quaaludes were popular in the US in the 1970s. Now, the drug is back in the headlines. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/6 "2017-05-12T04:43:03Z")
They’ve largely disappeared because more enjoyable, safer alternatives became available. The wiki says they were club drugs and could induce a coma with about 6-7 standard doses when mixed with alcohol. MDMA is likely the main replacement as a club drug and is comparatively safer since it’s a stimulant rather than a depressant. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/7 "2017-05-12T05:31:14Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > MDMA is likely the main replacement as a club drug and is comparatively safer since it’s a stimulant rather than a depressant. Right, except most of what is sold as MDMA is not actually MDMA. It’s either a chemical analogue that may have much worse side effects, or in some cases a mixture of methamphetamine and an opiate of some kind. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/8 "2017-05-12T07:00:54Z")
Wolf Of Wallstreet took them all? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/9 "2017-05-12T08:22:57Z")
Methaqualone is still one of the most popular recreation drugs in South Africa, under the name Mandrax. It’s usually crushed and smoked with dope. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/10 "2017-05-12T11:36:20Z")
The real reason is that the level of abuse, and addiction, prompted a switch to a sleeping tablet that wasn’t as enjoyable… diazapam and similar… Therefore no one wants to buy the sleeping tablets and only people who need it use it. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/11 "2017-05-12T11:51:21Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > Wolf Of Wallstreet took them all? Didn’t the movie have a big long diatribe on Ludes and their history? I vaguely recall him mentioning they were such a useful party pill that they’d been pulled from the market. By the time depicted in the movie, real commercially made pills were almost impossible to find, thus making them not only fun to party with but a status symbol due to price. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/12 "2017-05-12T11:57:25Z")
Back in the day it was also called a “lude.” One day after high school I was driving around town with a friend of mine. We stopped at a stoplight behind a Honda Prelude. My friend said, “Prelude? Is that what you take, like, before a lude?” ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/13 "2017-05-12T14:44:31Z")
When I think about ludes I think of a couple of old acquaintances: Stumbleina; good times times speculating on which body part she would have bandaged or in a cast next week – and Thumper; an executive named for the sound his head made when hitting the carpet. Good times?? I think not. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/14 "2017-05-12T15:00:12Z")
I knew a guy in the late 70s who was on prescription methaqualone, aka ludes. On his medication he was pretty normal, but he would skimp on his dosage so he could sell. Jittery and creepy, but we treated him well because he was the lude source. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/15 "2017-05-12T15:19:20Z")
I probably had the only legal prescription for Quaaludes on my college campus. One tablet was sufficiently strong that I could break it in half or even quarters to put me to sleep and even then it made my loopy. How people could take several of them at once and then party was unimaginable. I know my body is wired weirdly (opioids don’t work on me, which makes hospital stays less fun) but ludes are powerful stuff. I’m glad they were taken off the market. ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/16 "2017-05-12T15:44:05Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Back in the day it was also called a “lude.” > > One day after high school I was driving around town with a friend of mine. We stopped at a stoplight behind a Honda Prelude. My friend said, “Prelude? Is that what you take, like, before a lude?” Not on my campus. At our school, they were “sopors.” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/17 "2017-05-12T17:34:42Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Didn’t Bill Cosby use them all up giving them to women he wanted to bang? **Moderator Note** Let’s refrain from joke answers before the question has received factual responses in GQ. No warning issued. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/18 "2017-05-13T01:28:12Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > Not on my campus. At our school, they were “sopors.” Called “blues” in my HS. Had a friend die from them. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/19 "2017-05-13T01:33:56Z")
What type of drug are qualuudes? Were they barbiturates? Hypnotics? ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2017, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423/20 "2017-05-13T01:44:12Z")
I don’t think they were technically barbiturates, (e.g., Seconal or Tuniol) but they were depressants. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-qualudes/786423.md?page=2)