# What was this drug from the 70's?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 10, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877 "2010-05-10T04:52:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/1 "2010-05-10T04:52:40Z")
I was remembering an old TV movie called “The Death of Ritchie” from the early 70s about a kid descending into drug addiction until by the end of the movie he attacks his parents and his own father has to kill him. I am of course familiar with the pot and L.S.D. he abused, but his primary addiction was to some kind of pills called “Reds”. I was wondering, can anyone tell me what this drug was, and maybe some of the effects and addictive qualities?
Thanks for any Replies,
AllFree
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/2 "2010-05-10T05:07:57Z")
[Secobarbital](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secobarbital), or Seconal, a barbiturate.
_What in the world ever became of sweet Jane?
She lost her sparkle, you know she isn’t the same
Livin’ on reds, vitamin C, and cocaine,
All a friend can say is “Ain’t it a shame?”_
[Truckin’](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Truckin'-lyrics-Grateful-Dead/5C9E451930C4669748256961000F93B3), The Grateful Dead
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### Author:  [@AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2010, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/3 "2010-05-10T05:12:30Z")
Thanks so much! I saw that TV movie when I was about 10 and was always terrified of ‘Reds’ because the story was supposed to be based on a true story and what happened to the kid was really terrifying (at least when I was 10, I haven’t seen it since I was a child)
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2010, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/4 "2010-05-10T05:18:01Z")
> [@AllFreedomUnlessDefyingScience](#):
>
> Thanks so much! I saw that TV movie when I was about 10 and was always terrified of ‘Reds’ because the story was supposed to be based on a true story and what happened to the kid was really terrifying (at least when I was 10, I haven’t seen it since I was a child)
Supposedly a true story
[Reader’s Digest story from the 70’s where a man deliberately shot his own son](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=536628)
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### Author:  [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2010, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/5 "2010-05-10T06:32:58Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> … [Truckin’](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Truckin'-lyrics-Grateful-Dead/5C9E451930C4669748256961000F93B3), The Grateful Dead
Hippie! (;))
\*Teddy sniffing glue he was 12 years old
Fell from the roof on East Two-nine
Cathy was 11 when she pulled the plug
On 26 reds and a bottle of wine
Bobby got leukemia, 14 years old
He looked like 65 when he died
He was a friend of mine
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
Those are people who died, died
They were all my friends, and they died
\*
The Jim Carroll Band - [People Who Died](http://www.catholicboy.com/cblyrics.php#people)
CMC fnord!
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/6 "2010-05-10T17:48:31Z")
In my 7th grade drug abuse training unit, in 1969, I remember. “reds” as one of the dangerous drugs they warned us about. There were also other color-related names, although the only one I remember was “yellowjackets”, which I think were also called yellow submarines.
As far as I’ve seen, the scheduled stimulants which I (legally) take come in a variety of shapes and colors just counting different dosage levels of the same medication. They also happen to be generic, which is probably when the newer manufacturers coming on board decide on different appearances of the product to differentiate themselves. I’m not sure that’s a great idea; wouldn’t it make more sense if all legitimately manufactured and distributed tablets of a given controlled substance looked the same, except differing in size by dose? That’s another odd thing; sometimes a 15mg dose tablet will be smaller than the 10mg of the same product, besides differing in color as well.
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/7 "2010-05-10T17:50:48Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> [Secobarbital](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secobarbital), or Seconal, a barbiturate.
>
> _What in the world ever became of sweet Jane?
> She lost her sparkle, you know she isn’t the same
> Livin’ on reds, vitamin C, and cocaine,
> All a friend can say is “Ain’t it a shame?”_
>
> [Truckin’](http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Truckin'-lyrics-Grateful-Dead/5C9E451930C4669748256961000F93B3), The Grateful Dead
And all this time I thought they were referring to Marlboro Reds.
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### Author:  [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/8 "2010-05-10T17:59:09Z")
I remember seeing that movie in high school (I graduated in 1987) and while it was obviously pretty dated when I saw it, I thought that he was gooked out of his mind on a bad batch of Czechoslovakian angel dust, which certainly COULD cause erratic, violent behavior, as opposed to eating a few “reds”, which would tend to put you into a deep, peaceful sleep for many hours at a stretch…
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/9 "2010-05-10T18:03:45Z")
[hijack]I always thought the line was “26 reds and a bottle of White”, but upon closer listening it’s definitely “wine”. I like my version better since it preserves the factual accuracy while also being a play on words ☹
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### Author:  [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/10 "2010-05-10T18:08:50Z")
> [@Ludovic](#):
>
> [hijack]I always thought the line was “26 reds and a bottle of White”, but upon closer listening it’s definitely “wine”. I like my version better since it preserves the factual accuracy while also being a play on words ☹
I would imagine for most people (average weight, average metabolism) if they ate 26 reds and washed them down with a bottle of wine, it would be the very last thing that they ever did in this lifetime.
Seconal and alcohol is (was?) a very common suicide method…
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### Author:  [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/11 "2010-05-10T19:10:49Z")
Violent behavior sounds more typical of angel dust (PCP) than any kind of barbiturate. Reds may have been his drug of choice, but they probably didn’t cause his end-of-life rampage.
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### Author:  [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2010, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/12 "2010-05-10T19:15:37Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> And all this time I thought they were referring to Marlboro Reds.
I suspect when the song came out, there weren’t 47 varieties of Marlboros, and thus the term “Reds” wasn’t necessary to specify what kind of Marlboros you wanted 😛
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/13 "2010-05-10T20:25:26Z")
I don’t remember angel dust appearing until the 70’s. In the 60’s, the acknowledged psychopath drug was [STP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine)
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### Author:  [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/14 "2010-05-10T20:40:50Z")
Secobarbital.
> **[Secobarbital](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secobarbital)**
>
> Secobarbital (as the sodium salt, originally marketed by Eli Lilly and Company for the treatment of insomnia, and subsequently by other companies as described below, under the brand name Seconal) is a short-acting barbiturate derivative drug that was patented in 1934 in the United States. It possesses anaesthetic, anticonvulsant, anxiolytic, sedative, and hypnotic properties. In the United Kingdom, it was known as quinalbarbitone. It is the most frequently used drug in physician-assisted suici Se...
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### Author:  [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/15 "2010-05-10T20:49:14Z")
> [@HorseloverFat](#):
>
> Secobarbital.
>
> [Secobarbital - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secobarbital)
Not a big fan of actually reading threads are you? :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@HorseloverFat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HorseloverFat)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/16 "2010-05-11T14:34:54Z")
Whoops, sorry. I knew the answer and didn’t bother reading the other replies.
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2010, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/17 "2010-05-11T22:19:40Z")
Ah…1970s anti-drug education.
Exact descriptions of the materials in question, & precise summaries of their effects. Often printed on some sort of slide rule/metric coverter thingee.
And I was thinking, at the time, that it was a _perfect_ menu for anybody who had a tough time figuring out what s/he _wanted to try_…
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### Author:  [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2010, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/18 "2010-05-11T23:53:27Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#):
>
> I don’t remember angel dust appearing until the 70’s. In the 60’s, the acknowledged psychopath drug was [STP](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine)
PCP originally hit the street in the later '60s as “animal tranquilizer” and the “Peace Pill”, and promptly got a bad rep.
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### Author:  [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2010, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/19 "2010-05-12T04:53:15Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#):
>
> I would imagine for most people (average weight, average metabolism) if they ate 26 reds and washed them down with a bottle of wine, it would be the very last thing that they ever did in this lifetime.
>
> Seconal and alcohol is (was?) a very common suicide method…
Quite true. In fact, 9 or 10 pills of the normal 100mg dose was usually a fatal amount. Even less when combined with alcohol.
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### Author:  [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)
#### Post date: [May 12, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-drug-from-the-70s/538877/20 "2010-05-12T12:57:16Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#):
>
> Hippie! (;))
>
> \*Teddy sniffing glue he was 12 years old
> Fell from the roof on East Two-nine
> Cathy was 11 when she pulled the plug
> On 26 reds and a bottle of wine
> Bobby got leukemia, 14 years old
> He looked like 65 when he died
> He was a friend of mine
>
> Those are people who died, died
> Those are people who died, died
> Those are people who died, died
> Those are people who died, died
> They were all my friends, and they died
> \*
> The Jim Carroll Band - [People Who Died](http://www.catholicboy.com/cblyrics.php#people)
>
> CMC fnord!
Now this song is going to running thru my head all day. Thanks. :rolleyes:
No really, I’ve tried finding this song for years now and never had any luck. Of course, listening to it back in the seventies as a young teen it was more of a joke song because you keyed in on the refrain whitout really listening to the words. He was my friend;he pissed me off; and he died! :eek: I miss being a teen sometimes.
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