# Writing a story and I need a drug **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 20, 2017, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-a-story-and-i-need-a-drug/802224 "2017-11-20T23:10:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-a-story-and-i-need-a-drug/802224/1 "2017-11-20T23:10:55Z")
I am writing a story and I’m looking for a drug that the nefarious villain uses to knock out his daughter (who he loves and is trying to protect, just needs to temporarily incapacitate). Think mob boss. I can make one up for narrative purposes, but I’m aiming for realism if at all possible. Is there a drug, or combination of drugs, that would cause temporary loss of consciousness, followed by docility/compliance, hopefully with pleasant side effects such as a state of euphoria? Subsequent memory loss optional. I am thinking of something like a mix between roofies and ecstasy. Look at my post history, I swear I’m not a creeper! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-a-story-and-i-need-a-drug/802224/2 "2017-11-20T23:15:58Z")
Ether Chloroform GBH Scopolamine ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-a-story-and-i-need-a-drug/802224/3 "2017-11-21T00:23:53Z")
For the trope you hope, scopolamine is your dope. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-a-story-and-i-need-a-drug/802224/4 "2017-11-21T00:28:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Writing a story and I need a drug. From the title, I was going to say that alcohol is more traditional for writers. In-story, maybe a fentanyl patch. One possible side effect is short term memory failing to transfer to long term memory. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-a-story-and-i-need-a-drug/802224/5 "2017-11-21T00:38:18Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Ether > Chloroform It takes an heroic amount of effort to get messed up on ether or chloroform. And John Irving nonwithstanding, it’s not worth it. Say no to solvents! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-a-story-and-i-need-a-drug/802224/6 "2017-11-21T02:02:13Z")
Yeah. Ether goes boom too easily. My mother remembers when surgery nurses were forbidden to wear nylon underwear because it might make a spark. I remember co-workers doing paperwork because of explosions in labs. Ether = boom. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-a-story-and-i-need-a-drug/802224/7 "2017-11-21T02:04:10Z")
Does this handkerchief smell like chloroform to you? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-a-story-and-i-need-a-drug/802224/8 "2017-11-21T02:26:47Z")
If she’s never had Ambien before, it will knock her on her ass the first time she takes it, and it could easily be something your main character has an Rx for. You could have him give her a double dose. While I am absolutely not recommending this, or endorsing it, I’m here to tell you that it is within the realm of possibility that a double dose is safe. It will temporarily mess you up a little, though. When you go to sleep and wake up, you have a sense of time having passed. When you are passed out on an accidental double dose of Ambien (generic: zolpidem), you pass out and wake up in a blink (or so it feels), even though several hours have passed. I do not actually know that it is possible to move a person around without waking them up when they are passed out on Ambien, but I suspect it is possible. 10mg is the standard dose. ETA: If you are new to Ambien, it makes food taste weird after you have taken it. Everything tastes awful for a few hours if you wake up after less than 7 hours of sleep. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-a-story-and-i-need-a-drug/802224/9 "2017-11-21T03:59:42Z")
Ketamine is probably the closest to what you’re looking for. If you just want a knock out, you could go with intramuscular Geodon. We use it on agitated psychotic patients in the ER. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-a-story-and-i-need-a-drug/802224/10 "2017-11-21T12:51:04Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I do not actually know that it is possible to move a person around without waking them up when they are passed out on Ambien, but I suspect it is possible. Ambien is a pretty good candidate for the story. There’s also the total memory wipe aspect of it. A person could be given a double dose of ambien. They’d zonk right off to sleep. But you could wake them up, walk them around, have conversations, feed them 3 tubes of Pringles, put them back to sleep, and they’d remember none of it. But we’re talking about like an 8 hour timeframe. > [@](#): > > 10mg is the standard dose. PSA: physicians are only prescribing 5mg for women nowadays. My wife took 10mg once, to frightening comic effect. Speaking as a not-woman, 5mg is plenty sufficient for me. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-a-story-and-i-need-a-drug/802224/11 "2017-11-21T22:52:33Z")
Thank you so very much for the suggestions! Unless there’s some deadly interaction between them that I should be apprised of, I am thinking scopolamine combined with MDMA to get a combination of docility and euphoria. I had planned to knock her out originally, but the story flows better with the plucky heroine conscious and uncharacteristically obedient to provide comic relief. ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writing-a-story-and-i-need-a-drug/802224/12 "2017-11-21T23:40:35Z")
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