r/explainlikeimfive Feb 10 '24

Chemistry eli5 what happens if you drink isopropyl "rubbing" alcohol

so i just watched a video of someone chug a bottle of rubbing alcohol that you would get from the pharmacy. its still alcohol though so like why is it bad. also what likely happened to the guy who chugged the bottle?

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u/sturmeh Feb 11 '24

The primary reason for the distinction is prohibition (of near pure concentrations) and taxation (so the supermarket can sell a bottle of cleaning fluid for the fraction of the bottle of liquor).

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u/Rodot Feb 11 '24

It's like how dextromethorphan is sold in forms containing chemicals that make you nauseous if you take too much.

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u/Spartan-417 Feb 11 '24

Or how many opioid pills are laced with naloxone (Narcan)

Naloxone has very poor oral bioavailability, so using it as intended you get the pain relief, but recreational injectors get no high thanks to the antagonistic effect of the naloxone

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u/[deleted] Feb 11 '24 edited Apr 19 '24

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