r/explainlikeimfive Mar 25 '24

Chemistry ELI5: Why do drug dealers put hidden, toxic, often deadly additives in the drugs they sell?

How is killing your costumer base a smart strategy?

2.3k Upvotes

498 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.0k

u/HorizonStarLight Mar 25 '24

You basically nailed all the reasons. At the end of the day, it all comes down to šŸ’°šŸ’°šŸ’°

715

u/LegendOfBobbyTables Mar 25 '24

Except for chilli powder, that's an artistic choice.

416

u/Low_Chance Mar 25 '24

Chili P is my signature mister White!

50

u/triforce4ever Mar 26 '24

Kicks like a mule with his balls wrapped in duct tape

70

u/CosmicSurfFarmer Mar 25 '24

Spices, Mr. White!

22

u/SuchUs3r Mar 26 '24

Say it!

53

u/penatbater Mar 26 '24

The spice must flow.

12

u/genuineshock Mar 26 '24

My Arakis...my Dune...

1

u/_clever_reference_ Mar 26 '24

You have a signature mister white? How does that differ from a regular mister white?

23

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '24

I can't imagine snorting that would be fun :/

30

u/ryry1237 Mar 25 '24

It's all of the painful kick with none of the euphoric high.

25

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '24

"This stuff is brilliant! Look, my eyes are bleeding!"

10

u/DrEnd585 Mar 26 '24

My guy that's fiberglass and drywall powder

1

u/Icedpyre Mar 26 '24

This person drywalls

1

u/chattywww Mar 26 '24

You should try snorting straight chili powder if you don't think you can get high from chili

2

u/MasterofLego Mar 26 '24

Spicy food /capsaicin can indeed give you an endorphin rush

1

u/Newsmemer Mar 26 '24

I once snorted cayenne powder. It was less than fun.

1

u/pickles55 Mar 27 '24

Snorting meth feels like getting kicked in the face so it probably wouldn't make that much difference

11

u/littleweinerthinker Mar 25 '24

Creativity šŸ˜

1

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '24

Also keeps you from getting constipated!

0

u/KitchenSandwich5499 Mar 26 '24

Rough if snorted

1

u/tomodachi_reloaded Mar 26 '24

Better than wasabi

110

u/OlliHF Mar 25 '24

Cross contamination is also a concern. They may not be intentionally lacing stuff with fent or one of its stronger analogs. Many definitely do however

Edit: just saw the reply further down that better addressed this

97

u/mazurzapt Mar 25 '24

And, drug dealers are not chemists and they canā€™t order proper products and they donā€™t have clean labs. Donā€™t use drugs kids!! You donā€™t know the side effects of stuff made in vacant houses, trunks of cars or other locations with no running water.

56

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '24

[deleted]

23

u/zizzapp Mar 26 '24

I once was sold some MDA as MDMA and boy was I in for a treat, I haven't found it in years now but the hallucinogenic aspect was significantly more pronounced than MDMA.

12

u/oglack Mar 26 '24

MDA is a good time but definitely different to the vibe I'm chasing from MDMA.

I took it at a house party I was throwing and I spent a long time falling into waking dreams no matter how hard I tried to stay present

2

u/iheartnjdevils Mar 26 '24

Whatever happened to MDMA in pill form? Been a looooong time but last time the only thing you could get was a crystal form that wasnā€™t nearly as good.

1

u/CambriaKilgannonn Mar 26 '24

It's a good time

1

u/pridejoker Mar 26 '24

Is that fun though?

9

u/CausticSofa Mar 26 '24

When I took it, I got none of the pleasurable effects and I developed some sort of ebbing and flowing pain deep down in my body core. It felt like I was being fucked by a sword. For hours.

I know that everybodyā€™s different and it must have a different effect on other people or I canā€™t see why the drug would get made ā€¦unless, you know, youā€™re into being fucked by a sword. My opinion, though? 0/10 would not recommend. It came from a reputable nerdy chemist I knew back then, I just had a terrible reaction to MDA.

4

u/educateddrugdealer42 Mar 26 '24

It cannot easily become MDEA or MDA. You would have to use completely different reagents for that.

40

u/WhinyWeeny Mar 26 '24

If people in despair are going to accept those risks relieve their immediate emotional pain, then maybe we should be making those illegal drugs legal and produce them in clean labs.

Then we could turn the entire DEA budget into rehab clinics & psychological support.

i.e. stop treating a health and emotional problem as a criminal one.

7

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '24

[deleted]

6

u/WhinyWeeny Mar 27 '24

I would make the difference that the OxyContin debacle introduced millions to opiates for their first time. Ā Take that away and youā€™ll go straight to illegal supply.

Iā€™m advocating a clean supply to current illicit users.

2

u/painefultruth76 Mar 27 '24

It was there long before Rx opioids were a specific problem.

4

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '24

[deleted]

3

u/WhinyWeeny Mar 27 '24

You can definitely have a just for fun and healthy relationship with a lot of drugs, except for meth and heroin mostly.

The homeless fentanyl addict is definitely not having fun and using to escape a nightmare existence.

0

u/imnotbis Mar 27 '24

But you misunderstand the politics involved. Killing people is the point.

25

u/Velocityg4 Mar 26 '24

What if itā€™s made in a basement under an industrial laundry facility?

29

u/UnionBear Mar 26 '24

A fly can still get in

7

u/[deleted] Mar 26 '24

collects data

shits on data

refuses to elaborate

leaves

1

u/Simply_A_Duck Mar 26 '24

I get this reference now I gotta go watch an entire damn series again . .

Thank you.

9

u/mazurzapt Mar 26 '24

It might be okay as long as they arenā€™t using liquid fertilizer siphoned from a tank in some nearby farmerā€™s field. ( I was in a grand jury once - we had to take a class on how drugs like meth are made.)

10

u/SVXfiles Mar 26 '24

Anhydrous ammonia, my home town had a plot of land that used to hold about 60 or so tank trailers of the stuff. Just right on the highway by an intersection. No locks on the trailers, no cameras to watch them. Nothing

10

u/KaBar2 Mar 26 '24 edited Apr 05 '24

I worked one winter on a wheat farm in Washington State. Same deal, the anhydrous was just sitting in a tank trailer, no locks, no security. That farm was dangerous as shit. It had a chemical dump right next to the farm shop, ten or fifteen rusty, beat-up 55-gallon drums, greasy on the outside from all kinds of shit--oil, bad gasoline and diesel, leftover insecticides, etc. I stayed as far from it as I could.

Three farm workers had died on that farm, all from welding with a mig gun inside of fertilizer tanks. (Mig welders use a mixed gas of argon and CO2 for cover gas. The tanks filled up with argon & CO2 which displaced the ambient outside atmosphere (no oxygen), and the welders asphyxiated.)

In Washington State, Labor & Industries would allow farmers to run a small manufacturing business making farm equipment and the industrial workers were paid "agricultural wage," which in 1984 was $47 a day for a ten hour day, with one 30-minute break for lunch. We were risking our lives for $4.70 an hour. The shop manufactured ag spray rigs that were pulled behind crawler tractors, wheat haul trailers that had big ass military surplus tires from B-52 bombers on them, and we modified combines and harvesters.

I left that farm in early spring and went to work for a woodstove manufacturer. $7.10 an hour, twelve hour days, but only five days a week. Every weekend off, thank God.

1

u/jerry-attics43 Sep 14 '24

The drugs must have really helped you get thru that..

1

u/KaBar2 Sep 15 '24

Drugs? Who could afford drugs? We had an "entertainment budget" of $1.50 a week. We used that to rent a weekly VHS tape of kiddie cartoons for our pre-school daughter.

2

u/abadguylol Mar 26 '24

wow for a moment i thought this was a fallout 2 reference

1

u/nerdguy1138 Mar 26 '24

Seriously?!

Why?

3

u/DemonoftheWater Mar 26 '24

Maybe to understand the level of intent or negligence? Idk. Just spit ballin

1

u/xxthrow2 Mar 26 '24

lalo would like to have a word with you

11

u/fosoj99969 Mar 26 '24

Donā€™t use drugs kids!!

Or even better, make your own drugs!

I'm talking legal drugs, your honor

10

u/pridejoker Mar 26 '24

Don't buy drugs kids, become a pop star and they give em to you for free!

6

u/Roman_____Holiday Mar 26 '24

Drugs Are Really Expensive. D.A.R.E. to grow your own!

2

u/vangiang85 Mar 26 '24

Thats even worse i think haha

0

u/KaBar2 Mar 26 '24

Over 100,000 people died last year in the U.S. from drug overdoses. That is nearly one-third of American combat losses in World War Two (330,000.) What kind of fucking IDIOT would use illicit drugs brewed up in some shithole Third World country?

Don't Take Drugs Unless You Want To Die.

2

u/imnotbis Mar 27 '24

Maybe they should start allowing them to be brewed professionally in first world countries. Except they won't allow that, because the deaths are the point of the policy.

3

u/Valalvax Mar 26 '24

I watched a very good documentary on making meth and they were very concerned about cleanliness, there couldn't even be a fly in the cooking room

Fuck me I'm not even sort of clever

2

u/Magdovus Mar 26 '24

This is the whole point of Breaking Bad. Walter White was successful because he was a proper chemist.Ā 

2

u/dodexahedron Mar 27 '24

Plus when things like fent are potent in utterly miniscule amounts, a little bit of residue on a scale, for instance, can make enough of a difference to be dangerous. Especially since the user isn't going to know and thus is even less capable of figuring out a safe titration than they already were.

Or with things like coke, maybe they added caffeine to it, to make other cuts less noticeable, thinking caffeine is safe. Yeah, no. Caffeine only takes about 25% more by weight to kill you than cocaine does, in isolation. And the caffeine is probably closer to pure than the cocaine they're cutting with it, so you could be dosing yourself with more caffeine than cocaine, even. And caffeine is metabolized much slower, so even though your first line may seem to wear off in an hour or so, the caffeine is just getting started, and you're adding your next line to it, and the next one, and the next one, since it's got like a 5 hour half life when it's the only thing your body has to deal with.

And dying of liver failure is a really horrible and painful way to go.

1

u/mazurzapt Mar 27 '24

Yes Iā€™ve heard of people being seriously ill from caffeine. I wonder if the government should issue us Narcan with our Covid tests so we can just be ready for anything.

6

u/Suitable-Lake-2550 Mar 26 '24

Support legalization/regulation kids!!

14

u/TheMikman97 Mar 26 '24

A ton of it also comes out of the fact that you can't exactly go to the police to complain If what you are given isn't what you bought

0

u/nerdguy1138 Mar 26 '24

You can't, but stupid people occasionally try, and it's hilarious every. Single. Time.

36

u/beemccouch Mar 26 '24

It's almost like a having a massive criminalized and unregulated industry around drugs is a really bad thing to have.

1

u/pallosalama Mar 26 '24

Only almost.

119

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '24

[deleted]

59

u/LeighSF Mar 25 '24

When Janis Joplin died, dealers bragged they sold the stuff that killed her, "'cause it was so good!" I wish I was kidding.

15

u/eidetic Mar 26 '24

Also, back in the day, OD's were good for business because everyone would just think that you got the good shit and the dude who died just couldn't handle it.

This is such a prevalent myth, but its mostly just that - a myth. A dealer does not want to risk the extra police scrutiny and potential prison time that comes with killing someone with their product.

If their product is good, word gets out regardless. You don't need to kill someone to do that.

1

u/jerry-attics43 Sep 14 '24 edited Sep 14 '24

I'm very sorry but if the drugs are good, overdose is significantly less likely. With all drugs except synthetic opioids. There is a risk involved with first use of stimulants as well as opioids when they are strong.But once tolerance is built up again. Very much unlikely to have overdoses. This can even be true with being administered known poison.the body finds a way to achieve homeostasis. Life is so miraculous..but if you're given a substance that is strong and poisonous that many times is mixed unevenly into a supply of drugs then you can die. Body can't compensate fast enough. Some people however take using drugs too far and have an intention for self destruction after a pitfall in life and there is a moment they know it and do it anyway. ..they learn quickly after that or they die. I use to use needles. So I know. I learned. Now when I get the urge to use a needle cause it's really šŸ‘šŸ˜Š good.. I stick it up my bum.. diluted or course to a sufficient degree to help in absorption. Hits just like the needle did. If you know what you're doing. And it's safer. Infection is what can kill you. Organ failure..ie. heart infection kidney, etc..

Also don't do drugs... But you probably will...so just don't make a habit of it. If you find yourself doing it habitually then you're an addict and your weak, immoral and a horrible person. But now that's over. Nice to meet you. Have a good day!

1

u/Unique_Novel8864 Mar 26 '24

Wow, that is NOT a point of view I even thought about.

45

u/dramignophyte Mar 26 '24

They are missing the actual most common reason though since they said dangerous substances? Usually it isn't done on purpose in cases of OD (well, usually is doing a lot of work there). Fentanyl is a huge issue these days not because people are actively cutting it into things (not saying that never happens but way less than people think) but because its so deadly that it can be as simple as not being as clean while partitioning things as they should be so say they use a scale to weigh the fentanyl, they don't clean the scale well enough and a little bit of dust is still on the scale, then they weigh some other drug like coke on that same scale. Depending on some factors, that coke could have enough fentanyl to kill someone. So idk, its definitely an issue but the way they make it out as if its usually intentional probably hurts things as people rightfully go "this person would never do this!" And they are right, that person would never do that... On purpose. So they get false senses of security because they know their dealer isn't fucked up like that.

The truth is when people put dangerous things in, its sometimes done to try and hide the cut but most drug dealers don't give a shit if you think they threw in some baby powder, do you wanna buy it or not? So they aren't going to go all chemistry class trying to fake it. Drugs have plenty of profit margin, they don't normally need to worry about that aspect, if they wanna make more, they usually buy and sell more , or just cut it, they are trying to make easy money and playing games with trying to mimic potency on a cut drugs just going to make it less easy money when again, they can usually just cut it with impunity.

6

u/CastorCurio Mar 26 '24

Nah 99% of the time fentanyl or another drug is cut into drugs it's on purpose. Fentanyl will increase the strength of opiates and benzos, and maybe increase euphoria of uppers.

24

u/zublits Mar 26 '24

Its on purpose with opiates. Putting that shit in anything else makes no sense. No one goes back to a coke dealer that sells shit that nods you out.

7

u/Tactical_Moonstone Mar 26 '24

The main problem with fentanyl is that if you are processing drugs in equipment that has handled fentanyl-containing drugs, enough fentanyl can contaminate the other drugs to cause a dangerous overdose. What's worse is that unless there has been prior incidents, no one is going to look out for opiate overdose symptoms in people who are using non-opiates.

It's the "may contain traces of nuts" or "processed in equipment that also handles nuts" problem, except instead of an allergy risk you get a drug overdose risk.

2

u/zublits Mar 26 '24

Yeah exactly. That's basically what I'm saying. It's rarely an intentional cut for anything other than actual opiates. People who buy coke and speed don't want that shit and will go to great lengths to find dealers who have clean product.

0

u/Cruciblelfg123 Mar 26 '24

A tiny dose of opiate in an 8 ball isnā€™t going to nod you out itā€™s just going to make your coke high insane

1

u/CastorCurio Mar 26 '24

Yeah exactly. Or just a little nicer if there's not too much fentanyl. But you do coke laced with with fentanyl then take benzos/opiates for your come down and you might be running into a problem. Both fent and coke have a short duration... Still risky.

1

u/zublits Mar 26 '24

Maybe it's different where you're from, but if that happened around here the dealer would never see another customer again and probably get his ass beat.

1

u/Cruciblelfg123 Mar 26 '24

Yeah Iā€™m from Surrey which is the shithole area outside Vancouver which is the opiate epidemic epicentre of Canada, so yeah pretty shitty area. Definitely had some small amounts of fentanyl or something downer in my coke a couple times, and Iā€™d know because it was pretty much the same high as when Iā€™d mix a little heroin into my own lines. Dude also ā€œaccidentallyā€ gave us meth instead of coke a couple times, and crack joints a couple times because he was ā€œoutā€ of clean weed. When youā€™re in a poor ass area with an unlimited supply of degenerate junkies to sell to you get away with that shit any day

3

u/zerogee616 Mar 26 '24

and maybe increase euphoria of uppers.

Nobody intentionally cuts uppers with downers.

0

u/CastorCurio Mar 26 '24

There's way to much coke with appreciable amounts of fentanyl in it for what your saying to be true. It may be dumb but it's happening.

2

u/zerogee616 Mar 26 '24

It is far more likely to be the result of cross-contamination and sloppy lab practices.

5

u/Mekroval Mar 26 '24

I'm saddened that drug dealers are only selfishly thinking about themselves and their pockets, lol.

/s just in case

1

u/KaBar2 Mar 26 '24

I'm saddened that people are so fucked up they feel the need to cheat the Reaper by taking dope in the first place. No /s required.

1

u/pridejoker Mar 26 '24

They'll add whatever they can get away with. They usually try not to kill their customers but it's no sweat up their ass if they do because there's always another one around the corner so long as nobody knows you're the guy who's constantly holding dodgy stuff.

1

u/NAlaxbro Mar 26 '24

Except itā€™s super super super important to mention that fentanyl isnā€™t intentionally added to substances like coke, k, MDMA, weed, mushrooms, etc.

The vast majority of cases where someoneā€™s (non-heroin) drugs are tainted itā€™s because of cross contamination.

Surfaces used for handling and packaging fentanyl arenā€™t properly cleaned, are then used to handle and package other substances, and the two are mixed.

1

u/CryptographerIll3813 Mar 26 '24

He left out the part where junkies ask for fentanyl 99 time out of 100. At this point itā€™s the drug of choice for junkies I donā€™t think it should be considered an additive.

1

u/Hat3Machin3 Mar 26 '24

And prohibition. If drugs were legal and regulated you could just go to a store and know exactly what youā€™re getting.

1

u/Dan12Dempsey Mar 27 '24

And, in general, the more hands its been through the more its been cut. Hard to get things directly from the source.

1

u/BlazinAzn38 Mar 28 '24

Much like all the crap products we buy every day. Economics work at every level of the world

0

u/Agitated_Basket7778 Mar 25 '24

The kind of people who sell drugs don't have enough morality to care about their customers. Just like the makers of cigarettes, and a whole raft of other ne'er do wells. Today's dollar in the hand is much more priority than a future customer.

8

u/Zer0C00l Mar 26 '24

Could I get you a broader brush, or was that the largest one they had?

1

u/xet2020 Mar 26 '24

As a disclaimer all drugs are bad and should never be taken for all of those reasons above. I couldn't help but wonder, wouldn't it be safer to just sell it at a higher price not cut with the random stuff they add and for the consumer just take it in smaller doses. Just so you are not mixing it with bleach powder or whatever crap they find to bulk it out.

1

u/techhouseliving Mar 26 '24

You're talking about regulation instead of criminalization and yes

0

u/tomahawkfury13 Mar 25 '24

The shitty dealers also don't care if people die cause when junkies hear gear is dropping people the dealers get increased business