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***Please visit our #dxm and #dextromethorphan chat channels on IRC via any EFnet serve r.



THE D X M ZINE .

Issue 14.  September 2002.
A Symposium of Articles Pertaining to DXM Use      
(c)2002 Jeffrey Sothen/gravol

Email at [email protected]
Official Zine Web Site at http://dex.kenton.org/dxmzine
Official Zine Web Site Mirror at http://www.third-plateau.org/dxmzine
RFG's Zine Web Site Mirror at http://www.dextromethorphan.ws/zines
Edited by gravol, with article contributions by fellow DXMers.

DISCLAIMER : The authors of this zine do not condone the use of dextromethorphan in any way. This text is simply used as an informative guide to issues relating to dextromethorphan use and should be used for entertainment purposes only. We are not responsible for any actions taken by anyone reading this text.

WARNING : While the authors of this zine do not condone the use of dextromethorphan in any way, a strict warning also is warranted here regarding the dangers of Coricidin Cough & Cold. Each year, the rate of death of individuals who overdose from this dangerous medication increases, and for this reason this zine will no longer publish trip reports involving this medication, nor will we publish any information that may cast Coricidin Cough & Cold in a positive light. Anyone still using this medication should stop immediately, because of the dangers of the secondary active ingredient, chlorpheniramine maleate.

---

CONTENTS

1  From the Editor
2  Announcements
3  Letters to the Editor
4  DXM Survey Results
5  DXM in the Media
6  The Future of DXM - Some Groundbreaking Research
7  The First DXM Novel
8  Blast from the Past: Tripping in a Haunted Mansion
9  A Closer Look at the Plateaus of DXM
10 Chico Chemical Interview
11 Opinions of DXM in the Midwest
12 The Great Internet Debate - DXM Used for Depression?
13 DXM in Science
14 Tales from the Darkside
15 DXM Music Reviews
16 DXM Poetry
17 Info on Ordering Pure DXM Powder
18 Acknowledgements/Zine Information


---

FROM THE EDITOR

Greetings,

There are many important changes in this issue. I have also tried to include more poetry, music reviews, and the arts after an absence of such things in past issues. I have also tried to explain any articles involving chemistry in simpler terms so the layman can understand it easier. Many more changes are coming so please try to be patient.
  Unfortunately, I can't please every person, so if you have any comments, contact me at [email protected]. I hope you enjoy this issue as much as I have putting it together. A lot of groundbreaking material is in it, material I guarantee you haven't heard anywhere else. I even added some material from the past to mix things up a bit, along with more trip reports. So enjoy!

                                                              gravol
                                                              St Augustine, FL
                                                              June 27, 2002

ANNOUNCEMENTS


DXM ZINE WON'T BE AVAILABLE IN OCTOBER
by gravol

The DXM Zine will NOT be available next month - the editor is taking a much-needed break. However, there will be a double-issue in November for the 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL which will contain all the information from October. I hope you can wait that long!

DXM RESEARCH PROJECT
by gravol

The DXM Research Project is still in its beginning stages. So far, VaeSolis from the Dextroverse has been able to raise a substantial amount of money, but the project is very slow to take birth - so please be very patient, and we will update you with any new information. For the Project to go forward, grants for research are needed. Also look for a future interview with Dr. J.M. Olney by VaeSolis. If you have any comments or questions regarding his project you can contact VaeSolis through [email protected] .

DXM CONTEST WINNERS
by gravol

Congratulations to DawnS212 and Serpico, who won 5 grams and 10 grams of pure dextromethorphan powder, respectively. DawnS212 participated in the monthly survey and her name was drawn out of a hat. Serpico contributed article information that will be published in an upcoming issue.
 And for those of you who are new at this, the DXM Zine will now be giving away free DXM HBr in powder form exclusively to contributors of the Zine. All articles must be submitted by the 20th of each month, and one entry per email person will be submitted for a monthly drawing. The approximate amount that will be given away will be 10 grams each month. Special thanks to the Dextroverse for help making this possible. If you would like a chance to win free DXM then please contribute and make yourself known to the DXM community!
  Upon receiving an article contribution, you will receive notification that you've been entered in the contest and the winners will be announced in each upcoming Zine. Good luck!

OLD ISSUES CONVERTED TO HTML, GRAPHICS ADDED
by gravol

I am in the process of converting old issues to RTF, while leaving the simple HTML text version alone - xganon has taken the liberty of converting all past issues to HTML, and I will add graphics later. All the issues have been moved to http://www.dextroverse.org/~zine. As each new issue is converted I plan to house it at that site, next to the original TXT format, so you have a choice whether to print it out in TXT or view it in HTML. If you have any suggestions feel free to contact me.



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Concerning Issue 13:

From: Ellie

I read the dextroverse for the first time today and quite enjoyed.  Thank you so much for making such an excellent ezine. You've made info easy to access, and made an obvious effort to provide practical information (email addresses etc.)  You've created a true interactive forum which is an often attempted but rarely achieved task.  I've been reading William White's stuff, 3rd plateau, thy lyceum, chatting,  basically reading everything I could find on the internet on dxm for years.  Your site was BY FAR the most helpful, informative, and, notably, lacking in ego.

From:   [email protected] (Dan)

Hey, just wanted to introduce myself and say a big "thanks" for doing the zine.  I've had a blast perusing the back issues of the zine, particularly the trip reports and articles relating to supernatural/paranormal phenomena.  Thanks again for all the hard work.

From:  [email protected] (Phoenix Sahar)

I realize as a public enterprise you have to be legaly responsible and non-biased, but in all honesty i would enjoy the zine more if it was more DXM community related than science and research community related.  I'd like to see more kinds of things like different extractions and preperations, comparing powder to syrup, stuff that i talk with my friends in back alleys, you know.  I liked the articles on combinations. I still like the zine and i'm planning on contributing as soon as i can.

From:  [email protected] 

You are the designer and I have no comments as its great. Thanks for everything Gravol.  Great Job, Keep it up!

From:  [email protected] 
 
I think all the information there is very good.  But the reader might be more attracted to read the DXM Zine if there were some frames put in for design, or if it were turned into a .PDF design.  Forget Times New Roman.  Also, if in HTML format, the contents at the top of the mag should link to the different sections.  The issue of the magazine I've seen is great, but at the top I notice alot of general information pertaining to DXM.  Maybe its necessary, but it would seem a bit awkward if you are planning on putting this information in all your issues.

From:  [email protected] 

The zine is awesome...keep it up and let me know if I can help with anything!

Concerning DXM and Adverse Effects:

From:  [email protected] (Greg)

I have alot of third plateau experiences with DXM, my last about 6 years ago. I will admit I did way too much, three sometimes four times a week for a nearly three year period. Although it's toxicity is low it can fuck up your body in other ways. I was watching a movie Chinatown Jack Nickolson, etc. at one point I entered into the movie and could look around at the actors and the scene. That was heavy! But another time I was so out of it, I felt like my brain had been removed from my head and it was floating above and behind my body like being remote controlled. That time I flashed that that my mind would never reunite with my body and I would be in a mental hospital for the rest of my life. I feel I survived that that without becoming psycotic only because I went to my daughters room to see her one last time before I called for help, something maybe my desire and love for her brought me back to a point at which I had to survive that helped me. Please be very very careful. I know what I've said here will not stop you. If you have questions write me back. I have alot of experience with DXM using and using solvent extraction to purify it, which I will NOT get into.



DXM SURVEY RESULTS



The above results show most subscribers are somewhat experienced dexers, most use syrup form, most are in the 18-25 age range and most of them use DXM once a month or less. The Zine was rated overwhelmingly Good to Very Good and some comments made included making the Zine accessible in PDF format, adding music reviews, more chemistry/extraction techniques with more explanation in laymen's terms, and more trip reports. I will try to accomodate and incorporate these changes the best I can, however for the time being the Zine will remain in HTML format. If someone can convert this to PDF then please contact me.
  Everyone that responded to this survey was also entered into a contest for 5 free grams of DXM powder. Look in your email box for next month's survey - it's coming soon and you'll be entered in next month's contest for free DXM.



DXM IN THE MEDIA

DXM ON TELEVISION
compiled by gravol

Walgreens is still airing a commercial which is quite humurous to dexers. It goes "In a town called Perfect, there's always time to smell the roses..." and continues with "And there's always cough syrup at 3 AM," as a woman opens up a medicine cabinet full of row-after-row of 8 oz cherry-flavored cough syrup. The commercial ends "Of course, we don't live anywhere near Perfect..."
  Also, in the Sixth Sense there is reference to a kid doing commercials for cough syrup, and being known as the "cough syrup boy" to the main character. Kinda weird since DXM is highly linked to the paranormal world.
  And, in Requiem for a Dream , Sara (Jennifer Connelly) is seen drinking Robitussin Maximum Strength Cough while fiending for more heroin.
  There is also a 24-minute film exclusively about DXM, called Use As Directed. The film was produced by Matt Martin, an ex-regular poster of The Third Plateau. http://www.third-plateau.org/community/movies.shtml
  VanillaDEX writes, " I remember some funny ass shit I saw on Nickelodeon once. I was watching the Amanda Show and at the beginning Amanda was in a helicopter with this old man. The old man was flying it and they were trying to land. All of the sudden the old man falls asleep. Amanda's panicking trying to wake him up then she finally wakes him up. The old man goes, 'Oh...sorry I think I drank a little bit too much cough medicine this morning. That stuff's crazy. It'll make you go wooohooowooohooowoohoo!' and then they crashed into the roof of the building and amanda fell through and got up to start the show." Probably not a DXM reference, but funny nonetheless."
  Murmurmaid writes, "In the Princess Diaries , her [Julie Andrews] neighbor is this weird ass old guy that sits in his yard making lists all day. she comes out of her house one morning and says 'good morning Mr. Robitussin!'"
  Pip writes, "I saw a Third Rock from the sun, where Dick drank a whole bottle of cough syrup because he was sick, and he got all fucked up. I saw a Sienfeld episode not too long ago and George was talking about his favorite kind of cough medicine... he said he likes them all, but Robitussin DM is probobly his favorite."
  SonOfAGun writes, "In an episode of Grounded For Life (FOX) the grandfather is sick and chugs a bottle of cough syrup. He basically gets really out of it, and off-balance, but then he's going to go to turn off the music and ends up being like 'actually, this is pretty good' and starts dancing and then falls onto the couch."

Jerry Stahl. "I never wanted to drink alcohol. I always thought that was bad, so when I got off of heroin by doing crack, I would drink Robitussin-DM, which means I basically spray-painted the toilet blue about 75 times a day. But I didn't want to drink, because I knew that was bad. I had my standards. http://www.salon.com/books/int/1999/10/19/stahl/


DXM IN MUSIC
compiled by gravol, rfgdxm

Straight from the music archives from the Summer of Love, 1967, comes this interesting song about Robitussin by Moby Grape, entitled Hey Grandma by J. Miller and D. Stevenson. If you know of any Robitussin references in music please contact us. This is available to listen to at http://dextromethorphan.ws/mobygrape-heygrandma.mp3 .

Hey Grandma, you're so young
Your old man's just a boy
Been a long time this time (pow-pow-pow)
Been a long time this time (pow-pow-pow)
Been a long time this time round, this time round
Everything is upside down, upside down
Sure lookin' good
You're lookin' so good
You're sure lookin' good

SF freak scene was on my mind
Fillmore Slim is just a-wasting time
Well I got high this time (pow-pow-pow)
Well I got high this time (pow-pow-pow)
Well I got high this time round, this time round
Everything is upside down, upside down
Cause your lookin' good
You're lookin' so good
You're sure lookin' good

Robitussin make me feel so fine
Robitussin and Elderberry wine
Hey Grandma
Hey Grandma
Hey Grandma
Hey Grandma...

The Eagles. Also, Joe Walsh of the Eagles uses old Coricidin bottles for something you wouldn't expect. During an online interview, he was asked what kind of slide he used - metal or glass, and Mr. Walsh responded with "Good question. Duane Allman turned me on to using Coricidin bottles (an old cold medicine). I use glass almost always to record with. They have a much warmer sound. I use a fairly massive brass slide live. Easier to stay in tune with." You can view the entire interview at http://www.eaglesfans.com/info/articles/joe_aol_chat_2.htm


DXM IN THE NEWS
compiled by gravol, rfgdxm, void



The above map shows all known locations where DXM has appeared in the newspaper recently, whether it be a report outlining current abuse trends, or a death. This is not meant to be an accurate depiction of actual abuse trends because of various unknown factors, but provides a glimpse into the areas where the media is drawing attention to DXM abuse. The deaths, however, which are listed in red, are very accurate, but does not necessarily reflect trends of DXM abuse in those areas. If you have a news report you'd like us to add to this section, or know of a news article that pertains to DXM abuse, please contact the Zine via email at [email protected].

DXM Murder. A murder was reported in Hempfield Twnshp, near Pittsburgh, PA, in the Tribune-Review on June 5. The murder allegedly took place in April and was linked to the victim's brother, who was high on Coricidin at the time and thought his brother was a homosexual. DXM-related violence is rare, except for some cases of animal cruelty. Paul Peirce, the reporter, can be reached at [email protected]. Ian Bishop, 14, also wanted to kill his parents, and murdered his only sibling with a claw hammer.

Suspicious DXM Childrens' Deaths. From http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn....00.html we have an amazing story by Sarah Huntley, Rocky Mountain News August 16, 2002 - Aurora detectives are zeroing in on the possibility that two young children found dead in their beds last week ingested lethal doses of cough syrup, the Rocky Mountain News has learned. The continuing investigation stems from the results of toxicology tests, which have not been made public, and medications taken from the family's home during a police search. Investigators declined to comment Thursday, and court files remain under seal, but the News has learned that police are researching dextromethorphan, a key ingredient in many over-the-counter medications. Dextromethorphan is a cough suppressant often found in multisymptom cold relievers. The label on Children's NyQuil says parents with children younger than 6 (under 48 pounds) should consult a doctor first. The family of the Henderson siblings acknowledged Thursday that the children's parents are aware of the theory of a possible cough syrup overdose. But Harold Wood, the children's grand-uncle, said the kids' father, who was home with Rhapsody and Killian the day they died, told relatives he did not give them anything. Wood said that does not mean, however, that the children couldn't have ingested another product that had been tampered with or "gotten into something themselves." "These are smart children," he said, pointing out that they likely would have been able to overcome a childproof cap. Wood said the parents have hired an attorney because they are being hounded by police. Neither parent has a criminal history, and there is no indication that social services has had any previous contact with the family. Several neighbors have said the children's mother, Fay Henderson, 28, was hysterical and screaming, "They're dead," when she came running out of her home in the 16100 block of East Bethany Place at about 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 8. Police have indicated they are still evaluating the toxicology test results received Wednesday and have more questions to ask the parents and others before any decision is made in the investigation. The District Attorney's Office declined to comment Thursday.

Rap Artists Blamed. FOX13 news out of Tampa, FL is attacking several rap artists, such as Big Moe, for mentioning cough syrup in their lyrics. None of the lyrics refer specifically to DXM, yet the entire I-TEAM report is about DXM. According to Glenn Selig, the music industry is glamorizing DXM abuse - which is far from the truth. http://www.wtvt.com/investreptr/cough-syrup.html

Coricidin Alert. Southwest and Central Virginia has issued an alert to parents about Coricidin. They also post a Families Anonymous number for concerned parents, and Kroger stores have started putting the medication behind the counter.

Research Chemicals. In a USA Today article ( http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20020723/4297826s.htm ) about research chemicals, DXM is mentioned, but not by name:  "Dealers also try to pass off pain relievers, caffeine, amphetamines and a chemical used in cough suppressant as Ecstasy."

Phoenix, AZ. In Phoenix, AZ two local TV stations ran an Investigative report on local DXM usage by teens. The first one was by Adam Symson of KNXV and the video may still be available online at http://www.knxv.com ; however only the video is available, and there is no transcription of it - you also cannot download it, only view it. If you'd like to contact Mr. Symson to learn more about the news report contact him at [email protected] . One interesting thing mentioned in the news report was the fact that you could mix DXM powder into a glass of water - since most viewers don't even know powder form is available, this coverage is probably causing more harm than good. The second TV station, which interviewed Robert F. Golaszewski, inadvertently cast all DXM in a bad spotlight instead of just Coricidin. In fact, most Internet sites report DXM causes liver damage - and this just isn't true.

Mesa, AZ. In a Tribune article by Emma Thompson, also near Phoenix, reports that teenage Coricidin abuse is on the rise there and it is most oftenly referred to as Skittles out west. The Poison Control in Phoenix has received 13 calls since Jan. 1 regarding DXM overdoses, 30 calls in 2001 and 25 in 2000, all involving minors for the most part. There is no current push to curb its abuse - DXM is still not tracked in any national drug studies and not screened for in drug tests. However, local pharmacies are putting Coricidin products behind the counter - cough syrup, however, is a different story.

Chicago, IL. WGN-TV has done a report on Coricidin alerting parents to its danger, which resulted after a teenager ended up near-death in the hospital from a Coricidin OD. The alert does not cover other forms of DXM.


DXM ON THE INTERNET
compiled by gravol, void

Some old news to report here - but many of you have not heard this before, so I will briefly mention it. Biotech, which was previously one of the best-known suppliers of DXM, was run by an ex restaurant waiter and was busted for selling an illegal drugs through the mail - ketamine. No further information is available.

Florence, KY .  "Xanodyne Pharmacal, Inc. announced today that it has acquired the cough product DexAlone� (dextromethorphan hydrobromide) from DexGen Pharmaceuticals. DexAlone is a unique, non-narcotic cough suppressant gelcap with a well-established safety and efficacy profile for the treatment of non-productive cough. DexAlone contains the active ingredient dextromethorphan which is considered one of the most effective and safest antitussives available. DexAlone provides an effective, easy-to-swallow and convenient option for treating cough without the drawbacks of messy liquid cough syrups and the concerns posed by narcotic cough products."   http://www.xanodyne.com/pr071802.htm





THE FUTURE OF DXM - SOME GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH

ALTERING THE DXM MOLECULE IN A WAY NOBODY EVER HAS BEFORE
by James Clayton Roberts

[ Author's Note and Disclaimer: I furnish these experimental ideas for informational and entertainment purposes only. Do not attempt to follow these formulas, or make these products. Do not ingest or otherwise bring DXM or any of it's derivatives into contact with your or anyone else's body. Any attempt to make the product of these formulas would be foolhardy, and possibly illegal. Thus, the author can  take absolutely no responsibility for anything anyone may do as a result of coming into contact with this information. All of this goes double for the publisher. The publisher is making this information available for entertainment and educational purposes only.]

[ Editor's Note: The following section is a first for the DXM community - altering the DXM molecule in ways that have never been attempted to my knowledge, and altering it in such a way that could change the way we view DXM forever. Just like with tryptamines, there are many possible and endless variations and derivatives that can be synthesized. James Clayton Roberts, who is 34 years of age, is attempting to do something that will be groundbreaking to say the least. Some of the information is technical and if you are not well versed in organic chemistry, may even be hard to follow. I have added my own notes, where necessary, to try to bring things in perspective for a beginner. It is also not suggested you try any of this without consulting Mr. Roberts first, as he is a professional and knows what he is doing. I plan to bring future updates with each new issue of this zine to bring you up-to-date on these remarkable possibilities.]

Introduction

What would happen if you inserted an iodine atom into DXM? Is it possible? What would the effects and ensuing molecular structure be? We will attempt to answer some of these exciting questions in this article. There is actually a simple, cheap synthesis on Rhodium's drug chemistry archive for inserting an iodine atom into a methoxy amphetamine. It uses only alcohol, silver sulfate, and iodine. In theory, this will work with the DXM molecule because DXM has a methoxy group on it's benzene ring as well. It kind of follows the model of phenethylamines. In fact I predict that iodo-DXM will be very potent and with much weirder effects. Change-the-world-type-stuff. And you read it here first!

[ Editor's Note: Iodine is the least active member of the halogen family - at room temperature, it is a solid and consists of purplish-black crystals. It would probably the the most difficult chemical to get because it is used in meth synthesis. Silver sulfate can be expensive, but it can also be made, which would probably be a better route to go if you're low on funds.]

More on the Methoxy Group

Most psychedelics have a methoxy group. As far as inserting the iodine atom, 4-iodo 2,5 dimethoxy amphetamine and phenethylamine seem rather potent, so there's no reason why iodo-DXM wouldn't be. Other drugs that this type of substitution would work on would be Methoxy-tryptamines, but certain synthesis examples for melatonergic drugs suggest that the iodine might end up at the 2-position, which, nevertheless makes the melatonin derivatives more competitive for the melatonin receptor. Methoxy phenylpiperazines would also be a candidate for substitution with iodine using this method. If anyone does try it before I get the chance, I suggest starting at less than 0.5 mg, as Shulgin did with certain tryptamines.

Other Ways to Change the DXM Molecule

I wouldn't mind sticking some alkyl groups on there somewhere, or changing the methoxy to methallyloxy. See Shulgin's PIHKAL reference for the methallyloxy phenethylamine or amphetamine derivative - "I am surrounded by unreality. Much too much too much." It's too bad the methoxy group and open positions on the benzene ring are the only amenable places for change.
  Changing the methyl on the nitrogen to a longer group might be interesting. Iodination of methoxy opiates might be a possibility with this method I mentioned, with an attendant increase in potency and changes in effects. The methyl group on the oxygen could be removed by boiling DXM free base in phosphoric acid for three days or with concentrated HCL under reduced pressure for less time. Then, heating with an alkyl halide and a base.



Figure one shows where the iodine atom can go to on the DXM molecule (the benzene ring). The link for the synthesis reference is: http://www.rhodium.ws/chemistry/doisynth.html . The DXM would have to be converted to the free base first, but this is relatively simple and there are formulas on the web for that. Other possibilities include the use of liquid chlorine to plant a chlorine atom on the ring (see PIHKAL for an example), or the use of N--bromo succinimide. If you plant a chlorine atom on the ring the resulting chemical would be chloro-DXM . N--bromo succinimide is a brominating agent, used to add bromine to benzene rings. The resulting chemical from that synthesis would be bromo-DXM .

[ Editor's Note: Chlorine is the second-most active member of the halogen family. It is typically a gas so liquid chlorine would have to be used for this method, and it is very expensive and difficult to get.]



Figure two shows the other point for possible change, the methoxy group. Removing the methyl group from the oxygen can be done in one of two (or more) ways. First, and more difficult, is to boil, or reflux the DXM free base in concentrated phosphoric acid for 72 hours, then neutralize the acid with an alkali hydroxide, like sodium hydroxide (lye), or ammonia solution, then extract with an organic solvent. This comes from a book called Recreational Drugs , by Professor Buzz. It is a quantitative chemical technique, called a methoxyl determination, used to discern the composition of a material. The book, by the way, that section deals with the making of DXM's levo isomer, Levo-Dromoran, a potent opiate. The other method, the easier de-methylation method, can be found here: http://www.third-plateau.org/knowledgebase/DXO.shtml



Figure three shows the results of removing the methoxy group. From there a number of things can be done. The dextrorphan can be refluxed with acetic or butyric anhydride to make the corresponding alkyloxy derivatives. This is the manner in which heroin is made from morphine. It takes about 72 hours. O-acetyl dextrorphan should be very potent. The active principle here is that acetylating it makes it more fat soluble, thus it gets into the system better and faster. Note the differences in potency between morphine and heroin. A more fat-soluble drug is called lipophilic (fat-loving), while a water-soluble drug is called hydrophilic (water loving).
  The other thing that can be done with the hydroxy group is to stick an alkyl group onto it. These rections are somewhat analogous to those found in TIHKAL for the N-alkylation of tryptamine (making DMT, DET or DIPT from tryptamine). The Dextrorphan free base is heated with an alkyl halide (methyl-, ethyl- or propyl- bromide or iodide) and a base which is a stronger base than the Dextrorphan in a solvent. The separation of the product from the reaction mixture is also largely analogous to the aforementioned references. The bromine or iodine atom leaves the alkyl halide and bonds to the stronger base, while the alkyl part joins to the oxygen. Dextromethorphan can be made this way from Dextrorphan. Once you are familiar with the reaction, the derivatives that can be had are limited in number only by one's imagination, the facts of organic synthesis, and one's funds for and the availability of alkyl halides of differing structures.
  Alkyl halides that contain oxygen, or sulfur in ring systems, can also be used, and some of this can be seen in the reactions outlined in PIHKAL and TIHKAL by Alexander Shulgin. Some synthesis of this kind will fail, but I have a strong belief based on the literature that more will succeed than fail. Other alternatives that involve more expensive, difficult to handle or suspicious reagents include the use of sodium alkylates, like sodium ethylate, and organic sulfates, like propyl sulfate.
  It is important to remember that these are general methods that can be adapted to other compounds which have a benzene ring with a methoxy group attached to it.
  Finally, there are other ways to alter the DXM molecule. If you remove the methyl group from the oxygen atom and replace it with another group, you would change the name from dexro*meth*orphan to say, dextroethorphan (ethyl) or dextroproporphan (propyl) or dextrobutorphan (butyl). Each should have a somewhat different profile of activity.

Conclusion

There is still yet a lot of research to be done in this field. To put things in perspective, look at all the tryptamine derivatives there have been, and think of how potent and different they all are. Now apply this to DXM and you have an endless sea of possiblities, with only your own imagination being the limit.

(C)opyright 2002, James Clayton Roberts.  The idea of iodo-dextromethorphan is the intellectual property of James Clayton Roberts. I am putting this idea into the public domain as a patentable concept. I intend to patent it. All rights expressly reserved under UCC 1-205 and 1-207, without prejudice.

James Clayton Roberts, who wishes to christen this new drug ( iodo-DXM ) as "Forgiveness," can be reached at [email protected] .


THE FIRST DXM NOVEL

A PRECEDENT IN THE DXM COMMUNITY ABOUT TO TAKE PLACE
by --- Edited Out By Authors Request -----

[ Editor's Note: I have included one sample chapter and part of another for your enjoyment of what is about to become the first DXM novel. The novel is still in its beginning stages and it will no doubt be a monumental task. I have dedicated part of my time to editing the novel so I apologize if I haven't been editing as much with the Zine's articles lately. I'm sure you will enjoy it once it's complete!]


Chapter 1     -   The Plasma Center

 There I sat with David another bitter December morning at the plasma center. David's face moist with yellow sweat, his skin ashen, and his eyes distant from last night's 12 oz. of cough syrup. All I could think about was getting my 15 bucks and getting the fuck out of there. Donating one of my bodily fluids to get a cough syrup fix! If it were a sperm bank it wouldn't have been so bad, but plasma! 15 dollars was just enough for 2 bottles of Robitussin Maximum strength or 3 bottles of the generic cherry elixir and a pack of smokes. I hated generic cough syrup. I mean it did about the same thing as the name brand stuff but it was an arduous task to get the generic down.
  "Valentine, William Valentine" The woman at the counter snapped. I walked over to the counter I knew the routine I rolled up both of my selves. "Our you are intravenous drug user?"
  "No."
  "Have you tested positive for HIV?"
  "No".
  "Do you have hepatitis?"
  "No" I answered. The whole time I was thinking to myself is this really worth 15 bucks?
  "Give me your right finger," so I held it out. She wiped it with an alcohol swab and then pricked my finger and gathered the blood. When never I am in a place like this it never fails some asshole to start a conversation with me. Why me? There are 40 other people in this place and some weirdo always has to tell me his life story or ask me for spare change.
  "How is it going?" I tried to ignore the putrid voice he moves in closer. "How is it going?" I squinted my eyes and looked at him and said nothing. A tattoo of a dragon slithered out of his terry cloth shirt and wrapped around his neck a red bandana was tided around his head, and long greasy hair adorned his crippled shoulders. I could feel the bench start to vibrate.
  "Are you fucking with me you little prick? Listen brother no one fucks with Leroy." Vomit breath had a name. Leroy ripped his shirt off and looked me in the eyes. I could feel my stomach plummet and the blood rush to my face my eyes welled up with tears.    "You see this? Look at this." Seven scares, which appeared to be old bullet holes in a diagonal line crossed his chest and stared back at me. "You know what this is?" I didn't say a word I sat there motionless.  I was wondering how this guy was held together he should have been sawed asunder by the wounds.
  "Cambodia motherfucker!" Oh shit here we go. I looked back at him; he was all red and pulsing by now. I spoke sympathetically, "Look man I am sorry I just don't feel like talking right now!"  He waits a few seconds and begins to relax.  I looked at David; he was a stone and didn't say a word. The guy next to him was sitting in a small pool of urine. I heard my name over the intercom and walked hastily back to the pincushion room.  
  Free orange juice and a cookie was the only good thing about this place. I hated donating plasma; it always made me nauseous. 45 minutes passed and David and I collected our $15 and left.  Outside the air was crisp while I lit up a smoke.
  "That sucked...I hate doing that." I shivered.
  "I am sick of all this shit David".
  David looked at me, then surmised "Maybe we can score a bag".
  I glared at David... "With $30 bucks!? How the fuck are we going to do that? 30 bucks won't even get us an 8th".
  David was sick of all the bullshit too. "Fuck it dude! Lets just get our cough syrup and go to the mall". I agreed with him. We walked over the rusted railroad tracks past the homeless shelter to a small drug store. My eyes scanned for any new developments in the world of cough remedies - maybe some day they would make some kind of syrup that would be easier to choke down. Nothing caught my eye, just the usual suspects - Robitussin Maximum Strength, generic maximum strength and Vicks Formula 44D. I grabbed 2 four oz. bottles of Robitussin. This stuff was really nasty tasting but it did the trick. Vicks was an acquired taste and not for the weak of stomach.

The 5 rules of buying cough elixirs:

1. It must contain at least 15 mg of dextromethorphan
2. Don't buy anything with guaffenesin
3. Don't buy anything contain something you have never heard.
4. Don't pay attention to inactive ingredients that more than likely won't hurt you.
5. Never ever under any circumstances try to steal cough syrup of any kind; you will get busted!

We bought our tussin and headed outside. A haze of melancholy resided over Salt Lake City.  It was very dreary and depressing in the winter... like an old penal colony.  I felt like a prisoner behind the Zion curtain. David cracked the seal on his cough syrup and drank the whole bottle in two gulps. I opened my tussin and gagged it down. We walked past several dispossessed people sitting on the sidewalk. The burning and wrenching in my stomach slowly turned to a gentle warm kitten and everything began to take on a pastel-like fuzziness.   The warm kitten in my belly melted into electric honey and flowed though the arteries in my legs down to my feet, and suddenly I could feel the warm honey rush to my head.  Through my Wonka Vision I could make out magnificent snowflakes hitting the earth. Lifeless trees and brown grass glided by.
  David looked at me and asked, "Are you tripping?"
  I nodded my head and grinned. We walked under the overpass and out of the cover of my eye I could see hump of black clothes. I told David to stop and I pointed to the black pile.
  David  looked, "It's just a junkie on the nod."
  I jerked away "No that is a dead guy". I walked closer to the corpse while David lurked behind me.
  "Dude let's get the fuck out of here!"
  "No!" I yelled at him, "I want to see it, I have never seen a real dead guy."  As I got closer to the body I could see a syringe sticking out of his arm it was filled with black blood his skin was sallow and frozen.. I stood hovering over the dead junky. I opened his trench coat and found a small black case and a baggy of white power. I fumbled through his pockets and found a wad of 100-dollar bills. I looked at David.
  "Score!" I slowly pulled the syringe from this unyielding frozen arm.
  David wheezed, "What are you doing? Are you crazy? you're going to get AIDS or some shit!" I reassured David things where okay while I unzipped the leather case and looked inside it to find the whole works: spoon, extra needles, lighter, cotton balls and surgical tubing. I placed the bloody syringe carefully in the case.
  David pleaded with me, "Lets get out of here! Someone is going to find us". I agreed and we started to jog towards the mall.    David asked, "What are you going to do with the hypo and the baggy"?
  I replied, "I don't know, maybe sell it or I might slam the shit."
  David laughed, "are you fucking nuts? You have never slammed anything before!"
  "I am going to clean the hypo then try some of it. Or maybe we could find a guinea pig."
  David stopped walking "I will try it." I paused for a moment.
  "Are you sure? We need to clean this hypo first," David agreed. "Lets go to the pharmacy in the mall."
  We walked for about 15 minutes through the cold and slush until we reached the mall. Once we were inside the mall David went into the drugstore and came out with a bottle of rubbing alcohol. Time to go to the roof. We floated like specters across the mall to the elevator and rode it to the roof and hid in a ventilation tunnel. David had discovered the small tunnel on the roof of the mall some time ago; it lead to a network of old ventilation ducts. David and I spent a lot of time in the duct, as we practically lived there. No one seemed to know about it and if they did they never came to check it out.
  It was snowing very heavily the sky was a gray pink color. We sat down in the duct while David fumbled around in the dark and found his flashlight. David handed me the alcohol I dropped the hypo into the bottle as the old blood slowly melted away and turned the alcohol a black-red color. When I was sure the hypo was clean I dumped the bottle out.
  David asked, "What next? Do you know how to do this?" I told him I knew a girl that was a junkie back in cosmology school. I had watched her slam shit all of the time.
  I pulled out the baggy and small leather case. I unzipped the case and took out the spoon, cotton, lighter and tubing.  David took his coat off and rolled up the sleeve on his right arm.
  "David are you sure you want to do this?" David nodded yes. I tied the rubber tubing around his biceps. "Pump your fist until I can see your veins bulge out." I went outside and grabbed a handful of snow and put a piece of it into the spoon. I pinched a small amount of the power out of the baggy and put it on the piece of snow and held the lighter under the spoon. The snow melted quickly and started to boil. I ripped off a piece cotton and dropped it into the mixture, then I drew the junk into the hypo. I looked David in the eyes and said "Are you sure you want this?"
  He replied, "Just fix me up before I change my mind." I tapped the inside of David's arm as a fat blue-green vein surfaced. I slowly poked the needle into the vein and pushed the plunger. Blood drew back into the hypo and David loosened the tourniquet his shoulders dropped and his eyes glazed over and rolled back onto his head, then slid slowly onto the tin floor. The first thing I felt was complete terror.
    Oh shit I killed him I fixed him up and killed poor David.
  I grasped David's face; spit was flowing from his open mouth. "David! Wake up! David! David!" David nonchalantly shook his head and pushed me away. Words slurred, "I am okay Willy... just a little sick."
  As soon as he said Willy I knew he was going to be fine. He was the only one who ever called me Willy. Most people call me William. No one called me Bill, I hated the name Bill.
  "Are you ok David? Are you high?" Hoowaa, hooowaaa David vomited a huge pool of cherry cough syrup into his lap. "Oh shit! Dude get up and go out side. David wrestled with gravity as he pulled himself up. He crawled on his hands and knees out of the duct. I started wiping vomit up with some of David's old clothes.  The duct was putrid with David's vomit. I climbed out and found David propped up against a blue Pinto.
  "Come back into the duct man, your going to be okay," I said in a calm voice. I helped David back into the duct and laid him on his back. While cooking up a shot I found a fat vein and pushed the needle into my arm. I could feel the junk penetrate all the cells in my body.  With the needle dangling in my arm  I closed my eyes. I could feel my body float; black and white pictures strobe in my head.
  Several hours had passed before I woke from my junk coma. David was lying in a pool of spit. I grabbed his arm and laid him back against the wall.
  "David, wake up. You have to wake up."
  His eyelids fluttered and opened, "I told you I am ok. I just need to rest."
  I shook David, "I want to get out of here, it stinks and it's cold." David slowly crawled out of the duct into the snow.
  "Let's got to Mike's place," I whispered. "Why are you whispering? I told you I feel fine." The roof was covered with soft white powder. It was 1:00 am and the sky was a hazy pink color. Snowflakes blew past the lights on the roof.

(C)opyright 2002

Chapter 2 will appear in Issue 15. For more information on the novel, you may contact its author at [email protected].


A DXM SHORT STORY
by DeX

Another user has also contacted me regarding some DXM fiction. I have included it here, though I am unaware that it is a part of anything larger. The author should not be confused with -DeX-, who is the author of the article following this.

Sacrifice

Sacrin Sweet with the bitterness of poison, yes I do beleive it was a vision sent to me by Gaia herself. Plasmatic lights pulsating her face just outside my windsheild. The road passed me slower and slower until it just about stopped. As the lights merged into one, blinding me softly, the candy I shot into my veins pulsed deep into my posterior cingulate cortex - bliss - the  clock tick... tick..... ticked....... as my auto passed through the protective barrier like a silk veil. Sliding slowly passing me to whatever lay beyond.
  Somewhere between conciousness and subconciousness windchimes rang deep beside me. As I sat up a woman I once knew before, perhaps in a passed life, bathed in the river. The sun painted the sky pink and her skin glowed in the ether-real light, while she, or the sun highlit the glitter-cotten as it drifted into the water, flowing downstream.
  When our eyesmet the messanger forced me to see how I got to this place. Flashing before me the scale, reading 5 grams with a white substance, a spoon, a silver zippo, a bottle of DXM, half empty, and a needle. I should be dead. I am dead... or is this another chemical induced delirium? The messanger brought be back, and I was releived. As soon as she did she vanished into a white light and faded.
  And there I sat, somewhere betwene bliss and apathy, not that I did not care, it was that I did not mind. I didn't mind "where I was" or "that I am" And for the first time in my life I did not mind who I was. Years passed by yet I had no desire to move. It was a perpetual spring, even when the snow was covering the ground.
  Sometimes a newt or turtle would stop and visit. But any refrence to elsewhere the creatures could not comprehend. As if they had always been at this place, such a concept was too abstract. Soon i stopped remembering the sting of the needle, the sweat of withdrawl. I stopped wondering myself.

You may contact this author at [email protected].




BLAST FROM THE PAST: TRIPPING IN A HAUNTED MANSION

THE GHOSTS OF PUNDERSON MANOR AND THE MOST INTENSE WEEKEND OF MY LIFE, ALL THANKS TO DXM
by gravol

[Editor's Note: This story, authored by yours truly, originally appeared in Issue 2 and everything in it is true. This was the most intense time I ever had - in fact, I was in a trance for days following my adventure as if my dopamine levels were all depleted and nothing could shock me anymore. I still believe this place has malevolent forces, though many others feel the ghosts are just pranksters. Whatever the case, it's not worth losing your life over.]

Present Day

I was searching Usenet for information on Punderson State Park to see if anyone else had experienced anything traumatic there. I had already dug up a bunch of juicy facts on the place while I lived up in Ohio. In fact, the night manager of the 70's is still classified as a missing person and nobody knows what happened to him. Perhaps at the bottom of Punderson Lake. I went to the library and researched books that were centuries old and discovered a slew of murders and suicides that took place in the park, along with tragedies, like a tavern full of schoolchildren burning to death on the other end of the lake.
  So, it was no surprise to me to see yet another untimely death had occurred there. I was reading the alt.rv.pop-up-trailers newsgroups and found the following chilling facts in a dialogue between two campers:

It seems a microburst blew through punderson state park Saturday evening killing a 54 year old woman in a pop up camper. I planned to camp at punderson this weekend but did not due to an illness with my six year old. But my nephew and his 15 yr old son were there and also they were one of the first on the scene of the accident. Here is his story :"He and his wife and 3 children (1,12,15,) were making dinner outside and a storm was coming up he had a weather radio and new thunderstorm warnings were out and selected to eat inside. A big gust of wind came through and caused the camper to move from side to side. Trees were crashing in the forest around him, and this lasted for only aminute. After the wind he heard calls of help from the woods above. A tree had fallen on a pop-up and a person was trapped. Being the person that he is he immediately went to help taking his 15 yr. old son with him. When he got to the scene he could not reconize the camper and tried to assess the damage, people from every where were coming to help. Axes, chainsaws, gas powered circular saws were used by fellow campers to freeher. Being an ex EMT and being there at that time ment he would be first to see the damage done by the tree, It was fast and fatal, He thought of his son seeing a dead person, he thought of her loved ones, and he thought ofhis wife.They improvised a backboard from an end bunk and carried her towards the entrance of the campground. But he knew there was no hope...

...Winter 1997

P underson Manor sits atop a large hill overlooking eerie Punderson Lake, all surrounded by dense woods and a vast nothingness named Punderson State Park, about 35 miles east of Cleveland. But it is more than just the frightening experience of this English style tudor mansion that caught my attention...it is also the fact that it is haunted.
  There are hundreds of sightings, but some of the more notable include a teenage girl who drowned in the lake in 1977 and was seen slowly walking back out of the water covered with seaweed a few weeks later by a band of gypsies who knew nothing of the original drowning. The girl walked a few feet on the shore of the lake, then returned to the dark and murky waters and disappeared. And then there were three night employees of the lodge finding a large man, fingers twitching, hanging by a noose that disappeared somewhere near the ceiling of the Cherry Dining Room, and being so horrified at this gruesome sight that they all three remained in shock at the foot of the winding staircase watching the apparition until sunrise.
  After reading about the park in Haunted Ohio II by Chris Woodyard, and paying a few visits to the ancient place, I finally decided to get a room and crash there with four other friends for the weekend - and with a hefty supply of DXM.
  The day I arrived, Friday, only one friend was with me...Jake. The other three would arrive later that night. I waited down in the lobby for some time, then I overheard a man at the front desk talking to an employee: it seems that at 2am the previous night his lights, television, and faucets went on and off, scaring the hell out of him and his wife...and he happened to be staying in the room just across the hall from ours.
  I went back upstairs and hung out with Jake until finally well after dark my other three friends arrived: Mike, Jeremy, and Steve.
  The first night was spent smoking a lot of weed and being on moderate doses of DXM. Jeremy ended up passing out, which left us four to roam the dark house alone. The night desk clerk downstairs looked like a vampire from The Lost Boys, which scared my friends, but he agreed to take us up into the Tower (which has been shut off from the public for years). Upon ascending the narrow staircase he warned us of a large bat that makes its home up there (he was very serious in everything he spoke of and refused to go up without a large flashlight to beat the thing with in case it attacked him). I was already developing a nice speech impairment from the DXM and my friends were quite edgy, especially since it all appeared to be dreamlike. Well, actually, this dream seemed more likea nightmare as every minute passed.
  The Tower was dark and abandoned, littered with old lodge supplies and furniture. It was also rumored that the guy who built the lodge hung himself up here, but there's no substantial evidence to that. Anyway, we were all exploring the dismal place when the vampire-guy inadvertently (or so we thought) opened up a small closet door while mumbling to himself, "What's in here?" He shined the flashlight beam inside it.
  My friend Mike stood back in utter shock. Inside was an old dusty mirror and written on it was "GET THESE DAMN KIDS OUT OF MY HOUSE"... Mike later told me he had read it and seen his own reflection just at the same time and it drove him over the edge of sanity and into sheer terror. To me, it wasn't that big of a deal... I tried to stay mellow.
  Our little midnight tour commenced and we found ourselves back in our room with a passed-out Jeremy trying to come up with new things to do. I think at one point we went down to the Game Room (adjoining the basement on the new side of the manor) and played with a large keyboard that seemed to fascinate Steve the most. The Game Room was vast and open, surrounded half by windows peering into the nearby woods and half by a brick wall which masked the basement on the other side. We later jumped out of our hides at a strange sound from the other smaller adjacent arcade room, but that was most likely just a pinball machine beeping away.
  We eventually retired back to our room, lit a candle in front of a mirror, listened to the radio and just talked while we came down off the trip. It seemed like hours went by, and I remember just as the first hint of daylight shone through our tiny window, the candle wick burnt to its last breath and distinguished into a smoky haze. The night was over.


T hat morning Jeremy and Steve decided to go back into Akron (a good hour's drive) and do some catching up to do with their friends while Mike, Jake and I all stayed behind. That day we explored the surrounding woods and lake, finding some interesting contraptions and shelters built with tangled branches but nothing too obscure.
  After our winterland escapade we retired back inside, bored. Went down to the Game Room and was messing around with the pool table.
  Suddenly someone comes walking in... I couldn't believe my eyes - a beautiful waitress/employee no older than 17 who was assigned to dismantle some chairs from a previous night's meeting (you see, lots of companies reserve board rooms and the Game Room for their business gatherings). I no longer remember her name, but we all four talked a great deal... she mentioned how people were different and stuck up at this place and how she attended a local high school. We invited her up to our room later on after she got off work and she said she'd see about it (she was quite shy). She eventually had to leave as to not get in trouble. To us, it was the only warm moment spent in this eerie mansion... and it truly was the last time all of us actually enjoyed a good laugh, a good conversation, and a beautiful hostess, while outside the windows snow gently fell and caressed the surrounding fields and woods. You see, it was as if the place was becoming increasingly evil towards us... everyone from employees and guests to the house itself. Let me explain...
  Mike and Jake were already reporting to me weird looks by lodge employees and other people inside the lodge... and even moody attitudes brought against us as if we were outsiders. Perhaps it was the DXM playing with our head, but I highly doubt it. Twice, we had heard very strange things: once, while coming in from outside, Mike and I ascended the front steps and heard someone talking from the kitchen portion of the manor - it was just an ordinary conversation that I knew we had heard wrong (we could barely even make out what was being said up until that point) - but that's just it - we both heard the same impossible thing: "You're gonna die." We just looked at each other after it was said and began to say "Did you hear tha..." That was all it took and I knew Mike had heard it too.
  And again wihle walking up through the narrow hallway in the old section of the manor (by our room) Jake and I overheard a conversation from behind a closed door which we passed (from the same room coincidentally that the guest had reported strange occurrences to the front desk clerk) - this time we heard "You're dead."
  And if that wasn't enough to drive us insane, while we were back in our room the TV shuts off by itself as I'm sitting on the bed watching it. I was the closest to the TV and remote and I know it shut off by itself. We turned it on again without a problem. By this time we were all beginning to get scared, but the worst was yet to come.
  Most of us came under the impression that we were drawn together here for a reason... it was destiny. I've never felt such a strong feeling of fate in my life. We felt as if we were unlocking the hidden mysteries of our life in this old manor. It was truly amazing to say the least.
  I am going to conclude our little hellish experience below, and I'd like to say that everything I write is the sole truth, so help me God.

J eremy and Steve came back that night. We told them about the girl we met down in the Game Room (which they thought we were lying about) and we took a drive to the nearest town, Newbury, to sort of get away and find some more Coricidin. We also got pretty high from smoking lots of pot in the car. Of course, all the stores were closed and we were out in the middle of nowhere (nothing but dense woods and hills surrounded this part of Ohio) so we decided to head back. As we returned back down that twisting road of Route 87, I remember the sky to this day... it looked dark and hellish, with little hints of red towards the horizon (the sun was going down) but otherwise a deep bluish-black shroud of death... and our destination being the House of Hell itself.
  We got back and made due with the DXM we had. Jeremy, however, was going to go back later that night down to his college dorm because of classes the following Monday and having to study for a test. We were all five chilling in the room and had just come out of the bathroom with a mild DXM buzz from smoking more pot when Jake reached down on the floor to pick up his sweatshirt but instead held up a pair of ancient-looking keys that looked like they belonged to a medieval English dungeon. He later told us it was as if he "just reached through some dimension and grabbed the keys and brought them back into this dimension." To this day not one of us knows where they actually came from.
  Then to make matters worse the phone in our room rang once. Then dead silence. I could tell Jeremy was starting to question what the hell was going on, and he wasn't even on DXM. Plus Jeremy never was afraid of anything supernatural. Some time passed after trying to figure out where the keys came from and then Jake said "maybe it's a sign that we're going to jail - "...
  Just then there was a knock on our door. What the hell! I personally thought it was the cops, but I didn't know what to expect... nobody knew us up here! I was closest to the door, so they made me open it. I couldn't believe my eyes as the door swung open...

   I t was the brown-haired girl that we had met down in the Game Room and she had brought her blonde-headed friend. We all talked a while and she explained how they got our information from the front desk and ended up trying to call up here, but changed their mind and decided to come up instead. But I could tell that Mike and Jake were past the Point of No Return when it comes to being deathly afraid on DXM: Mike (who works in construction) was on the bed face-down with a pillow over his head mumbling how he wanted to go home.
  The girls eventually went down to the Game Room to play some pool and invited us down but we had to ditch them. Most everyone was too fucked up to leave the room. Mike was begging Jeremy to take him along back into town that night, but in the end he stayed and Jeremy left.
  We tripped hard that night. Still in shock over the turn of events that Mike so perfectly put: out of our control. We were on DXM and it seemed that from the time Jake picked up those keys there was no control left. We were at the mercy of what brought us here to begin with... fate. I remember the next morning, Sunday, and abandoning the room and sneaking out because of long distance calls we had made on the phone in the room and just the overall feeling of being watched. It was like escaping from a haunted house.. actually, that's exactly what it was.
  I was the second-to-last one out. As I creeped down the spiral staircase, I could hear the overture from Phantom of the Opera playing on the player piano next to the bar. I never felt so good to get out of anyplace in my entire life!
  We got out alright. And that's all that mattered.

I t was such a tremendous mindblowing, earthshattering experience that for the next few days I'd just stare off into space and go into trances every few minutes at just remembering what happened up there.
  That weekend was not just an experience... it was an epic encounter of pure terror in the eyes of DXM itself.
  
If you would like more info on Punderson Manor or its hauntings, please write to me and I will be glad to pass along any info.



A CLOSER LOOK AT THE PLATEAUS OF DXM

ONE USER'S DEFINITION OF DXM AND ITS MANY PLATEAUS
by -DeX-

Perhaps the most interesting things that I can recall from my DXM experience is it's spiritual aspects. While many use DMX on a "party attitude" I believe personally that this is a great waste of a perfectly good "ethenogenic chemical". Perhaps this is why so many dislike the sigma plateau, they are simply not ready for it.
  Unlike many other experinces that I read about in regard to chemical highs, DXM seems to have a very organic side to it, and with it's slow ups and fast comedowns DXM is a nearly perfect drug, and would be perfect except it's highly addictive qualities.
  None the less, I believe my experience on DXM is what the here after would be like. I believe I have touched into past life experiences, and deepened my understanding of my close friend who I tripped with. DXM made me highly aware of Gaia, the "life force" energy that as far as I know is conceptualized in buddhism (yes and Final Fantasy). I could feel the trees, people, and everything else living around me, in particular at the "beta" plateau.
  This was strongest in a cedar grove which we would commonly visit in the Portland area, the sense was so strong it overwhelmed me.
  Another spiritual aspect is the ESP experinced that is common with DXM use. In the beta and sigma plateaus, little needed to be said, as i could "feel" everything that my friend was feeling and thinking. Everything could be expressed by sending emotional keys to the other person. The only other time I have experienced this was with a girlfriend who I was very close to very quickly. Both I believe were friends, maybe lovers in past lives.
  I do not think that a DXM trip is "full of lies" like chemical hallucinegens and euphorants like extacy. For this reason it is more like ethenogens like peyote and psychedelic animeta mushrooms. And in the right context, DXM can, and is enlightening. Unfortunatly, this drug is addictive like I said above... and for this reason I am not certain it's role in spirituality as addiction is damaging to the spirit.



  The fourth plateau we call "z" or "zetah". Here I had a strong feeling of disaproval by Gaia and her gods. Like I was not allowed to visit here or that I was not ready. That my punishment was anxiety and blockage from further spiritual enlightenment like I was being forced "out the door" but the chemical kept me in. I felt trapped distant from my surroundings, but still heavy in a drug induced haze.
  Perhaps I am crazy still. But I do believe several things that i gained while on DXM. That I lived in at least one passed life. That I died at an early age. That Q from star trek is infact real (not that their name is Q or is on this plane of existance as we are, but still somehow related Gaia) That Gaia is Godess, and she has other gods and goddeses within her.
  DXM is an amazing drug, unfortunatly too many cannot understand just how incredible it is, due to the fact they are looking for "fun" and not enlightenment. While I believe this is wasteful, to each his own. Happy Dexing, no matter your intentions.


You can contact the author of this article at [email protected].

 

CHICO CHEMICAL INTERVIEW

WACKYCRACKA GOES STRAIGHT TO THE SOURCE      
by Wackycracka
 
[ Editor's Note: Wackyacracka conducts a series of interviews with various players in the 'Legal High' scene.
http://www.wackycracka.com & http://simcityunderground.com - next he will interview players in the Herbal X scene.]

August 9, 2002  3:45PM

Larry: Marketing Director, Chico Chemical
http://www.chicochemical.com

Wackycracka: Thank you for agreeing to this interview. First of all, can you explain a little bit about Chico Chemical and what you do there?

ChicoChemical: We are a bulk chemical reseller. We buy from major pharmaceutical companies in bulk and resell the product in smaller quantities as a service to small researchers.

WC: So, you do no actual manufacturing of the chemicals you sell?

CC: That's right. We buy from manufacturers. There are only so many licensed manufacturers in the world for the products we carry. I'm sure the people we buy from are some of the same people that your major drug companies and brands buy from. We just focus on the smaller scale.

WC: Approximately how many customers do you have in the US and internationally?

CC: Well, our total customers number in the hundreds. International customers make up maybe 10% of that.

WC: You say you cater mostly to small researchers. How is your relationship with your customers?

CC: It's a very good relationship. We have several repeat customers, to date we've recieved no complaints or problems. Our focus is on small researchers so there's lots of room for communication and the response has been very positive. They know we take our customers needs seriously, and the lines are wide open. So, if there ever was a problem, they know it will be taken care of.

WC: One of the products you carry is Dextromethorphan HBr. Is Chico Chemical aware of the abuse of DXM as a recreational drug?

CC: Potential for abuse is a reality for anything whether it's Dextromethorphan or alcohol or even cigarettes. As it relates to our liability I can only say that in America we have a system of laws and regulations that govern our actions. It is the intent of Chico Chemical, it's officers, principles, etc. to stay within those laws and regulations. As we understand it, the manufacture of Dextromethorphan is regulated by the FDA. Each manufacturer must make application for approval of it's product for sale in the USA. The product we purchase as been approved by the FDA. Chico Chemical merely resells this product. In the course of our business we comply with FDA labeling requirements... and our products are, of course, sold for use only has labeled.

WC: Has Chico Chemical ever been contacted by law enforcement or other regulatory officials regarding Dextromethorphan sales?

CC: No, never by law enforcement. We are in contact with the FDA whenever we need to release our product from the manufaturers, or check up on labeling requirements. Aside from that, no.

WC: Are there any policies regarding who you can sell your products to?

CC: I'm not aware of any law or regulation that limits the sale of any product we sell. Our policy as a company is to sell only to adults who agree to our terms of sale and comply with their local laws, but that is our decision, not a regulation.

WC: What type of facility do you have? (sterility, quality control, etc)

CC: Our repackaging is done in a completely sterile environment. With a company our size dealing with the quantities we have, that comes down to a "glove box" - basically a sterile container with a glass top, with gloves on the side for handling things inside. Actually, we're in negotiations right now with a third party to have our packaging done off-site.

WC: As of now you only offer two products on your website, Dextromethorphan HBR and caffeine. Any plans to expand your product line?

CC: About a year or so ago we had several more products available on the website, but we've since cut it down to just caffeine and Dextromethorphan. We have no plans to expand the site right now.

WC: I think that about answers all my questions for now. Thanks very much for agreeing to speak with Wackycracka.com

CC: Thank you.

Be on the lookout for more interviews next week! I've contacted 3 other suppliers, and so far 2 have responded!!

�2002 Wackycracka.com All rights reserved. Reproduction or redistribution prohibited without permission.

You may contact the author of this article at [email protected]  



THE REPORT THAT SOME PEOPLE DON'T WANT YOU TO SEE - NEW RESEARCH ON OLNEY'S LESIONS - A DXM ZINE EXCLUSIVE

A NEW LOOK AT OLNEY'S LESIONS AND RESEARCH, AND HOW IT MAY DIFFER WITH PREVIOUS RESEARCH, v1.3
by Walkaway

[ Editor's Note: This research has been viewed and verified to be accurate by Dr. J.M. Olney himself, and is highly provocative in nature since it flies in the face of what a few "trusted" researchers are pandering to the DXM community. It is, of course, up to the reader to decide - but the evidence is presented here for you in an unbiased look at the issues at hand - Olney's Lesions and brain damage allegedly caused by DXM or other dissociatives.]

"O ne must also make note of the severely limited nature of Mr. White's and Mr. Golaszewski's user samples.  Even excluding issues of deliberate fraud on the part of William White and Mr. Golaszewski and/or deliberate fraud on the part of those self-reporting symptoms of brain damage, neither Mr. White nor Mr. Golaszewski are doctors, neither has examined any of the relevant persons, and we have only their interpretation of semi-anonymous reports from supposed persons with supposed functional difficulties as a consequence of their supposed NMDA antagonist use.  "

I n November of 1998, William E. White (who may be viewed, for better or worse, as the one-man Gracie and Zarkov of DXM) issued a rather startling (and ultimately alarmist) paper with the fallacious title, This is Your Brain on Dissociatives: The Bad News is Finally In. (one can only note with amusement that despite the provocative title, the document is labeled version 0.1 - here we have a pre-release document being bandied about the Internet as though it were the Alpha and Omega of discussion on this issue) The subsequent detrimental effect to intelligent discussion of dissociatives has been quite large - especially due to the efforts of one Robert F. Golaszewski (who may be viewed, for better or worse, as the one-man Fisher and Ungerleider of DXM), who has reported White's entirely circumstantial case as though it were ex cathedra, all under the aegis of "harm reduction."
     As I hope to demonstrate in this paper, the state of the evidence in 1998 did not indicate the conclusion at which White arrived (nor does the state of the evidence indicate such a conclusion today).  As noted above, White's case, as presented, was entirely circumstantial.  His anecdotal method of determining brain damage (i.e., someone e-mailing to say, "I broke my head!") is neither statistically significant nor methodologically sound.  The bold leaps of logic, contortions (or, sometimes, outright distortions) of evidence to fit the frame of the model, and generally hysterical tone allow for many possible interpretations of the intent underlying this document, but one cannot conclude that White was seeking to aid in the reasoned discussion of dissociative use by publishing such a poorly researched and poorly argued document. (Contrasting the style of this later, poorly pieced together memorandum and the encyclopedic information gathered in the FAQ leaves one to wonder what had changed in Mr. White's attitudes towards dissociative use in general, and DXM use in particular)

THE ARGUMENT

D issociatives definitely cause brain damage if used heavily. One sub-anesthetic "line dose" of ketamine, an equivalent dose of PCP, or a third plateau DXM dose, is probably at least as damaging to your brain as a few day "bender" on hard liquor, and possibly more so because it affects specific areas of the brain.
The risk of brain damage is worse the longer you stay high at any given time; constant moderate-dose use is probably just as damaging as a brief, high-dose use.
  Reaching the anesthetic level is exceedingly hard on your brain. Ketamine is probably the least harmful, PCP the most, and DXM somewhere in the middle, but this is a rough guesstimate. Nitrous oxide is brief acting, but it too may be dangerous; it is also known to damage both central and peripheral nerves by depleting vitamin B12.                                                -William White, 28 November 1998

NMDA-antagonist Neurotoxicity (NAN, or, colloquially, "Olney's Lesions") is a form of neuronal injury in rodents (tested species include rats, mice, and guinea pigs; by extension, perhaps additional species of animals) Reversible toxic changes (vacuoles in the posterior cingulate/retrosplenial cortex) appear in the brains of treated rodents at different concentrations of different dissociatives.  With ketamine, these changes appear to begin developing at 40 mg/kg.  A much higher dose (with ketamine, 100mg/) some irreversible cell death could be seen, but the Neurotoxicity of ketamine (in rats) does not progress beyond this point.  Later studies confirmed that PCP (in female rats, a single 50 mg/kg dose5) and MK-801 (at doses of 10 mg/kg intraperitoneally6; toxic changes began appearing at 1 mg/kg7) also caused these permanent toxic changes (in rodents).  Later testing with a variety of NMDA-antagonists (including DXO, the active metabolite of DXM), showed that this seems to be a general property of these agents (in rodents).
The effects of NMDA-antagonists ("dissociatives") in rodents thus appear to be quite frightening.  Here we have substances that actually put holes in the head of some animal species � an eerie real world parallel to many common anti-drug themes. ("Any questions?")  Indeed, in discussing the mechanism by which NAN occurs, William White stated:

    To put it bluntly, taking excessive doses of dissociatives make certain
    parts of your brain fry like the proverbial egg-on-the-frying-pan in the
    "This is Your Brain on Drugs" commercial.
                                      -William White, 28 November 1998

White's chief apologist, Mr. Golaszewski , stated that:

    DXM really does fry brains.
    -Robert F. Gozalewski, 25th of May, 2000

This is, in fact, precisely the issue in dispute.  How do NMDA-antagonists affect human brains?  It is quite apparent that the brains of rodents do not fare well against appropriate doses of NMDA-antagonists.  How will human users fare?  In regard to the question of the relevance of NMDA-antagonist Neurotoxicity to human users, J.W. Olney and Nuri Farber replied:

    The evidence is that ketamine and many other NMDA antagonists that have been
    tested in humans, cause an acute disturbance in neural circuitry that leads
    to psychotic manifestations.� These same drugs cause the same disturbance in
    neural circuitry in rats and when we look at their brains we see evidence
    for physical neuronal injury.� Since no one has looked at the brains of
    humans immediately after administering these drugs, we do not know
    whether the physical neuronal injury occurs.
             -J.W. Olney, 28 January 2002

    The quick and easy answer is that we do not know.� The reason is that one
    cannot study the brain of a human in an adequate fashion after exposure to a
    NMDA antagonist.� Since there are no data on humans, I do not see how
    anybody can be "certain" one way or another� Based on the totality of
    the evidence I have concerns that NAN can occur in the human brain.
            -Nuri Farber, 15 April 2002

 The "bad news" is not in yet.  Nor is "the good news."  The evidence is equivocal in both directions.  The known "facts," as of this date, are as follows: NMDA-antagonists can cause severe brain damage in rodents. This brain damage manifests itself in permanent learning deficits in the treated animals. Many heavy users of PCP, ketamine, and/or DXM report substantial cognitive difficulties following the cessation of use.  
 It is possible to develop a circumstantial case that the cognitive difficulties in question are due to NMDA-antagonist Neurotoxicity.  However, it must be remembered that this case is, at this date, entirely (and extremely) circumstantial.  Some point to the common stereotype of the "dusthead" as proof that PCP (and, by extension, ketamine, DXM, etc.,) produces permanent brain damage, and that, in turn, this brain damage is NAN.  Unfortunately, for the above construction, PCP has additional modes of possible neurotoxic activity, and it is not clear that PCP use is responsible for (as opposed to being a symptom of) various emotional and cognitive disorders.
The literature on PCP "abuse" notes that problems of cognitive organization may persist for up to 12 months following the cessation of use.  If we were looking at a phenomenon similar to that seen in rats, we would be looking at permanent problems with learning: memory and attention span should show irreversible deficits.  The fact that a significant number (if not the vast majority) of users display no consequential functional change in behavior should, at the very least, leave us wary about jumping to conclusions. (I should also point out that such a length of time for recovery may reflect the fact that real brain damage has occurred, and that the human brain is able to eventually at least somewhat adjust to such damage)
 A further problem with such a circumstantial case is that it relies on the inaccurate assumption that correlation necessarily demonstrates causation, and that furthermore such correlation specifies causation of a certain kind.  Many heavy LSD users demonstrate a stereotypical "burn out" syndrome, but there is no evidence that LSD causes permanent alterations in the physical structure of the brain.  Even more strongly, some former users of LSD complain about their brains being "perma-fried" due to LSD use.  Using similar logic to that advocated by Mr. White and Mr. Golaszewski, we might argue that LSD has been anecdotally demonstrated to cause brain damage, that the bad news is in, and that all we await now is the scientific confirmation of the mechanism.  It does not take a master logician to spot the structural flaws in this argument.
 Mr. White's case was also fleshed out by discussions of the manner in which reported impairments corresponded to areas of the brain that would be affected by NAN.  Modern science has little understanding of the manner in which the human brain works, and no understanding of the manner in which the human brain works if affected by NAN.  That this section was quite largely guesswork is revealed through Mr. White's near continual use of such qualifiers as "might," "may be," and, in one particular instance, "totally unfounded hunch."  Wild (if informed) speculation coupled with circumstantial "evidence" is, perhaps, interesting to think about while.  It is certainly not the final word on a subject.
 Mr. White himself took a far more balanced tack in his DXM FAQ version 4.02 (an exhaustive reference work on most relevant issues surrounding DXM use):
Obviously there are still a lot of questions to be answered. The most important for human users of dissociatives is whether this type of damage can occur at recreational levels, and if so, what can be done about it.
 Let's review the evidence both for and against Olney's lesions in human users of dissociatives. First, the evidence for. The posterior cingulate and retrosplenial cortex (PC and RC) are involved in skills which seem to be impaired in regular users of dissociatives. Olney's lesions occur at doses several times the recreational dose, but that's at one dose of the drug; repeated doses of lower amounts may cause the same damage. Olney's lesions are also only generally visible when large numbers of cells are destroyed, and they're significant enough to be visible under the microscope. Finally, conditions which increase the likelihood of Olney's lesions, such as less than ideal blood circulation to the brain, large amounts of glucose (like that found in cough syrup), concurrent use of stimulants, physical stress, hypertension, and the like, are all commonly found in drug users, who don't tend to be the healthiest lot (this is a generalization, of course).
 On the other hand, Olney's lesions have never been found at human recreational levels, and DXM has received little attention. Ketamine users, some of whom have used ketamine for many years, don't typically show mental impairment. Even the few DXM users who do show impairment typically return to normal after staying off DXM for several months, and at least one paper suggests the mental impairment from dissociatives may be caused by depression, not brain damage http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/
dxm/faq/dxm_refs.shtml .DXM is typically found in hydrobromide form, and bromide is a CNS depressant and may prevent damage to the PC/RC (incidentally, that's not the reason DXM HBr is used; DXM HBr just happens to be more water-soluble than any other form). DXM syrups usually contain alcohol, which also depresses the CNS. And, the lower plateaus of DXM are equivalent to doses of ketamine and PCP lower than commonly used recreationally.

 Weighing the two sides I personally believe that moderate use of dissociatives is probably no harder on your brain cells than moderate use of alcohol or amphetamines (I said moderate use, not some five day fry-yer-brain speed freak binge), and that if you use DXM sparingly (e.g., once or twice a month at lower plateaus, maybe once or twice a year at upper plateaus), you'll be just fine. In fact, I've never known anyone to suffer lasting impairment even after going through a few months of weekly DXM use at upper plateaus. But I could be wrong! Mild brain damage has a nasty way of showing up years later when you've forgotten about the stupid things you did when you were young.
      --William White, 1998

THE EVIDENCE

O ne must also make note of the severely limited nature of Mr. White's and Mr. Golaszewski's user samples.  Even excluding issues of deliberate fraud on the part of William White and Mr. Golaszewski (which I consider to be highly unlikely, though, I suppose, possible) and/or deliberate fraud on the part of those self-reporting symptoms of brain damage (and, from posts at the Third Plateau, the Dextroverse, and Google, it is clear that such may occur at least some of the time; an Internet user who frequents both of the aforementioned forums, as well as Usenet groups who posts under the name "xganon" recently admitted to falsifying DXM harm reports sent to Mr. Golaszewski), neither Mr. White nor Mr. Golaszewski are doctors, neither has examined any of the relevant persons, and we have only their interpretation of semi-anonymous reports from supposed persons with supposed functional difficulties as a consequence of their supposed NMDA antagonist use.  
 This is evidence?  We have no indication that these supposed persons didn't have said supposed functional difficulties before said supposed NMDA antagonist use, or that said supposed functional difficulties did not simply happen after said supposed NMDA antagonist use.  A fact which might be relevant in viewing some of these cases is that it is a relatively common tendency on the part of those suffering severe mental disorders to blame their problems on past drug use, whether factual, or in the case of people claiming their drinks had been "spiked" with some sort of mind-altering drug, such as LSD.  As Mr. White himself noted, at least one study has found that NMDA antagonist related cognitive difficulties may be related to depression.  We also have no indication of the length of time that these supposed persons had abstained from their supposed use of NMDA antagonists.  At what point do we differentiate data from gossip?
 In the DXM FAQ, Mr. White stated that, "Out of approximately five hundred current and former DXM users I have heard from, three have suffered lasting cognitive impairment."  By the time of the publication of the NAN document, Mr. White was claiming that, "Since publishing the DXM FAQ, I've heard from dozens of people who have used dissociatives (mostly DXM, but also ketamine and PCP) and had lasting impairment." (too bad that this number is not specified beyond "dozens," nor is it specified if there had been a similar dramatic increase in the size of his database)  Mr. Golaszewski has specified, I believed, some 14 cases of possible brain damage out of "over a thousand" user reports.  The reader has little context in which to place such seemingly quite rare reports, and so, in the end, the weight of "the evidence" amounts to very little. (to be fair, Mr. Golaszewski has stated that he now believes brain damage from use of DXM to be quite rare)
 Since it is nearly impossible to contact the mysterious Mr. White these days, Mr. Golaszewski has become the chief exponent of this position - an odd role, since it apparently includes refusing to offer any substantiation for said position other than "I say so."  Mr. Golaszewski has several times publicly claimed that the risk of NAN occurring in humans justifies the direst public pronouncements, in order to prevent people from developing NAN.  While his motives are, perhaps, admirable, his actions are certainly not relevant to reasoned discussion of these matters.  There are a number of relevant reasons to severely limit or completely abstain from the "recreational" use of NMDA antagonists, but lying, or extremely exaggerating the risks is the strategy of DARE and its ilk, and such a strategy will, in the end, be just as ineffective in reaching those who need to hear about the established dangers of these drugs.
As for Mr. Golaszewski's "data" I feel that his sample may have an additional flaw that was perhaps not (so strongly) present for that of Mr. White, which is that Mr. White's paper itself has primed the "target audience" to interpret very real cognitive and general psychological changes resultant from their NMDA antagonist use as being indicative of "brain damage."  This model is at least worthy of consideration in light of Mr. Golaszewski's quite vocal efforts to warn of this "danger": to some extent, his campaign may end up creating cases from thin air.
 It is a commonplace of college philosophy courses that correlation does not prove causation, but here we are asked to accept that correlation does prove causation, because of some supposed urgent public health danger, which in fact, has not been demonstrated to exist at all.  Mr. White and Mr. Golaszewski's position on "harm reduction" boils down to exaggerating the dangers of substances in order to promote their "responsible" use "Harm reduction" is a noble concept, and the efforts of persons such as William White, RFG, and others of their ilk are presumably not intended to be anti-drug propaganda pieces � but that is precisely what they become.

An example where Mr. White went beyond the level of simple exaggeration and engaged in completely unfounded speculation was when he stated that:

"Drugs which may make Olney's Lesions worse: Yohimbine and yohimbe (and other alpha-2 antagonists) may dramatically increase the brain damage! These should be avoided at all costs. Major tranquilizers (antipsychotics) may specifically increase damage to certain areas. Anticholinergic deliriants (atropine, scopolamine, and anti-nausea drugs) may increase damage to the hippocampus. This may include antihistamine-anticholinergics including the DXM-antihistamine preparation Coricidin!"

The last statement is, in fact, incorrect: To determine whether anticholinergic agents can protect against the neurotoxic effects of noncompetitive NMDA antagonists other than MK 801, we treated six rats with a neurotoxic dose (5 mg/kg sc) of PCP and six rats with this dose of PCP plus scopolamine (0.5 mg/kg ip) and killed the animals 4 hours later. All of the rats treated with PCP alone had conspicuous vacuolar changes in cingulate and retrosplenial cortical neurons, whereas none of the rats treated with PCP plus scopolamine had such changes.
 In order for NMDA antagonists to be optimally useful as neuroprotective agents in conditions such as stroke, it may be necessary to use relatively large doses. Therefore, we conducted experiments to determine whether the dose of anticholinergic agent required to prevent neurotoxic side effects of a low dose of NMDA antagonist would also protect against a high dose. It required 0.25 mg/kg ip scopolamine to prevent the neurotoxic side effects in 100% of treated rats (n = 6) after a relatively low dose of MK 801 (0.4 mg/kg sc); therefore, we treated adult rats with this dose of scopolamine plus a high dose of MK 801 (5 mg/kg sc) and found that it prevented the neurotoxic side effect in all animals (n = 6), whereas all controls (n = 6) that received the high dose of MK 801 by itself had a severe vacuole reaction in cingulate retrosplenial cortical neurons.
 Using a chick embryo retina assay, we conducted experiments to determine whether anticholinergic drugs interfere with the neuroprotective actions of NMDA antagonists. We have shown that the neurotoxic action of NMDA (120 mM) in the chick retina is prevented by adding 200 nM MK 801 to the incubation medium. Therefore, we incubated the chick retina in medium containing NMDA (120 mM) and MK 801 (200 nM) and added scopolamine in various concentrations from 10 to 50 mM. Scopolamine did not interfere with the ability of MK 801 to prevent NMDA neurotoxicity. Thus, a tissue concentration of scopolamine 250 times higher than that of MK 801 does not interfere with the neuroprotective properties of MK 801, whereas a dose of scopolamine only 1/20 as high as the MK 801 dose prevented the neurotoxic side effects of MK 801 in rodent cortex.
 The competitive NMDA antagonist D AP5, when injected into the cingulate cortex, causes a neurotoxic reaction identical to that caused by systemic MK 801 or PCP (3). In the present study, we extended these experiments to include systemic administration of 3 [(+) 2 carboxypiperazin 4 yl]-propyl 1 phosphonic acid (CPP), a competitive NMDA antagonist that is more potent than D AP5. Intravenous (iv) administration of CPP in a dose of 50 mg/kg caused a vacuole reaction in six of six rats that was identical to the reaction in six of six positive controls that received MK 801 (0.4 mg/kg sc) and was not present in six of six controls treated with normal saline. Administration of scopolamine (0.5 mg/kg ip) 10 min after CPP (50 mg/kg iv) prevented this reaction in six of six rats.
                     --J. W. Olney et al. 6 December 1991

 Thus, if anything, available evidence would tend to indicate that Coricidin users would be at less risk of developing NAN, rather than more.  This is not to suggest that use of Coricidin is wise � available evidence indicates that its use is more likely to provoke allergic reactions, memory impairment, and delusional behavior than other DXM preparations.  There have been several reports of deaths involving the use of this substance, and while many of them involved multiple substance combinations (i.e., booze, heroin, and/or any number of other drugs in addition to the Coricidin), it is clear that this preparation poses a greater health risk than DXM itself. (which has, in very high doses, been known to cause death) It would seem that Mr. White exaggerated (or even fabricated) the dangers here in support of his otherwise laudable campaign of discouraging Coricidin use.  This preparation has very real dangers attendant to its use, but invoking hypothetical (or even non-factual) "dangers" to dissuade potential users is, ultimately, a self-defeating tactic.  
 Doctor Karl Jansen, based in London, perhaps the world's foremost expert on ketamine use, recently published a book which is essential reading for anyone concerned with issues surrounding NMDA antagonist use.  In Ketamine: Dreams and Realities, Doctor Jansen comprehensively documents both the beneficial and detrimental effects that people report in the use of this substance.  It is his opinion that the issue of NAN in humans has been overblown.

NEXT ISSUE: PART 2 OF THIS PROVOCATIVE REPORT, with EXCERPTS FROM DOCTOR KARL JANSEN'S KETAMINE: DREAMS AND REALITIES.

You may contact the author of this article at [email protected]
 

OPINIONS OF DXM IN THE MIDWEST

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE DXM CULTURE IN THE MIDWEST UNITED STATES
by Marc Eriksen  

Dextromethorphan culture has sprung up all across the world, dating back to the 60's and is rising out of the underground. Though where is the mid-west life in the middle of this era? I, Marc, live in the mid-west, though i was born in California i've lived in Illinois since I was 11 years of age. Up until the beginning of 2002 I really wasn't interested in any drugs at all.  I had started drinking alcohol a bit and going to parties, but the idea of doing drugs was still out of the question. That is until I heard cough syrup could get you high, so I did my research.
  The mid-west is kinda strange when it comes to bringing up radical ideas up.  Most of them are used to your basic drugs like marijuana, speed, meth, and etc.  So I tried to start out by telling a friend of mine who was addicted to coke and meth.  I thought maybe he might be understanding of it, and that he'd try it with me.  Well as it turns out, he thought it was insane and pure stupidity to drink cough syrup to get high.  He was quoted as saying, "Why would you do something like that when there are so many drugs much more pure then that?"   From that day forth he lambasted me with jokes about drinking cough syrup.  So I went to another friend of mine.  This time it was someone who had no knowledge of drugs.  Another drug-free teen like, I myself once was.  He was kinda skeptical about the idea, so I made a deal with him (thought i don't remember what it was).  He said he'd think about it.
  It really wasnt until about 2 months later that we gave it thought to drink cough syrup for the first time.  It was Christmas night and we got pretty excited about trying it out, so i went to a gas station convience store and bought a 4oz of robotussin dm.  Since the cough medecine was so expensive there, I thought maybe I should just buy one and we could split it.  So we did our share of syrup in shots out of the measuring cup it came with.  about an hour later we were stumped.  Nothing was happening, so we went to sleep, just as we did we started to feel something, but we shook it off as being nothing and went to sleep.  I still regret that day as not being able to exprience my first trip (even if it was at the threshold).
  Though my first real trip was on my b-day, and I had a few friends spend the night, my drug-free friend and i both bought a 4oz of equate brand tussin. My other two friends didn't like the idea of it, and said they'd watch us.  One of the them was a party guy who liked to drink a lot, the other a christian with values. The trip was fun none the less, especially the dancing.
  A major mistake of mine was my first attempted with a 4oz maximum strength robotussin.  Before this I had only used 4oz Equate brand Tussin, and one 8oz Equate Tussin (which part of it i puked up).  Long story short I was tripping balls.  Before this I had wanted to make this my last trip on cough syrup, because it didn't seem to be doing a whole lot but after this my whole perspective on it changed.  I woke up the next morning on what is known by most dex'ers as an afterglow.  This was my first time experiencing this, and I had no idea it could happen, so I went to work still tripping.  It was a scary experience, filled with paranoia and guilt.  
  Months of cough syrup drinking followed.  I became a junkie, doing one 4oz of maximum strength every week, from january 26th-the 3rd week of april. I experimented with afterglows at school, and day trips.  All worth while and interesting. Why did I stop all of the sudden? Only because someone was sending me some pure dxm in the mail, and I was told a three week break would be best before tripping off of pure (note: it was 700-800mg).  When I finally recieved my powder I was overjoyed and used it that night in a mixture of warm green tea. Of course I expected the horrible taste, but I downed it anyway.  It was a night of insanity.
  After awhile i got back into my old habits of doing dxm once a week. At the end of April, another friend of mine decided to try dxm for the second time (his first time was a disappointment with no results).  Though he would only do it if my other dex friend did an 8oz of Maximum Strength robo (which he was going to do that night anyway). He did a 4oz of max strength and I was the trip sitter. I watched those two roll around on the ground and trip to music etc.  After that, the friend swore that he didn't want to do it ever again.  He may have never done dxm again, but that doesn't mean he was completely done with OTC (over-the-counter) drugs.  
  I learned of motion sickness pills (commonly known as 'dramamine').  After about a month of telling myself I wasn't going to get into anything else, I finally gave in and did a 12pack of them.  It was interesting to say the least.  My other friend (the one who did coke and meth) did them too, but he had no effects while I was tripping like crazy.  That night while my trip was ending the friend who had sworn never to do cough syrup again, tried them.  It was a night he'd regret, because an hour after taking them, he tried to go to bed, but he couldn't because he was freaking out.  A few days later I talked to him and he had told me he was done with OTC drugs forever.  I said I wasn't going to do motion sickness pills again, but I ended up doing them the next week.  Since then I havent done them.
  Next came a something that I had been dreading.  My friend, the only one in this town of 1000 people besides me, decided he wanted to quit doing dxm.  He explained that he had a girlfriend and he didn't want to mess things up with her.  His other reason was because the robo itch was terrible for him.  So what did I do?  I gave it up all together as well.  It went pretty well. I felt good about it.  Until I got a strong urge on our nation's independence.
  I needed it!  So I thought the best way not to do it, was to go to my friend, whom had quit, and spend the day with him.  We went to Wal-Mart and browsed the aisles.  Then he said something that surprised me, "hey man I feel like doing dxm."  That was music to my ears, so I quickly agreed and we bought a bottle of our old friend; 4oz maximum strength robotussin and spent the night at his place.  Before dosing we experimented with grapefruit juice.  I drank a lot of it, while he drank a glass.  It was well worth it, we tripped well into the night, and it seemed to work really well.  From that day forth my friend decided he wasn't going to quit anymore, he was going to try and hide it from his girlfriend instead.  
  A few weeks later I tried marijuana.  I think I was hoping for too much though, as it didn't work as well as I thought it would.  I asked my friend who supplied the pot if he'd try dxm, he said "no" and went on to say that he thought it wouldn't be right to abuse something that wasn't meant to get you high.  
  Today I still use cough syrup to get high, though no one here in my town really likes the idea of drinking cough syrup, I still think it's the cheapiest way to get high, and it's really likeable.  During my first my time on dxm I have discovered who I am, tried to crack the meaning of live (which my friend and I think we had done).  We believe the meaning of live is think for yourself and be your own person.  I have been more interested in the way of life and our surroundings, why things happen.  I have tried to find out more about why I did things in my childhood, and why things aren't as blissful as they once were. I now yearn for the simple things in my childhood that I can never get back.  All in all there have been high times in my life as a dex'er, but I only look at the positive ones, because as long as I like it, it shouldn't matter what the masses think.

You can contact this author at [email protected].

THE NEW TREND: CUTTING HEROIN WITH DXM

DXM IN MIXED WITH HEROIN AND OTHER ADULTERANTS SENDS 11 TO HOSPITAL IN PHILADELPHIA - THE STORY NO ONE HAS HEARD 'TIL NOW
Exclusive by gravol

This was from 1996, but it's surprising that nobody has heard of this report, so I am publishing it in its entirety, along with further references following it.

EmergencyNet News Service
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 10:30CDT

"Homicide" Heroin strikes Philadelphia; 11 Critical

By: Clark Staten
Chicago, IL, May 10, 1996 (ENN)-- Philadelphia paramedics had a busy night last night. According to one veteran medic, they responded to more than 116 calls for overdoses of a new heroin called "Homicide", or "Super Buick." The exact pharmacological properties of the drug have not been determined, but according to the medics it can cause extremely violent behavior and has placed at least eleven (11) patients in intensive care in a number of Philadelphia hospitals.  Philly medics say that as they ran from overdose call to overdose call, where they were faced with incoherent and violent patients, who reported that they thought they had taken "some 'horse' named 'Homicide'." The streetname was previously unknown by police or paramedic sources in the area, but one officer speculated that the drug could be heroin mixed with PCP, an animal tranquilizer. The drug enforcement officer, who asked not to be identified, said that such a mixture could account for the violent behavior that was exhibited by any number of "Homicide" victims. The officer cautioned, however, that a toxicological examination must be done in order to actually identify the substance.
  An normally reliable EMS source from the Philadelpia suburbs told ENN that he believed that heroin was mixed with a "surgical anesthetic" and may be similar to a streetdrug called "Tango & Cash" which resulted in numerous overdoses in the New York City/New Jersey area in 1994. It still remains unknown if this latest series of incidents is related to the distribution of a drug called "Polo" or "Death Shot", which caused a number of overdoses in New Jersey, New York City, and Philadelphia in Feburary of this year.
  ENN is gathering more information about how widely the drug was distributed and if similar reports have been received from other communities. Philadelphia police are said to be blanketing the area where several overdoses occurred and are notifying known drug abusers about the dangers of the drug. Extreme caution is recommended when attempting to manage patients who have taken this drug. Several emergency personnel and restraints may be needed to adequately assure the patients and rescuers safety.
  Parties that become aware of, and would like to report similar overdoses, or would like to obtain additional information about the emergence of this drug can contact us at:
  Additional information that has been developed suggests that a preliminary tox screen of the "Homicide or SuperBuick" has come back, and it appears that it consists of Scopolamine, Heroin, Cocaine, Dextromethorphan & Thiamine.

Another site on the Internet reports an even greater trend showing up in other Northeastern US cities:

Recent Pearls and Perils From the Literature 96

Scopolamine Poisoning among Heroin Users - New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, 1995 and 1996 MMWR 1996;45(22):457-60.
Adulterants are commonly mixed or "cut" into heroin and cocaine to increase profits and enhance the pharmacologic effect. Common inactive adulterants are talc, mannitol, starch, and sugar. Potentially toxic adulterants include quinine, strychnine, lidocaine, benzocaine, ephedrine, and more recently scopolamine and dextromethorphan. Sometimes adulterants are actually substituted for the active agent. This report summarizes the cases of 367 heroin abusers presenting with symptoms of scopolamine poisoning in four northeastern cities. The patients presented in clusters. Their initial symptoms were either lethargy and hypoventilation, or agitation with anticholinergic signs. After the administration of naloxone they became agitated, combative and had signs of anticholinergic poisoning. Physostigmine was effective in some cases. The street names of these products are "Homicide", "Super Buick", "Polo", "Point on Point", and "Sting". In this report, analysis of the drug specimens revealed heroin and scopolamine or quinine, scopolamine and dextromethorphan without heroin. Scopolamine poisoning results in typical signs of anticholinergic poisoning with tachycardia, mydriasis, warm dry skin and mucosa, urinary retention and decreased bowel sounds. The symptoms of dextromethorphan poisoning (lethargy, miosis, and decreased respiratory rate) closely mimic the symptoms seen following a heroin overdose.

Currently, there is no other information as to whether this trend has extended to other US cities but we will keep you informed.

MORE ON COMBINING DXM WITH TRYPTAMINES

AN AMT/DXM EXPERIENCE
by Anonymous

I noticed that you call upon readers that have tried any variety of this combination to contact you.  As a matter of fact, I can say that I have in fact mixed DXM and AMT.  I was just beginning to come down off a loooong AMT trip, and my friend and I decided to make hash.  We realized we were a lot more intoxicated than we had realized and had accidentally spilled out all of the rubbing alcohol used as the solvent in the extraction in an attempt to extinguish the massive patio fire that we had started (long story).  Anyway, once the fire was under control we were kinda bummed out about losing our hash.  So, we figured, lets knock back 250mg each, we have nothing to lose.  When we dosed it was about 4:30 AM (that AMT keeps you up, I tell ya!).  We popped in a Star Trek episode (Kirk era, too bad I can't remember what episode it was).  I didn't really focus on the show at all, I let my mind run off and to tell you the truth I can't really recall what was happening during this first episode.  When the tape had ended, we put on "Mirror, Mirror", one of the *BEST* episodes ever and the DXM started to really kick in.  I had almost complete double vision and it felt like I was on a moderate 3rd plateau trip.  It seemed like the voices were somewhat hollow and mumbled, and I found it EXTREMELY difficult to follow the plot (big surprise).  It felt like I was forgetting what a person was talking about before they finished their sentence.  It wore off faster than any dose of DXM I've ever taken -- about 3.5 hours after we had dosed.  We spent the rest of the day just chilling around the house.

Summary:
Body -- total lethargy, don't expect to have the energy to do anything.  This may have been a result of the time (4:30AM) and not the combo, but either way, this is the way it happened.
Mind -- relax, take a break for a minute and just let everything clear out.  This had it's positive and negative aspects, in that it was nice to feel so clear but I generally enjoy the feeling of thoughts rushing through my head (AMT did that nicely earlier in the night, the DXM somewhat spoiled that aspect of the trip for me).
Soul -- this combo has no spiritual aspects, IMHO.

Not euphoric, per se.  Interesting, yes, but I didn't really do anything.  I don't think that I even *would* be able to do something on this combo, even watch a movie.  DXM is better suited for a lonely night.  AMT is too happy to mix with DXM, and the DXM definitely took the excitedness and body high away.
  Overall, if someone offered me the combo for free and I had nothing to do one night, I might consider doing it again.  But like I said, it didn't really strike me as "fun".  I was DEFINITELY intoxicated.  If you're looking to just feel intoxicated, go for it, but it's just not exactly what I'm looking for in drugs.

TWO EXPERIENCES INVOLVING DXM/5-MEO-DIPT "FOXY METHOXY"

Jesse Clark ( [email protected] ) writes "Yeah, I've done that; first time i did it i only did like, 25 mg foxy and a 4 oz bottle of robo (354 mg); later i did like, maybe 40-50 mg foxy with an 8 oz bottle of robo (708 mg).  I doubt it would be fun with powder dxm, powder dxm feels like shit anyways, robitussin is much better."

"fict" ( [email protected] ) writes "Nod.  6 mg 5-MeO-DiPT with 175-200 mg DXM is not bad.  Very strange electric body feel.  Almost opiate-like in some aspects.  Very weird.  Any higher than this and things get annoying. Mostly seemed to increase the body feel, more than anything."

If you have any experiences involving DXM with any tryptamine, please submit it to [email protected].



THE GREAT DXM INTERNET DEBATE - DXM USED FOR DEPRESSION?

WHY BOTH SIDES ARE IN A HEATED BATTLE CONCERNING THE EFFECTS OF DXM USED TO TREAT ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION
Exclusive by gravol

For months now, there has been a heated debate going on concerning the use of DXM to treat certain forms of depression and anxiety. Those that use it swear by its antidepressive effects. Others are adamantly opposed to this spreading of "lies" and have taken a harsh stance against those that claim it has helped them. They claim it's all psychological. Psychological or not, if you take something thinking it can treat your depression (as in a placebo effect), how bad could it truly be? But the science of DXM must be an exact one, and that is why any placebo effect is not worthy of a serious look at.
  In one corner you have xganon and his DXM Antidepressant Page ( http://www.dextroverse.org/~xganon ) who publishes testimonials by people claiming that DXM has helped to treat their symptoms. In the other corner is Robert F. Golaszewski, and his DXM Harm Reduction Site ( http://www.dextromethorphan.ws ). One site is based on testimonials and personal opinion, and the other site is based on technical information and undisputed fact - so you can see why the two clash. However, I personally don't see what the big deal is. People still claim benzodiazepines are a wonder drug, and for many, it is. However, they're prescribed and recognized to only treat short-term anxiety. Are those that claim otherwise and tout their miraculous effects really out of their gorde? Or is there a grey area - an answer that is neither black nor white - an answer that isn't even an answer at all. Something that leaves more questions than answers.
  For instance, I was sent an email by a 49-year-old woman who uses DXM religiously for her depression. She states:

I'm 49, female, married, and have been playing with DXM for about 2 years. Before that it was primarily Rx opiates, like I said. I've been thru the recovery trip and all that, only to find that I probably would have stopped using abusively on my own anyway (I was never that hardcore a user), and as it is I still use, obviously.
  But back to DXM. You requested that anyone who had experienced relief from depression with DXM use write to you. I have definitely felt that effect! After my husband's death I was plunged into grief, naturally, but also depression worse than anything I'd ever experienced in my life. I have gone on to remarry a wonderful second  husband, but I still fight the depression. I would venture to say that DXM actually has helped me with the grieving process; psychedelics tend to give one insights, and that is just what I've experienced. I feel that my grieving is over now, although I still love and miss my first husband deeply. But I have become aware of my own inner "balance" of chemicals and what DXM does for and to it. DXM quite definitely gives me a serotonin boost and puts me in a very good place; that's really why I take it. I have seen a psychiatrist and was very open about my DXM use, and he put me on Wellbutrin, which has the same serotonin effect without the high. I do note, however, that there is a distinct "dropoff" 6 hours after I take Wellbutrin, a mood slump if you will, but it rebounds back to normal after about an hour.DXM does not do that to me; it's more of a slow slide. I also note that I can control the effects with various anti-anxiety drugs in the "pam" family (Valium, etc). The main reason I want to control the effects is that I get a "restless leg" syndrome if I don't take some sort of tranquilizer to come off the DXM that is highly annoying.
  For me, DXM is most definitely a stimulant. I don't sleep well after taking DXM, even with the tranquilizers; in fact I tend to stay awake all night. This effect keeps me from using it on a daily basis (I'm a good little addict, LOL); I plan my highs for evenings when I know that I don't have a lot going on the next day.
  A drawback of DXM is mood swings. If I use too much, or too frequently, I will swing from bliss to rage/depression/tears. Usually I will rant and rave  about and then dissolve into tears, after which I calm down, exhausted and drained. Naturally this can cause havoc in the household, so I try to  "manage" myself to avoid this. Needless to say, I don't enjoy it either.
  It's ironic that, during all the years my first husband and I used and "partied" with opiates, this drug was under our noses all the time, legal and easily available. I know that he would have responded to DXM just like I have; we were uncannily alike in that way. It's kind of a case of "damn, if only we'd known!" The opiates don't seem to work for me anymore, even before I took up with DXM; but I like the feeling DXM gives me. I like the euphoria, the disassociation, the detachment, and even the bit of numbness. I guess it fits my "observer" personality. I sort of "watch" myself when I'm high. It's quite a different high than opiates, though; of course it would be since this is more of a psychedelic.
  I have had "psychedelic", "mind-expanding" experiences on DXM. I focus on music differently under its influence. I listened to the Beatles' "Sargeant Pepper" album while good and high once, and I finally "understood" it. They wrote it while high, and I don't think it can be fully appreciated unless the listener is also high. I note also that the insights I get on DXM stay with me, unlike those I used to get with opiates. There is definitely something going on in the ole brain-pan on this stuff!!
  
From her you can clearly see that DXM is beneficial for her as an anti-depressant. From the opposite end of the spectrum, DXM can not be taken seriously in the medical community as a valid anti-depressant because it is an NMDA antagonist. Some people claim alcohol is too, and alcohol has been used for centuries to treat anxiety, but it can have a rebound effect. Let's look at some other testimonials:

Boris: DXM does have a very powerful antidepressant and I guess antianxiety effect. When I started using it I hadn't really known anything other than being depressed and anxious and obsessively thinking about things which weren't going right.
The DXM afterglow showed me what it's like to be relaxed and happy and pay attention to beauty in the external world rather than be lost in unpleasant thought.
  However, I feel that I was sort of stuck when I used DXM regularly (meaning every week or ever other week) because I didn't really change much of anything in my life. It seemed like it was making me very complacent.
I also suspect that after the afterglow wears off I felt worse than before I took the DXM. However, I'm not sure if this is a chemical effect. It may be that the afterglow disrupted the coping mechanisms that I usually use to disconnect myself; there was no reason to disconnect when I was happy. Then when it stopped I was more connected with how bad I felt.
On a few occasions I tried repeated 1st plateau doses. A single 1st plateau dose is not too impressive. However, if I take one dose in the evening and the next dose early next afternoon the good effects sort of build. It made me feel very normal. There wasn't that much of a DXM effect, I mainly felt here, happy and relaxed. I was concerned that if I continued this I'd develop addiction or tolerance so I didn't, but perhaps I should have.
  Right now I almost regret doing DXM. I got some very good things out of a few trips, like the time that it permanently overcame my unwillingness to go outside into nature alone, but I didn't get anything out of the vast majority of trips. I think it sort of made me complacent, doing more DXM instead of doing something with my life. I guess that's my problem.
I am pretty sure that if I was doing any other psychedelic that regularly something would have happened sooner. Even pot taught me something and I stopped being a pothead in a few months.

Walkaway: Use of DXM has helped me get through some of the worst periods of my life. (I know that some will think that this is only the voice of "escapism," but they really need to shut the fuck up and keep reading) My father killed himself in May of 2000. My house was raided in September of 2000. My friend Jake died in October of 2000. In December of 2000, I ate 1.5 grams of DXM with my friend Lance. (now also dead, from a car wreck; no drugs were involved) We were using DXM in combination with ritual magick, hatha yoga, and several other disciplines in an effort to completely reorient our perceptual systems. At this point we had been deep in a binge for about a month. As the "trip" came on, I started experiencing classical NDE phenomena. High-speed tunnel travel, bright white lights, wide open spaces, etc., When I came out on the other side, my father and my friend Jake, as well as everyone else I'd ever known who'd ever died were present. I sort of stammered (telepathically, not verbally), "Dad, aren't you ead?" Dad replied, "Cliff, you should know by now that no one ever dies." I don't take any of this literally, necessrily, but it sure as hell helped me not kill myself. If this weas all just a production of my brain, so be it. But it was cool nonetheless.

Byron: The topic of dxm and depression is interesting... I take dxm and wellbutrin... w/o the wellbutrin I slowly sink back into the depression... To paraphrase a psychiatrist I once had.:

"Depression is like drowning at sea. Anti-depressants are like a lifesaver that someone throws you. It keeps your head above water but doesn't get you into the boat. You need talk therapy to get you into the boat"

I would add with DXM, it not only gets me into the boat, but makes me captain and lets me steer the boat.

Mr. DXM: I definitly would say that dxm makes me feel better but does not cure my depression, also I am dual diagnosed (addiction and depression) yes by a doctor and when my dxm use goes overboard i get more depressed but when it's under control i'd say it relives mild clinical depression if used once a week or less.

Sharplee: you're on the right track with the whole dxm/antidepressant angle. i've been experimenting with small maintenance doses under 100mg twice a day, and without laying out all the details just yet, it works wonders for depression as well as pain.

The host of the site, xganon, has this to say about his own personal experience with using DXM for depression and anxiety:

I once had several conditions that could be diagnosed as mental disorders. In the past, I have been diagnosed with depression, attention deficit disorder, mild autism, Asperger's syndrome, and possible some sort of psychosis (my psychiatrist prescribed me Zyprexa, a antipsychotic, and did not tell me what it was. My parents forbade me to look it up. I did, and did not take it. I suspect conspiracy.). Internally, I had many delusions, such as low self-esteem, need for social interaction (which was delusional, because being autistic, I can enjoy but do not require it), a obsession bordering on stalking with a girl, irrational fear of any psychiatric medication, and many others.
  Over a period of a year, DXM taught me how these delusions worked and I learned how to conquer them. Some vanished without a trace after my first few trips (like the obsession and the fear of medication), others went away as a result of direct intervention from real or hallucinated entities (such as the need for social interaction), and still others were slowly counter-imprinted and deleted over a period of time (like the self-esteem issues).
  I still do not support many of the practices that psychiatrists use in prescribing medication, but I don't believe that taking Ritalin will steal my soul and turn me into a mindless robot any more. Due to my newfound open-mindedness about medication, I started taking Ritalin 3-4 months after I started using DXM, and was switched to Adderall 9 months or so after that. Those helped greatly with the ADD symptoms, which were one of the things that were making me unhappy. Occasional DXM use helps me become more conscious of my autistic behavior and choose whether to reinforce or avoid parts of it. The psychosis has been greatly reduced, thanks to both the alleviation of pre-existing delusions and new 'metaprograms' which help greatly in preventing them from forming.
  Here is my opinion about depression and it's treatment with DXM self-programming. Please do not take it as unconditional truth. Evaluate it like you evaluate everything someone tells you. Depression is not a chemical imbalance. I consider modern psychiatry to have redefined the term 'depression' almost completely. Depression may be linked with serotonin deficiency, much like anger may be linked to high levels of adrenaline. We don't say "high adrenaline levels cause anger so let's put someone on adrenaline blockers if they get mad too often". I think that the depression is cause either by external factors (which are often recognized during the dissociative state and then dealt with while sober or on a threshold dose), internal factors (such as a belief in one's own inferiority), or a combination of the two. The belief in one's inferiority is often so strong that it's a central tenet of one's ego and belief system. A belief that persists only because of it's inertia is a delusion. I've used DXM to clear those out by getting to a state where I can bypass strong beliefs about myself and then 'de-imprinting' them by thinking the opposite regularly. If that means a threshold dose every day, then I need a threshold dose every day. Once one either naturally disowns that imprinted belief or is forced into it by a mega-dose, the depression is gone. If I was reasonably confident that I had a serotonin deficiency, I would try eating lots of bananas, or 5-htp, or St. John's Wort, and then maybe try antidepressants (although I still think stimulants and Wellbutrin sound like a better bet than SSRIs for this sort of thing).
  I was on no other medication during this time other than the aforementioned Ritalin and Adderall. When I was a child I was prescribed a very high dose of Effexxor (which was then not approved for use in children) which I allegedly had a very bad reaction to (my normally-adequate memory of my childhood draws a complete blank for that period). I occasionally used diphenhydramine during the period after I started using DXM. It made me feel very depressed for a week or so, and it still makes me feel somewhat depressed for a few days even if I only take 2 pills for sleep. In my uneducated opinion, I consider DXM to be Penicillin for the human psyche. I have never had a 'bad trip', and I notice no serious side effects from it's use. Some people are bothered by the changes that DXM use causes in the mind (such as alienation from others and a 'soulless' feeling). I was not. I have experienced no cognitive impairment and can actually think better now.

I'll let you, the reader and user, decide on whether DXM is beneficial for depression and anxiety. I know it helps for me!



DXM IN SCIENCE

A SCIENTIFIC LOOK AT THE MANY USES OF DEXTROMETHORPHAN IN THE MEDICAL COMMUNITY
compiled by gravol

The following reports highlight the many uses that DXM has in the medical community. It is far from being banned in this country due to its many uses in everything from aiding people with CNS disorders to testing for certain types of cancer. This is a new monthly section that is devoted entirely to the scientific aspects of DXM. For further information on these articles, you can find them at PubMed online.

The treatment of a chronic organic mental disorder with dextromethorphan in a man with severe mental retardation.

Welch L, Sovner R. Craig D.D.S.O., Geneseo, New York.

Response to dextromethorphan (15 mg b.i.d.), an antitussive agent not usually considered to have psychotropic properties, was seen in a 25-year-old man with severe developmental disabilities, congenital rubella, and an organic mental disorder. Dextromethorphan affects CNS serotonergic systems, and this was the probable therapeutic mechanism. This and other published cases suggest the existence of a distinct organic mental syndrome in developmentally disabled persons which responds to drugs that increase indoleaminergic activity. PMID: 1638308 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]


Dextromethorphan for the reduction of immediate and late postoperative pain and morphine consumption in orthopedic oncology patients.

Weinbroum AA, Gorodetzky A, Nirkin A, Kollender Y, Bickels J, Marouani N, Rudick V, Meller I. Postanesthesia Care Unit, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative pain is mediated centrally by N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. The beneficial effects of preincision oral dextromethorphan (DM), which is an NMDA antagonist, on postoperative pain and intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (IV-PCA) morphine (MO) consumption have been examined in patients undergoing surgery. The authors investigated 75 patients who underwent surgery for bone and soft tissue malignancies, in whom postoperative pain is more severe compared with patients who undergo general surgery. METHODS: Patients received placebo, DM 60 mg, or DM 90 mg (25 patients per group) before surgery and on each of the two following days in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled manner. Postoperative IV-PCA MO was started when subjective pain intensity was >/= 4/10 (visual score) and lasted for 72 hours. Rescue drugs on demand were oral paracetamol or dipyrone. RESULTS: The patients in the DM60 and DM90 groups similarly experienced 50-80% less pain (P < 0.01) compared with patients in the placebo group, both immediately and up to 3 days postoperatively, as well as a 50% reduction in the estimated overall maximal pain intensity (P < 0.01). Both DM groups consumed 50-70% less MO than the nonmedicated individuals in the placebo group (P < 0.01), and their demand for rescue drugs on the first postoperative day also was significantly lower (P < 0.01). Patients in the DM groups also were sedated less ( approximately 70%; P < 0.01). There were no differences among the groups in terms of when the patients left their beds, when they were discharged home, or the number of overall side effects. CONCLUSIONS: DM is associated with reduced pain intensity, sedation, and analgesic requirements, even in patients undergoing surgery for bone and soft tissue malignancies. A 3-day DM administration neither increased the incidence of side effects nor accelerated ambulation and discharge home. Cancer 2002;95:1164-70. Copyright 2002 American Cancer Society.DOI 10.1002/cncr.10784 PMID: 12209704 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]


Inhibition of coumarin 7-hydroxylase activity in human liver microsomes.

Draper AJ, Madan A, Parkinson A. Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutics, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City 66160-7417, USA.

Nine organic solvents and 47 commonly used P450 substrates and inhibitors were examined for their effects on coumarin 7-hydroxylase (CYP2A6) activity in human liver microsomes. Of the nine organic solvents examined (final concentration 1%, v/v), only methanol did not inhibit the 7-hydroxylation of coumarin (0.5 to 50 microM) by human liver microsomes. Dioxane and tetra-hydrofuran, which are structurally related to coumarin, were the most inhibitory solvents examined. Although the rates of coumarin 7-hydroxylation varied enormously among nine samples of human liver microsomes and cDNA-expressed CYP2A6 (Vmax = 179 to 2470 pmol/ mg protein/min), the Km for coumarin 7-hydroxylation was fairly constant (ranging from 0.50 to 0.70 microM). The following chemicals caused little or no inhibition of CYP2A6 as defined by a Ki > 200 microM: caffeine, chlorzoxazone, cimetidine, dextromethorphan, diazepam, diclofenac, erythromycin, ethinylestradiol, ethynyltestosterone, fluconazole, furafylline, furfural, hexobarbital, itraconazole, mephenytoin, methimazole, metronidazole, naringenin, naringin, nifedipine, norfloxacin, norgestrel, orphenadrine, quinidine, papaverine, phenacetin, pyrimethamine, ranitidine, spironolactone, sulfaphenazole, sulfinpyrazone, testosterone, tolbutamide, troleandomycin, and warfarin. In other words, these chemicals, at a final concentration of 100 microM, failed to inhibit CYP2A6 when the concentration of coumarin was equal to Km (0.50 microM). The following chemicals were classified as strong inhibitors of CYP2A6 (defined by Ki < 200 microM): clotrimazole, diethyldithiocarbamate, ellipticine, ketoconazole, 8-methoxypsoralen, 4-methylpyrazole, metyrapone, miconazole, alpha-naphthoflavone, nicotine, p-nitrophenol, and tranylcypromine. The potency with which each chemical inhibited the 7-hydroxylation of coumarin was independent of which sample of human liver microsomes was studied. One of the most potent inhibitors of coumarin 7-hydroxylase was 8-methoxypsoralen (methoxsalen), which was determined to be a mechanism-based inhibitor (suicide substrate) of CYP2A6 (k(inactivation) 0.5 min-1). With the exception of 8-methoxypsoralen, preincubation of human liver microsomes and NADPH with the aforementioned inhibitors did not increase their ability to inhibit CYP2A6. The most potent competitive inhibitor of CYP2A6 was tranylcypromine (Ki = 0.04 microM). Several of the chemicals that strongly inhibited CYP2A6, such as ketoconazole and tranylcypromine, are often used with the intention of selectively inhibiting human P450 enzymes other than CYP2A6. The results of this study underscore the need for a systematic evaluation of the specificity of commonly used P450 inhibitors. PMID: 9143352 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]




TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE
AND OTHER MACABRE TALES OF STRANGE BEHAVIOR/OCCURRENCES BY DXM USERS
compiled by gravol

I have updated this section to include not only strange behavior but other strange events that have come over individuals using dextromethorphan. While many of these reports may seem amusing, some are actually quite serious.

666 Cough Syrup:

There is a brand of cough syrup sold by Walgreens and K-Mart called "666 Cough Syrup." Currently we're trying to find out who makes it and obtain a picture of the front of the box. The one available on the Internet at the deuceofclubs.com website is an outdated box - the newer boxes have a much larger and more diabolical-looking 666 on the front of it. If you have a scan of it, contact the Editor.

DXM Heart Attack:

Lisa ( [email protected] ) states: I have used DXm many times and it's a good trip for me-----but the last time. I thought i was just tripping when my heart started beating fast and ignored it when the chest pains started. Then I couldn't take it anymore and called 911. I figured I was just having a bad trip, then they hooked me up to the monitors and everything went downhill from there. I was having a myocardial infarction ( fancy for HEART ATTACK), and now I have damage to my heart and have to take heart medicine. It sucks. I wonder if this is a common or rare side effect????? They at the hospital admitted not knowing much about DXM. I think the medical community needs to be informed of the properties of recreational DXM, so that people who do have complications can be treated in the ER. Anyone hear of this happening before (I was taking ROBO extra strenght----no other active drug in there but DXM. Bummer---you should take chest pain seriously if you are using DXM!!!!

Selling DXM to Children:

One user, who we will protect his identity, claims he sells DXM to children as young as 11: " I've sold dxm pills to these kids on several occations. Only now that i think about it, I believe it was a mistake. I wasn't thinking to clear or something. I've made a good 200 dollars of these kids in the past 3-4 weeks."  Pretty sad, if you ask us.


DXM MUSIC REVIEWS

COOL MUSIC TO LISTEN TO WHILE ON DXM
by various authors

Marc Eriksen ( [email protected] ) does the following reviews:

Trance Dance by Astral Projection

My all time favorite tune for dexing.  I usually just lay back on my bed and trance to this one. its about 9 minutes long (which is great for prelonged trance outs) and combined with a light machine, i'd have to say you could almost reach nirvana with it. A definate recommend!

Kid A (album) by Radiohead

The first time I slammed a 4oz of Maximum Strength Robotussin, I was listening to this.  My God!  I'd have to say this really sent me flying.  I found myself feeling like I was floating at times.  What is the feel of this album?  It's a mixture of soft notes and crazy techno sounds.  Songs such as 'Tree Fingers' and 'Idioteque' can send you into tussin space!  You'll find a nice variety of soft soothing sounds, and head-bobbing beats.

Pulse Widthfghj by (my friend)

I have a DM(square) mixing table for my computer.  One night my friend and I did a nice bottle of 4oz max robo, My friend made this magnificent beat, it's so excellent, it just goes to show you that tussin can create inspiration.  If you would like to hear this song, e-mail me at [email protected] and i'll send you a copy of it.

More Drug and Bass by Venetian Snares

Get ready for one hell of a crazy ride!  This music isn't what you're used to it.  Think of it's sound like if you dropped a cat on a bunch of objects, and that's what you got, but don't be skeptic yet, because it sounds sooooo good on dxm, give Venetian Snares a try and you'll like them (that is if you like that kind of music).

Honorable Mention:  Ambient Galaxy by Astral Projection (actually anything by them is great), Feel the Beat and Sandstorm by DaRude (I recentally bought the cd, I have yet to experience it on dxm, but thus far it's one of my favorite trance cd's.), and of course Robotussin by MC Chris (where would the fun be without a little song about the red stuff?)

NixTrippin ( [email protected] ) provides us with the following reviews:

Artist: Trance[]Control
CD: Beyond 2001
Recomended Tracks: In Trance We Trust, Love And Desire
Rating: 5 Bottles of Robo (out of a possible 5) (note: don't *actually* take that much just to listen to this!)

This CD is incredible.. it's nuts. If the world was taken over by robots, this is the kind of music they would party to. It's just deep, complex.. cold and robotic and yet so beautiful. Plus, no one does better breaks than Trance[]Control. If you get a really hard buzz going, you will not be able to turn this CD off until it is over. Also bitchin' sober.

If you would like to contribute to this section, contact the editor.

Adam ( [email protected] ) writes:

Tortoise - Gamera EP

Tortoise is a post-rock band on the Thrill Jockey label. Gamera EP is a Japanese import. Tortoise is part of the avant-garde post-rock movement. They draw on a wide variety of non-pop influences from the past: Krautrock, dub, classical minimalism, ambient, space, prog-rock, film-music and British electronica. They have up to seven members on the stage at once,  with up to two drummers and vibes at once. They employ such odd instruments as the melodica, a harmonica sounding instrument that is shaped like a miniature keyboard that you blow into to produce music. Amazingly, between each song, there is an instrument switch and each preformer will switch from one to the other.
  The album itself is an interesting one, it is very ambient at times, and it changes its sound and direction over time. When you're listening to music, you don't always need words to describe a feeling, because not all feelings are easily described by a word. You can be listening to Tortoise and then all of the sudden have a weird notion of a feeling that you felt once. As well, because of their ambient nature, you are left hanging, sometimes on complete silence, for the next note in their melody. The EP itself has the title song, Gamera, which is a stereotypical Tortoise jam and then three other songs, Cliff, Dweller and Society, which are most often played together as an extended jam called, surprisingly "Cliff Dweller Society". A great album that featured that song is 'All Tomorrow's Parties 1.0' Tortoise doesn't follow any standard song structure, and this can lead to some disappointment, because sometimes you just wish they would wrap every different rhythm and melody together into one great finale-- sometimes they wrap everything up into an amazing conclusion and sometimes they just fade out into nothingness, but overall it is a very satistfying experience either way. The best thing about Tortoise, in my opinion, is you can either listen to it intently, and try to examine the complex soundscapes being created, or you could easily leave it playing in the background because it's not in any overpowering of your concentration. One signature of all of Tortoise's work is the post-production. John McEntire, who has produced such bands as Stereolab and Archer Prewitt is also a member of The Sea and Cake. His production skills are renown some of the best in the post-rock scene.
  As far as listening to tortoise under the influence of DXM, 1st and 2nd plateau is awesome especially when headphones are utilized because you can experience all of the neat stereo seperation effects. 3rd and 4th plateau are also enjoyable because as I said earlier, it is easy to put into the back of your mind, excellent for a session of introspection and meditation.

As you can see, we really need more music reviews by dexers to be contributed. Don't forget, you'll be entered into a drawing for FREE DXM when you submit your reviews. Thanks!


DXM POETRY

A COMPILATION OF POETRY DONE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DXM
compiled by gravol

Dan Ackerman ( [email protected] ) wrote the following:

I sit and I write
A malady pite
Joyous to sing so delicately
Bushes do dance
The trees are entranced
And the otters pour fellows
Over the brim

Sky cedars falling
Cuddle do darling
Wistfully wait while the
Kangaroo pates

Lucky lady come running hither
So brightly does she fall
Justly sitting mighty scribbling
Softly tiddlehouse do diddling

Bubble bopple do pick the kite
Night falls whilst dusty fight
Do simmer and kimmer and soot
Kindly wait under a brimbroom tree

Suptuous sulken thy fingers nigh
Pitter unto the huthoof fro
Wretched beauty, sing o loathe
Thine hast the table passed

Skyfall and lightly, nightly they come
Mightily shining the shimmering seed
Branch out thee forest
Green to my keep
Sandstone the fingers of doodle in soup


Sharplee ( [email protected] ) gives us the following:

mum is the word
but what was the word
before
it was mum
did it make a noise
did it squeek or squawk
did it bring into life
all that we are not
what is the word
and hey
who spoke it

Please look in the next issue for DXM Artwork, as not enough pieces were obtained by editing/release time.




INFO ON ORDERING PURE DXM POWDER
compiled by gravol

There are only two reliable sources for obtaining dextromethorphan powder for research purposes. One is Chico Chemical and the other is LTK Research Products. Neither of these companies are affiliated with the Zine. Information, taken from their website, follows.
  If you are a company that sells DXM powder and would like to be noted in this section, please contact the Editor. Unfortunately, we've had many cases of fraud in the past years so we're only posting the most credible sources.


Chico Chemical

Chico Chemical is a chemical reseller based in Winston-Salem, NC -offering fine chemicals and bulk actives with a market focus on small research entities that require special attention and personalized service. We purchase only the finest quality product in bulk enabling smaller customers to get the product they need at an affordable price.
  Our inventory is growing, and options for payment are being added everyday so feel free to email us about how we can be of service to  you.

Mail: 353 Jonestown Rd. - Suite 169 - Winston-Salem - NC - 27104
Email: [email protected]

       25 grams  $55
       50 grams  $89
      100 grams $145
       * $5.00 S&H on all orders                                                
          

LTK Research Products

LTK Research Products is a research chemical company located in Minot, North Dakota . We currently offer Quality research chemicals  at a low competitive price. We are now offering our products over the web as well as by mail
 
If would like to contact us you can:

by mail:  LTK Research Products
             2001 8 th Ave SE Suite F
             Minot, ND 58701
by Phone: 1-866-LTK-PROD/1-866-585-7763 between  10am  and  4pm cst
by Fax:     1-701-839-0891
by e-mail:   [email protected]
 
Orders by Check or Money orders: If the web page ordering system does not fit your needs you can order anything from this site by Mail.

Please send your order to :

LTK Research Products LLC
2001 8 th Ave SE Suite F
Minot, North Dakota 58701

Please include the following :
- A return address
- Enclose a check or money order
- Make payable  to:
 LTK Research Products
- Include a $15.00 fee for shipping and handling
- There is a $9.00 added charge for express deliveries
- Name of chemical(s) you want
- Amount(s) of chemical(s)
- Photo copy of ID on all orders over $500
- We do not deliver to P.O boxes
- An e-mail address would be helpful to let you know
- If there are any problems
- No COD
 
Shipping:  Paypal  Shipping Rates: $50.00 - $99.99         
  $15.00 Priority mail/Delivery confirmation
  $100.00 - $199.99          $20.00  Same as above
  $200.00 - and over         $30.00 Express Mail delivery

If you need overnight delivery you will have to call for a price quote. We send overnight deliveries via Fed Ex or Airborne Express. We will only ship to a confirmed address. If you place an international order you may be subject to additional fees and verification before you order is sent.
 
Credit Cards orders by phone: coming soon
 
30 grams.....$ 65.00
50 grams....$ 125.00
100 grams...$ 197.00

* If you are interested in a bulk price quote for Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide  please  e-mail for price and  availiblity

Our Goal @ LTK Research  Products is 100% Customer SatisfactionIf for any reason you are unsatisfied please contact us @ 1-866- ltk-prod or 1-866-585-7763
 



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to thank everyone who either contributed to the Zine or helped provide information on DXM. I would especially like to thank void and VaeSolis from the Dextroverse and all the helpful people from that site and others that helped me compile this massive publication, and especially xganon for helping me with the HTML end of it.

Next Issue: 5-year Anniversary Special
                    

About the Editor: Gravol, also known as Jeff, is 24 and works on the Zine in his spare time. Born in Phoenix and having lived in Akron, Ohio, for
several years, he now resides in St. Augustine, Florida. He is also the author of the Dramamine FAQ, found at lycaeum.org, and an artist in his spare time. To check out some of his work, goto www.lesia.org/amiens.jpg. You can find him posting at Usenet's alt.drugs.psychdelics, as he is a regular there.

* If you'd like to contribute an article or any information to the DXM Zine, email [email protected]. The Zine is free, but any contributions
reduce the tremendous amount of time it takes to complete it would be helpful in maintaining its free distribution. Thank you!