Methaqualone and Its Subsequent Iterations

Elena Platov
5/19/15

Methaqualone, populary known as Quaaludes, is a popular central nervous

system depressant that serves a dual function, acting as a sedative and a mild hypnotic
psychoactive drug. Quaaludes were utilized as a popular recreational drug all
throughout the world, especially within the United States and the U.K., during the 1970s
and early 1980s. Methaqualone was also popularly utilized as a comprehensive muscle
relaxant and as a semi-successful treatment for insomniac conditions. In 1985, the
production of Quaaludes was abruptly halted, especially within the United States. In
recent years, increased Methaqualone production has been occurring in South Africa
(Falco, 1976). The resultant drug is called Mandrax and it is often synthesized in
underground, illegal laboratories and subsequently shipped to the United States. The
film The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) has helped in terms of re-popularizing the drug in
the public consciousness. This paper will discuss the short history of Methaqualone and
its recent resurgence after its 30 year hiatus.
Methaqualone was synthesized for the first time in India in the early 1950s and
was originally intended and used as a potent drug to combat malaria. Within 15 short
years, Methaqualone rose to the ranks of the most popularly prescribed sedative in the
United Kingdom. At the time, it was legally packaged and sold under the names,
Malsed, Malsedin and Renoval. Approximately four years later, Methaqualone was
combined with an antihistamine and sold as Mandrax. Roussel Laboratories put out the
drug in this form. In the United States, this Methaqualone/antihistamine combination
was sold under the legal name of Quaalude. By the early 1970s, Quaalude was one of
the top 10 bestselling sedatives within the whole United States (Inaba, Gay, Newmeyer

& Whitehead, 1973). The popularity of Methaqualone was due to its relaxing effects
upon the body.
The pharmaceutical firm of William H. Rorer Inc. supplied Quaalude to the United
States. The drug was coined Quaalude, because it was a mash-up of the words quiet
and interlude; describing the drugs highly effective relaxant and sedative effects. In the
late 1970s, William H. Rorer Inc. sold the manufacturing rights of Quaalude to Lemmon
Company. However, Quaalude now had to deal with widespread public image problems
due to rampant recreational usage and the prevalence of numerous illegal underground
laboratories making the drug generically and flooding it into the general population
(McCarthy & Myers, 2003). At any rate, Quaalude was still prescribed as a popular overthe-counter solution for sleeping and narcolepsy problems. Furthermore, to combat
abuse of the drug, Lemmon Company shortly put out a less quantitatively potent form of
the drug, Mequin, in order to assuage the fears of doctors who wished to not feel
accountable for those patients who chose to abuse their previous prescriptions of
Quaalude.
In the early 1980s, Lemmon Company sold the rights to Quaalude to JB Roerig &
Company, a subsidiary of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals. However, Quaalude was shortly
discontinued from manufacturing and sales in 1985 due to its propensity for psychoaddictiveness and its prevalent recreational use. In essence Quaaludes were to the
1970s and 80s what ecstasy and MDMA are to the 21 st century. For 30 years, Quaalude
has been nearly non-existent in the United States, U.K and abroad; probably due to the
prevalence of the hard drug revolution that occurred in the 80s and 90s (cocaine, crack,
black tar heroin, methamphetamine, etc.). As a result, when South African underground

laboratories began quietly manufacturing and distributing Methaqualone, under the

name Mandrax, in the early 2000s, there was little publicity. Now, nearly 15 years later,
Mandrax is being peddled from South Africa to many regions of the globe. Mandrax is
now, once again, constituted as a popular recreational party drug of choice by the youth
in the first world. Due to its different name, and dubious location of origin, it is difficult to
quell the influx of the drug. Moreover, since there are no current legal pharmaceutical
iterations and distributions of Methaqualone, it can be accurately stated that all forms of
the drug flooding the streets are illegal in nature and derivative of the original chemical
formula.
The effects of Methaqualone are wide-ranging. A user may typically feel a sense
of drowsiness, slowed/irregular heart rate, slight and faint respiration, heightened
sexual/erogenous arousal, numb extremities, glossolalia, slurred speech and intense
optical sensitivity to gradations of light. In instances where an overdose of
Methaqualone occurs, the most common side effects are rapid convulsions,
hyperreflexia, intense nausea and vomiting, renal failure, inducement of coma, delirium
and death via arrest of cardiac and/or respiratory functionality (McCarthy, Myers &
Siegfied, 2005). The results of an overdose of Methaqualone are quite similar to the
resultant effects of barbiturate poisoning. However, overdoses of Methaqualone often
suffer from greater attenuation of motor skill capacities. The typical individual single
dose of Quaalude was 75mg. On the other end of the spectrum, a dosage of 8,000mg
would have certainly induced death. It is also worth nothing, though, that a dosage as
slight 2,000mg could also induce death if combined with an alcoholic depressant.

Methaqualone also influences the bodily functions of animals in intriguing ways.

For instance, in men and monkeys, enhanced performance was observed
approximately 34 hours after ingestion of 400mg of the drug. Moreover, reaction times
were increased within 10 hours after ingestion while decreases in such advancements
were seen approximately 19 hours upon ingestion (Borland, Nicholson & Wright, 1975).
In terms of the anatomical and chemical structures of both monkeys and men,
Methaqualone has been found to be a helpful hypnotic drug when reaction times and
performance derivatives are to be measured under stringent constraints and frames of
reference. Rats, under the influence of Methaqualone, have also shown intriguing
findings.
For instance, it only took 33 days of systemic dosage to addict rats to the
chemical dependency of Methaqualone. Diazepam also was found to be the strongest
suppressant of the effects of Methaqualone (Suzuki, Koike, Chida & Misawa, 1988).
Withdrawal symptoms were found to be similar to those of benzodiazopenes and
dissimilar to alcohol and barbiturates. Thus, the chemical dependence quotients and
thresholds in rats is quite low for rats. This means that Methaqualone is a highly
addictive substance that creates vast chemical dependence quite quickly within the
inherent chemical structures in the rats. These findings are interesting to note in crossreference to their similar effect on humans.
One study found that Methaqualone dosage in humans creates vast
modifications in how humans metabolize drugs and food after systemic exposure.
Methaqualone (Mandrax in this instance) creates vast enzyme induction comparable to
amylobarbitone. The level of metabolic stimulation was similar to what occurs when

barbiturate dosages are given to humans. This study intrinsically shows how the
glandular and digestion-oriented chemicals within the body become heightened and
galvanized by Methaqualone ingestion. The scope of Methaqualones effects on
humanity and animals is vast and must be studied more in order to expand the extant
literature review on the subject.
The film, The Wolf of Wall Street, re-popularized recreational Quaalude use by
way of stock trader Jordan Belforts antics. In the 1970s and 1980s, Quaalude were
indeed a substance used by Type A, high-stress white collar workers as a way to loosen
up, relax and experience mild sedation. The film popularized the resurgence of
Quaalude use because it allied the use of Quaalude with making money, prosperity and
decadent excess within the minds of viewers. As a result, illicit South African
laboratories are now able to concoct and sell generic version of Quaalude (named
Mandrax) due to the increased demand brought forth from the hype surrounding the
movie.
The implications of Methaqualone reintroducing itself into worldwide populations,
via Mandrax, is robust and worthy of alarm. Recent studies have posited that the
potency of Mandrax is potentially higher than the Quaalude of the 1970s/80s. As a
result, the side effects of Mandrax are worthy of attention since they are wider in scope.
Mandrax users, besides the effects of original Methaqualone, may experience rapid
emotional mood swings and vacillations, onset of depression, rapid loss of weight,
migraine headaches, intestinal cramping/blockages, epileptic seizures, aggressive
outbursts, toxic psychosis and lessened abilities to control musculature (Pascarelli,

1973). These dangerous symptoms simply showcase the manifold problems that
Mandrax users can be subject to.
Furthermore, while the Quaalude users of the past typically did not exude
physically notable signs of usage and addiction, this is not the case for Mandrax users
and abusers. Mandrax users typically can be identified due to jaundiced/yellow-stained
hands and fingers, bloodshot eyes, anorexic appearance, decaying teeth, narcoleptic
conditions, severe appetite loss, heightened secretion of saliva and a distended
abdominal region. Thus, it can be seen, that the modern-day synthesis of Methaqualone
can be posited as being much more dangerous than its original iteration and 20 th
century source.
The future of Mandrax is uncertain. For instance, in South Africa, its originator,
the low price of crack cocaine is driving up demand for crack and driving down demand
for Mandrax. In other first world countries, MDMA and ecstasy are more popular
recreational drugs that feature similar sedative attributes and lessened side effects.
Thus, Mandrax seems to be on the way out in terms of its favor within the current
recreational drug ethos. However, this is not to say that Mandrax still does not pose a
problem for many countries of the world. For instance, the illicit manufacture and
distribution of Mandrax is often tied in with other illegal activities where criminal activity
takes place across state/national lines (i.e. human trafficking, transit of stolen property,
etc.). As a result, the active and principal component of Mandrax, Methaqualone, still
constitutes a great danger; especially for the youth of the world who indiscriminately
ingest party drugs for a rush.

People should care about the modern iterations of Methaqualone because it

goes to show how simple it is for illicit and underground operations to synthesize
dangerous drugs and disseminate them to the public. Mandrax is just one example of
such a drug. More popularly, methamphetamine is produced in inconspicuous,
underground meth labs for the purposes of clandestine distribution. These meth labs
were created after criminal organizations saw how easily Mandrax could be
manufactured and distributed within South African and abroad. Thus, it is not spurious
to surmise that the creation and sale of Mandrax even led to the boom in popularity and
supply of illegal methamphetamines. Likewise, anytime an illicit drug is ignorantly
utilized as a recreational drug, the public should take notice and be vigilant. The youth
are especially suggestible in terms of unquestioningly ingesting synthetic drugs without
knowing what they are composed of or what the risk factors are. Thus, anytime such a
drug floods the market, and gains hype amongst the youth, everyone should be
extremely wary.
Further research should center around ways to potentially synthesize legal
substances that exhibit the positive effects of Methaqualone without the negative side
effects. Such a substance, inducing muscle relaxation and calm, would actually be a
boon for society. However, the synthesis of such a substance would obviously still need
to undergo massive research and development, exhaustive testing and approval from
the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Ergo, development of positive, life-affirming
drugs should be the goal of future research. If positive and life-affirming substances are
created, there will be no further need for rebellious youth to take to ingesting harmful
substances. The public needs an alternative, because right now they either ingest

prescribed pharmaceutical drugs for specific doctor-approved conditions or they ingest

illegal drugs as an act of rebellion. A middle path, composed of healthy and approved
synthetic substances would offer the public ways to indulge in behavior/body-chemical
modification in safe ways that are acceptable to society. This would constitute a positive
step towards tolerant and affirmative drug acceptance in the United States and other
industrialized nations with histories of drug problems.

Reference List
Falco, M. (1976). Methaqualone misuse: Foreign experience and United States drug
control policy. Substance Use & Misuse, 11(4), 597-610.
Inaba, D. S., Gay, G. R., Newmeyer, J. A., & Whitehead, C. (1973). Methaqualone
Abuse: Luding Out. JAMA, 224(11), 1505-1509.
McCarthy, G., & Myers, B. (2003). Treatment for Mandrax (combination of
methaqualone, cannabis and tobacco) dependence in adults. The Cochrane
Library.
McCarthy, G., Myers, B., & Siegfried, N. (2005). Treatment for Methaqualone
dependence in adults. The Cochrane Library.
Pascarelli, E. F. (1973). Methaqualone abuse, the quiet epidemic. JAMA, 224(11),
1512-1514.