4 ms·

May I take this opportunity to remind that the only drug known to be relatively safe is caffeine.

thunk 16y ago
Not unless you back it up with evidence.
noonespecial 16y ago
Pure caffeine powder can be almost instantly fatal if handled without gloves and respiratory protection. There are no safe drugs, only safe quantities.
- gdl 16y ago
  And conversely, cocaine can be made into a healthy tea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_tea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_tea
- rdl 16y ago
  I believe you mean nicotine...I have observed friends taking 10 kilograms of food grade caffeine microballs and weighing and bagging in 500 mg doses to distribute at a hacker convention, with no adverse effects.
  - noonespecial 16y ago
    Food grade caffeine granules are both diluted and granulated to prevent machine material handling errors from becoming deadly at food packaging plants. The powdered stuff is quite dangerous.
    - rdl 16y ago
      The info I have is that the granules are mainly to ease mechanical processing. Given that ld50 of anhydrous caffeine USP is above 100mg per kilo of body weight, I do not think a few grams, especially through skin, would be much risk. The msds advises gloves, due to it being a skin irritant, but that is for constant exposure. Fine powders are a fire safety and explosion risk, of course, especially in automated storage and processing environments....flour, non dairy creamer, aluminum powder, etc are great fun. If there is any info to the contrary I would be very interested.
      - Daniel_Newby 16y ago
        "Given that ld50 of anhydrous caffeine USP is above 100mg per kilo of body weight, I do not think a few grams, especially through skin, would be much risk." Fine water-soluble powders are absorbed quickly when inhaled, producing a very high peak concentration in the blood that supplies the heart. If it is enough to stop the heart from beating, you die, even if dose averaged over the whole body is reasonable.
Groxx 16y ago
By just about any definition of the word "drug" (except common-use, which isn't acceptable as it changes rapidly), water is also a drug. People drown in water. Choke on water. There's water poisoning if you have too much of it.
metoikos 16y ago
Then you don't know a lot about drugs. Caffeine can be extremely dangerous in certain quantities. The only drug I know of that has no effective toxicity is cannabis, but that has other possible long term issues.
- angelbob 16y ago
  If you were to refine cannabis down to pure THC, I'm sure it'd have a toxicity level as well. Cannabis, like iceberg lettuce, doesn't have a toxicity level because of chemicals contained in it. And cannabis, like iceberg lettuce, could have stuff extracted out of it which would be toxic in large amounts at high concentrations.

thunk 16y ago

Not unless you back it up with evidence.

Pure caffeine powder can be almost instantly fatal if handled without gloves and respiratory protection. There are no safe drugs, only safe quantities.

gdl 16y ago
And conversely, cocaine can be made into a healthy tea: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_tea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_tea
rdl 16y ago
I believe you mean nicotine...I have observed friends taking 10 kilograms of food grade caffeine microballs and weighing and bagging in 500 mg doses to distribute at a hacker convention, with no adverse effects.
- noonespecial 16y ago
  Food grade caffeine granules are both diluted and granulated to prevent machine material handling errors from becoming deadly at food packaging plants. The powdered stuff is quite dangerous.
  - rdl 16y ago
    The info I have is that the granules are mainly to ease mechanical processing. Given that ld50 of anhydrous caffeine USP is above 100mg per kilo of body weight, I do not think a few grams, especially through skin, would be much risk. The msds advises gloves, due to it being a skin irritant, but that is for constant exposure. Fine powders are a fire safety and explosion risk, of course, especially in automated storage and processing environments....flour, non dairy creamer, aluminum powder, etc are great fun. If there is any info to the contrary I would be very interested.
    - Daniel_Newby 16y ago
      "Given that ld50 of anhydrous caffeine USP is above 100mg per kilo of body weight, I do not think a few grams, especially through skin, would be much risk." Fine water-soluble powders are absorbed quickly when inhaled, producing a very high peak concentration in the blood that supplies the heart. If it is enough to stop the heart from beating, you die, even if dose averaged over the whole body is reasonable.

Groxx 16y ago

By just about any definition of the word "drug" (except common-use, which isn't acceptable as it changes rapidly), water is also a drug. People drown in water. Choke on water. There's water poisoning if you have too much of it.

metoikos 16y ago

Then you don't know a lot about drugs. Caffeine can be extremely dangerous in certain quantities. The only drug I know of that has no effective toxicity is cannabis, but that has other possible long term issues.

angelbob 16y ago
If you were to refine cannabis down to pure THC, I'm sure it'd have a toxicity level as well. Cannabis, like iceberg lettuce, doesn't have a toxicity level because of chemicals contained in it. And cannabis, like iceberg lettuce, could have stuff extracted out of it which would be toxic in large amounts at high concentrations.