4 ms·

Not sure if I'm missing some kind of pop reference here, but taking this comment at face value... how are cocaine or opium considered "spices"? Surely spices a

Not sure if I'm missing some kind of pop reference here, but taking this comment at face value... how are cocaine or opium considered "spices"? Surely spices are for, well, spicing food? I'm not sure if you've ever tasted cocaine or opium, but I'm told they are not at all pleasant - definitely not the kind of thing you'd add to food to improve flavour.

smilekzs 7y ago
Capital "Spice" refers to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melange_(fictional_drug) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melange_(fictional_drug)
- GordonS 7y ago
  Hah, I loved reading the Dune books as a kid, but had forgotten the name "melange", only remembering it as "spice"!
DoreenMichele 7y ago
Cocaine comes from coca leaves. If you have ever had a Coca Cola, you have tasted extract from the coca leaf, though with the cocaine (hallucinogen) removed. Opium is found in poppy seeds which are used to top bread. Some US military members will refrain from eating bread with poppy seeds because it can cause them to fail random drug tests required by military service. This can potentially get you booted with a dishonorable discharge.
- sandworm101 7y ago
  And professionals who are around medicines. And pilots. And people in other jobs subject to random testing (refinery/powerplant crews).
- GordonS 7y ago
  Hmm, so, I somewhat take your point about opium, although the flavour of poppy seeds is vastly different from the bitter taste of opium. I've tried coca leaves in Peru (supposedly they help with altitude sickness; I didn't get altitude sickness, but who knows!) - they are used by locals because they are a stimulant, not because they taste nice (they're not particularly bad, a kind of generic "herbal" taste, but certainly nothing you'd purposely add for flavour).
  - DoreenMichele 7y ago
    Lots of people drink coffee for the caffeine and don't actually enjoy the flavor. Chocolate is quite bitter if you don't add a bunch of sugar to it.
    - GordonS 7y ago
      Do they though? Everyone I know who doesn't like coffee drinks tea (or more rarely yerba mata). > Chocolate is quite bitter if you don't add a bunch of sugar to it But it does at least have a very desirable flavour when some sugar is added (it really doesn't need "a bunch" :) Opium is like the essence of bitterness - in flavour terms, it had no redeemable qualities whatsoever.
- acchow 7y ago
  Why would they use such a sloppy test to justify a dishonorable discharge? Surely you must have some other priors...
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- Karrot_Kream 7y ago
  Cocaine isn't a hallucinogen, it's a stimulant.
  - DoreenMichele 7y ago
    Cocaine is a central nervous system stimulant that can, under some conditions, be a halucinogen. https://www.answers.com/Q/Is_cocaine_a_hallucinogen_stimulant_or_depressant https://www.answers.com/Q/Is_cocaine_a_hallucinogen_stimulan... It was originally part of the Coca Cola formula and was removed because it is the psychoactive ingredient. They still use coca extract in Coca Cola, but it no longer makes you high. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cocaine-coca-cola/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cocaine-coca-cola/
    - Jamwinner 7y ago
      It was removed due to cost and caffiene being more stimulating, and addictive. Looming regulations also played a part. The amount in cola, or in any generally unrefined state, aka, not powder, is highly unlukely to have any psychoactive effects.
      - xnyan 7y ago
        Unrefined coca is less stimulating. Seeing as refined cocaine was being used in products marketed to infants and children and well understood (by professionals at least) to be fantastically habit forming, I think the pivot to caffeine was somewhere between 99-100% influenced by the impending narcotics regulations.
      - kyuudou 7y ago
        Don't forget sugar and HFCS
zaphod420 7y ago
"The Spice Melange" is a reference to the last episode of south park. Season 23, Episode 8 - "Turd Burglars"
- echelon 7y ago
  It's a reference to Frank Herbert's Dune. Fantastic read, and you should get to it when you have time.
  - brailsafe 7y ago
    Could be either.
  - n0rbwah 7y ago
    It's of course a reference to Dune but given the fact that the episode with this joke aired just days ago, there's quite a chance that OP was making a reference to South Park's "spice melange" (shit)

smilekzs 7y ago

Capital "Spice" refers to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melange_(fictional_drug) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melange_(fictional_drug)

GordonS 7y ago
Hah, I loved reading the Dune books as a kid, but had forgotten the name "melange", only remembering it as "spice"!

DoreenMichele 7y ago

Cocaine comes from coca leaves. If you have ever had a Coca Cola, you have tasted extract from the coca leaf, though with the cocaine (hallucinogen) removed. Opium is found in poppy seeds which are used to top bread. Some US military members will refrain from eating bread with poppy seeds because it can cause them to fail random drug tests required by military service. This can potentially get you booted with a dishonorable discharge.

sandworm101 7y ago
And professionals who are around medicines. And pilots. And people in other jobs subject to random testing (refinery/powerplant crews).
GordonS 7y ago
Hmm, so, I somewhat take your point about opium, although the flavour of poppy seeds is vastly different from the bitter taste of opium. I've tried coca leaves in Peru (supposedly they help with altitude sickness; I didn't get altitude sickness, but who knows!) - they are used by locals because they are a stimulant, not because they taste nice (they're not particularly bad, a kind of generic "herbal" taste, but certainly nothing you'd purposely add for flavour).
- DoreenMichele 7y ago
  Lots of people drink coffee for the caffeine and don't actually enjoy the flavor. Chocolate is quite bitter if you don't add a bunch of sugar to it.
  - GordonS 7y ago
    Do they though? Everyone I know who doesn't like coffee drinks tea (or more rarely yerba mata). > Chocolate is quite bitter if you don't add a bunch of sugar to it But it does at least have a very desirable flavour when some sugar is added (it really doesn't need "a bunch" :) Opium is like the essence of bitterness - in flavour terms, it had no redeemable qualities whatsoever.
acchow 7y ago
Why would they use such a sloppy test to justify a dishonorable discharge? Surely you must have some other priors...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
Karrot_Kream 7y ago
Cocaine isn't a hallucinogen, it's a stimulant.
- DoreenMichele 7y ago
  Cocaine is a central nervous system stimulant that can, under some conditions, be a halucinogen. https://www.answers.com/Q/Is_cocaine_a_hallucinogen_stimulant_or_depressant https://www.answers.com/Q/Is_cocaine_a_hallucinogen_stimulan... It was originally part of the Coca Cola formula and was removed because it is the psychoactive ingredient. They still use coca extract in Coca Cola, but it no longer makes you high. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cocaine-coca-cola/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/cocaine-coca-cola/
  - Jamwinner 7y ago
    It was removed due to cost and caffiene being more stimulating, and addictive. Looming regulations also played a part. The amount in cola, or in any generally unrefined state, aka, not powder, is highly unlukely to have any psychoactive effects.
    - xnyan 7y ago
      Unrefined coca is less stimulating. Seeing as refined cocaine was being used in products marketed to infants and children and well understood (by professionals at least) to be fantastically habit forming, I think the pivot to caffeine was somewhere between 99-100% influenced by the impending narcotics regulations.
    - kyuudou 7y ago
      Don't forget sugar and HFCS

zaphod420 7y ago

"The Spice Melange" is a reference to the last episode of south park. Season 23, Episode 8 - "Turd Burglars"

echelon 7y ago
It's a reference to Frank Herbert's Dune. Fantastic read, and you should get to it when you have time.
- brailsafe 7y ago
  Could be either.
- n0rbwah 7y ago
  It's of course a reference to Dune but given the fact that the episode with this joke aired just days ago, there's quite a chance that OP was making a reference to South Park's "spice melange" (shit)