About William J. Walker, Pharm.D. Expertise Homeopathic, alternative, herbal, natural, adverse drug reactions, side effects, risks, outcomes, research, medication, rational therapeutics, infectious diseases, cardiology, pain management, nutrition, psychopharmacology, oncology, pediatrics, sleep disorders, tropical diseases, HIV, drug interactions, substance abuse, illicit drugs of abuse, geriatrics
Experience
Past/Present clients State of California Department of Youth Authority
State of California Department of Mental Health
County of San Luis Obispo Public Defenders Office
County of San Luis Obispo District Attorney Office
TenetHealth Corporation
Boy Scouts of America
Better Life Institute
Campus Crusade for Christ
Volunteers in Medical Evangelism
His Healing Hands, Inc.
AskMe.com
Kiwanis International
I'm writing a romantic mystery, and I need to know if there is a sleeping pill or some other pill that can knock you out and that can be dissolved in a hot beverage that wouldn't taste foul.
Could a drug like this be discovered in the blood stream by a medical examination?
If you could give me any suggestions. Or if this kind of drug does not exist, I'd love to know.
Thank you in advance!
Melody
www.melodyplatz.typepad.com
Answer Ahh yes, the perfect murder or crime. Over the ages this question has been asked. And many attempts to find the magic bullet have provided us with an array of possible candidates but none that fit every part of your citeria.
The old Mae West style was the Mickey Finn. Knockout drops. Using the simple compound choral hydrate mixed in an alcoholic drink. Perhaps the distinctive taste was somehow masked by the rotgut whiskey because almost every sedative known that is alcohol based has a profound taste. Hard to mask. But it was readily soluble and very fast. Trouble is that it worked well in the old days before modern forensics. Today this sort of thing is easily detected by the lab.
There are some sedatives that have the benefit of little to no taste but they might fall short in terms of solubility and/or detectability.
The key is to select an agent that has relatively good solubility but then have it mixed in a beverage that has a strong taste already. And better yet if it is an alcoholic beverage. Then also look for something that, although not entirely undetectable, is not something that would be routinely discovered on the first look. So, avoid the obvious ones....barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and even the simple alcohols. There are some very old agents that might work out. One might be as simple as magnesium sulfate. But that would show up too fast on simple blood panel. How about disulfiram? Otherwise known as Antabuse. It is seldom an agent that is considered unless the person in question happens to be an aloholic. It is not a perfect choice by any means but a creative way to get the job done.
You might also take a look at this site to see if there is anything there that might inspire you: http://www.whale.to/b/sp/3.html
Good luck in your writing. I would love to spend more time on this for you but I am afraid that it is not quite what this site is intended to be. My time is preciously limited. Unless of course there are residuals involved... ;+)
