Pedagogical patronizing of the pharmacodynamic promises of illicit drugs.

A review of popular drug education textbooks and curricula indicated most juxtapose the physiologic effects of licitly manufactured drugs under headings representing illicitly prepared drugs. This misrepresentation ignores the literature, which is undivided, in reporting that illicit drugs contain adulterants and substitutes such as: sodium acetate, sodium cyclamate, dolomite, acetaminophen, gypsum, mannitol, inositol, lidocaine, amydricaine, benzocaine, caffeine, ephedrine, intercaine, phenylpropanolamine, piperocaine, procainamide, azopyridine, bromodiphenhydramine, ibuprofen, methaqualone, phenobarital trazodone, acetylcodine, codeine, quinine, quinidine, thallium, arsenic and strychnine. The temptation to extrapolate the results of licitly pure drug lots administered at precisely measured doses to represent the pharmacodynamics of illegally prepared drug lots administered at indiscernible doses must be avoided in drug educational resources. There is a pressing need to correct the factual base, both implied and suggestive, of drug education resources regarding the purity and toxicity of illicitly manufactured and purchased drugs.