From: Samson Newsgroups: alt.drugs.hard Subject: Re: china White... Date: Sun, 01 Nov 1998 16:28:17 -0500 Clonedv8s wrote: >I was wondering if anybody has ever actually shot this stuff. >I've heard it's, like, the most potent narcotic out there. can >someone fill me in on the effects, dosage, availability, >neurological damage ect.? The old "China White" confusion returns... "China White" is just a slang term for good East Asian heroin. In the late 70's-80's, when heroin was in short supply (at least compared to the early 70's/90's), various distributors began manufacturing analogs of fentanyl (alpha-methylfentanyl, 3-methylfentanyl), diluting with inert powders and selling this mixture either as heroin or 'synthetic heroin'. This picked up the name "China White" (even though it was never anywhere near China). There was also the 'super Demerol' (MPPP), which, when it was not made properly, came out as MPTP, a neurotoxin much in use by scientists in Parkinson's research. (Indeed, it's effects on the nervous system were not known until the 'frozen addicts' began to surface, one of whom was one of the first chemists to crank the stuff out .) Today, you'll find "China White" (ie., Southeast Asian heroin) on the streets of NYC, Philly, Boston, DC, Miami... You won't find fentanyl. There's too much heroin around to make the lab work worthwhile. On the west coast, you'll find your tar and such, and perhaps some "China White" will turn up now and then. But black-market fentanyl analogs have not been documented since 1990 or so. The March, 1988 issue of the Journal of Forensic Sciences (vol 33(2)) documents this whole scene that started the "designer drugs" scare. Also, from Yogi Shan's Clandestine Chemistry FAQ @ http://www.hyperreal.org/drugs/synthesis/FAQ-Clandestine-Chemistry A Selected Bibliography on Synthetic Heroin ------------------------------------------- "T-Bird an' Georgie let their 'gimmicks' go rotten, So the died of hepatitis in Upper Manhattan, Sly, in Vietnam -- bullet in the head, Bobby O.D.ed on Draino on the night that he was wed. They were two more friends of mine, Two more friends that *died*. -- "People Who Died" Jim Carroll Band (1980) While speed lab busts were peaking at the end of the '70s, almost simultaneously two entirely new and different forms of "synthetic heroin" (synthetic opiates, actually) began appearing commercially in California, making their presence felt as junkies began dropping like flies for unknown reasons. A major public health threat had opened simultaneously on two fronts, and the term "designer drug" entered the vernacular of a horrified public. The "original" China White fentanyl analogue was alpha-methylfentanyl, which the DEA initially thought was the more potent 3-methylfentanyl. Fentanyl Analogue Refs: "Chem. Eng. News" 59:71 (1981) [before they realized it was alpha and not 3-methyl] "Fentanyl Program", GFR1-81-4044, DEA (1981), unpublished. "Control Recommendation for a-MethylFentanyl", DEA (1981) "Federal Register" 46:46799 (1981) [Notice of Scheduling: Final Rule] "Anal. Chem" (Oct. 1981) "Behind the Identification of China White" "Science" 224:1083 (1984) "Science 85" (March 1985) Baum, "Chem. Eng. News" 63(36):7-16 (1985), excellent cover story on designer drugs including fentanyl & MPPP. "JAMA" 256 (22): 3061-3063 (1986); fentanyl & MPPP. References on the even higher potency 3-methylfentanyl, whose initial appearance was in Pittsburgh, and which appeared separately and much later, than a-methylfentanyl, and also caused some O.D.s (and a 45-year sentence for the chemist). 3-methyl fentanyl was also the narcotic later made by both Michael Hovey and George Marquardt. Monastero in "America's Habit". President's Commission on Organized Crime (1986) "New York Times", 881225. "Eagle", lengthy Marquardt series "Newsweek", 930621, p.32, Marquardt Literature cites on MPPP, of Parkinson's Disease fame: "Psych. Res." 1:249 (1979) [the original paper, rejected by JAMA & NEJM] "Science" 219:979 (1983) Langston, "The Sciences" 25(1):34-40 (1985) "The Case of the Tainted Heroin" [by the guy who tracked it down] "The Case of the Frozen Addict", PBS "Nova", (1986), transcript of show Sanford Markey, ed. "MPTP - A Neurotoxin Producing a Parkinsonian Syndrome" Orlando, Fl.: Academic Press (1986) [haven't seen this one; book based on Centers for Disease Control investigation] "The Case of the Frozen Addicts" Langston & Palfreman. NY: Pantheon (1995). [You've seen the PBS show, now read the more detailed book!] There are lots of other scientific papers available, but the above-listed are some of the main ones of interest. ------------------------------