Overdose - Another bromo-dragonfly disaster

[radiometer]

'I nearly died from taking £5 hit'
By Sallie George
BBC News

For just £5, he was promised a "mellow hit, similar to acid but more enjoyable".

But for 18-year-old Justin Stevens (not his real name), the decision to experiment with a little-known drug called Bromo Dragonfly very nearly cost him his life.

His lung collapsed, his heart stopped twice, and his mother was told that in the unlikely event her son survived, he could be left with permanent brain damage.


Just days after leaving hospital, Justin spoke to BBC News online about why he will never take drugs again - and why he wants his experience to serve as a warning to other young people.
'Swarm of bees'

Heading into Guildford, Surrey to meet a dealer, Justin and his friends had planned a night experimenting with drugs.


I threw up and then inhaled the contents of my stomach, and my lung collapsed
Justin Stevens

"We knew a guy who had some stuff, he had lots of different things, research chemicals, ketamine, cannabis - we just wanted to experiment," he said.

"I'd not tried anything that intense before - I'd smoked a few spliffs but never really gone further."

The group's choice, Bromo Dragonfly, a Class A hallucinogenic, was in liquid form and came in a brown vial with a pipette.

Four drops were put onto each boys' hand, which they then licked off. It cost them £5 each.

About two hours later, the teenagers began to feel the hallucinogenic effects of the drug.

Three hours in, Justin's condition became dramatically worse.

He said: "I started getting really hot, and slightly panicky, and couldn't concentrate on anything.


"My friends said I started sweating profusely so they took me outside to get some air.

"I didn't have any shoes on, as they couldn't get me to put them on. Then when I was outside, I started to rip my clothes off."

The teenager became convinced he was surrounded by a swarm of bees, and began swatting at the air.

As he did, he fell into brambles and nettles, but continued to fight.

"It took a while for my friends to restrain me.

"I've got scars all over my arms, my stomach and my face from the brambles, some of them are really quite deep."

As his friends tried to help, Justin started convulsing, and then stopped breathing, before having another fit.

"I threw up and then inhaled the contents of my stomach, and my lung collapsed," he said.

"As the ambulance arrived I had another fit and my heart stopped.

"They brought me back in the ambulance, and then my heart failed again as we reached the hospital."

Severe flashbacks

His mother Kathryn rushed to her son at Frimley Park Hospital, only to be told by doctors that his chances of survival were slim.


As it is relatively rare, little is known about its effects or what may or may not be a 'safe' dose
Martin Barnes, DrugScope

But just days later, he returned home, having made what doctors told him was a "miracle" recovery.

His mother said: "My initial reaction when they said he could come out of hospital was just to go into panic - how do I make sure this doesn't happen again? I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep at night.

"But this has changed him completely - he will never do this again, and he is very keen to make sure other people don't go through it."

Since leaving hospital, Justin has suffered severe flashbacks, and had concerns about the long-term effects of the drug.

Martin Barnes, chief executive of DrugScope, said Bromo Dragonfly was one of a number of hallucinogenics where the effects could be similar to LSD, but little was known about it.

He said: "The drug is a liquid and taken in similar ways to LSD - usually swallowed on sugar lumps or on blotting paper - but as it is relatively rare, little is known about its effects or what may or may not be a 'safe' dose.

"Given uncertainties about potency, dosage and the drug's unpredictable effects people should steer well clear if they are offered the drug."


Story from BBC NEWS:

Published: 2008/03/27 12:10:04 GMT

© BBC MMVIII

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/h...ey/7315020.stm

Reputation Comments on this post:

Tragic, but thanks for sharing.

[RaverHippie]

I'd like a trip report from the other friends...for informational purposes

But on a serious know I wonder what caused the physical symptoms.

[trptamene]

Is there any evidence for br-dfly's having unpredictable D-R curves?

[RaverHippie]

Originally Posted by trptamene

Is there any evidence for br-dfly's having unpredictable D-R curves?

reading trip reports have shown that many people could take the same dose and having completely different effects. Apparently there have been different batches with different (racemates or stereoisomers not sure which term I'm thinking of since I'm familiar with neither). I'm not sure if there is a standard for the dose range yet.

[Alfa]

Originally Posted by trptamene

Is there any evidence for br-dfly's having unpredictable D-R curves?

As RaverHippie hints to; Maybe not D-R (Dose - Response) curves, but D-L (isomer) dose differences. What if one isomer is more potent than the other?

[trptamene]

Originally Posted by Alfa

As RaverHippie hints to; Maybe not D-R (Dose - Response) curves, but D-L (isomer) dose differences. What if one isomer is more potent than the other?

Even worse, what if one isomer is much more toxic than the other? This is a not uncommon phenomenon. Doesn't explain why one person had problems and not the other immediately though.

Perhaps a combination of body chemistry and the unpredictable drug...maybe was on antidepressents or other psychotropic drugs.

[Raoul duke420]

sounds like some bad shit to take to me

[Abrad]

Posted by a well respected member of another forum;

Originally Posted by fastandbulbous

Received this from a BL who wishes to remain anonymous (for obvious reasons, once read)

As people have noticed there is a lot of missing information in that article, but I think it would be helpful for people here to know the circumstances: The person in hospital stole "40 doses" (so my estimate is between 20 and 40 milligrams) of bromo-dragonfly powder from my friends' house, and proceeded to snort the lot, which put him into a coma and hospital for three days. The person and friends then wrote statements to the police claiming it had been sold - dicks!

[RaverHippie]

Originally Posted by Abrad

Posted by a well respected member of another forum;

I remember going through the BL bromodragonfly thread and it was pretty extensive, as is the DF counterpart. That's a very interesting turn of events.

w2g If the snorting thing is true...I don't really have sympathy even though the circumstances are so severe. There is a bit of common sense necessary when undergoing human experimentation with psychedelic chemicals

[trptamene]

Originally Posted by RaverHippie

I remember going through the BL bromodragonfly thread and it was pretty extensive, as is the DF counterpart. That's a very interesting turn of events.

w2g If the snorting thing is true...I don't really have sympathy even though the circumstances are so severe. There is a bit of common sense necessary when undergoing human experimentation with psychedelic chemicals

Darwinism at its best.

Reputation Comments on this post:

I'm glad someone else has that sort of sense of humor/line of though.

[Matches]

Inhaling your stomach acid from induced or non-induced vomiting can very likely kill anyone. Having a lung aneurysm because you inhaled your stomach HCl and attributing it to chemical A, B, and the rest of the tangible alphabet = excessively stupid.

Glad this idiot was so "enlightened" by his cosmic understanding, sheesh.

[enquirewithin]

So this person didn't just take a '£5 hit? He snorted several doses? This is the mentality that prohibition creates!

[aerozeppelin123]

What's the actual name of this drug? Is it 2CB-Fly?

[Alfa]

No, it is bromo-dragonfly.

[aerozeppelin123]

Surely there's a proper chemical name though?

[RaverHippie]

Originally Posted by aerozeppelin123

Surely there's a proper chemical name though?

enjoy, Bromo-benzodifuranyl-isopropylamine

[JDreaming]

Interesting article; it's the first time I've seen mention of Bromo-Dragonfly on BBC news. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to get useful information on the risks inherent to the substance from an article like this, due to the dishonesty of all the people involved. The victim didn't ingest the substance in real life the way he did in the article and the article's writers didn't care enough to correct their portrayal of events.

I'm glad for what Matches pointed out. This 18 year old wasn't necessarily sent to the hospital by BR-DFLY, but by inhaling his own vomit, thus damaging his lungs and, in turn, his heart. That can (and does) happen with all potentially nauseating drugs, including alcohol. Though it helps if you can calmly walk into a bathroom to vomit instead of doing it naked, outdoors, while raving about bees. From what little studies have been done of 2C-B-Fly, it does not appear much more hazardous than the parent compound, 2C-B. I suspect that once Bromo-Dragonfly is properly studied, it will show a similar relationship to DOB. Not necessarily 'safe', but not necessarily more hazardous than related drugs, either.

[snapper]

Bromo-dragonfly has so far proven unpredictable and most reports of use are not positive. However, SWIM has yet to test it on labmonkeys and so cannot comment first hand. Most reports about DOB are not glowing either, so maybe the relationship is closer than SWIM thinks.
One thing that can be said, though, is that a compound as strong as Bromodragonfly should not be an easily accessible legal high. It is just too easy to screw up on it. Chems with such a steep dose response curve make it that much easier to villify research chemicals as a whole.

[RaverHippie]

Originally Posted by snapper

Bromo-dragonfly has so far proven unpredictable and most reports of use are not positive. However, SWIM has yet to test it on labmonkeys and so cannot comment first hand. Most reports about DOB are not glowing either, so maybe the relationship is closer than SWIM thinks.
One thing that can be said, though, is that a compound as strong as Bromodragonfly should not be an easily accessible legal high. It is just too easy to screw up on it. Chems with such a steep dose response curve make it that much easier to villify research chemicals as a whole.

DOB is the favorite chemical of my raver friend so there is a certain giddy anticipation about him for bromo-dragonfly

[radiometer]

Originally Posted by snapper

One thing that can be said, though, is that a compound as strong as Bromodragonfly should not be an easily accessible legal high...

quoted for truth

(damned minimum character count!)

[El Calico Loco]

The gentleman who sold Swim his batch said he'd seen 1mg of it leave people running naked through traffic. He advised caution. Swim had trouble getting anything out of it, finally going up to 1500mcg. He got somewhat of a trip at that level, but nothing like what he was expecting from other reports - and the body load was a bit unpleasant. He doesn't plan to experiment much more (he doesn't often have 36 hours to spare).

I suspect the jury's still out on this one. It's too new.


ECL

[Alfa]

Psychedelic streakers; nudity and psychedelics