Drug made of car exhaust filters alarms Congo's capital
spiegel.de
spiegel.de
Perhaps the people stealing material from catalytic converters want a scapegoat? The brown powder could be whatever.
(Specifically, the video at https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/car-exhaust-drug-craze-... mentions it)
- A drug from a car part??? What's in a catalytic converter?
- Google says: platinum (Pt), along with palladium (Pd), and rhodium (Rh). All three of these platinum group metals, or PGMs
- Is there a site that talks about every drug known? Yes, erowid.org
- Google: site:erowid.org platinum | palladium | rhodium
- Relevant Hit: "Palladium/Platinum Catalyst Preparation FAQ"
https://erowid.org/archive/rhodium/chemistry/pd-catalyst.faq.html
Da da da ta da!
- Rhodium Archive Snapshot from August, 2004. Last Updated Mar 31, 2009
https://erowid.org/archive/rhodium/
2004 folks, 2004. Now, you can read all about what is in these drug cocktails and how recreational and professional drug designers ply their trade.
That's how you read the news. You don't need to post wondering "what could be going on???" The author of the article didn't bother to include "there are indications that the active ingredient could be an element in the platinum group metals, maybe rhodium. The are signs of illicite designer drug research around these metals going back as far as 2004." But, it doesn't mean we need to wander around in the headspace of a casual current event type of world news piece. Just go get the answer and in so doing you get perspective on the designer drug industry and how this particular cocktail came about.
I don't know how these catalysts are interacting with bombe, but the active ingredients seem to be well known, from the article: "tramadol, dolarene, nitrile, ampicillin and, in some cases, traces of heroin". So basically opiods mixed with those platinum group metals you mentioned.
Different sense of the word Rhodium there I think.
Between the platinum getting stolen and sold, the platinum getting stolen and used by dealers to prepare some drug and the platinum getting put into a street drug so it can be used in a reaction by users, I'm gonna go with the platinum getting stolen and sold.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hive_(website)
Since rhodium is incredibly expensive, I would assume that they are extracting what the catalytic converters are capturing and ingesting that.
“ The car parts contain deposits like zinc oxide, platinum and rhodium. A laboratory in Antwerp, Belgium is taking a look at the effect of each individual component.”
And then their whole “how to read the news” leads you to absolutely useless information that provides no illumination.
Their entire post is like a replication of exactly what they think is wrong with the news but as a HN comment. Maybe it’s some kind of deeply clever parody…
So do we know that the elements from the car exhaust filter are.. the active ingredients? Or just there for a certain je ne sais quoi?
They are pretty expensive containing a bunch of rare metals such as palladium, platinum and even rhodium.
* Steal car 'exhaust filter' (catalytic converter)
* Grind it up.
* dissolve platinum out of filter.
* sell platinum for $$$
* Use $$$ to buy heroin and various other narcotics.
* Mix in some soot and ash.
* Sell it to drugies, telling them they can have a discount on the next batch if they bring in more 'exhaust filters' to make it from.
(this is multiple levels of facetiousness, like is every drug user in a developed nation escaping squalor? lol.)
okay top analysis buddy.
The point is that this level of nuance needs to be applied to the people in the Congo if it cannot be applied to everyone in a developed nations, as "escaping squalor" is clearly not the motive of everyone. As opposed to entertainment, pasttime, available, fun.
Floor cleaning fluid for large buildings are denatured to this day, at least in sweden. People at work always complain about the smell. It has a very nice vomity tang to it.
It is a solvent in some cleaning solutions, and can be converted to GHB.
I've seen the same thing with other German newspapers, but nowhere else. Have they been granted some kind of a special exemption in the German data privacy laws, or are they just gambling on selective enforcement?
But even though this seems obviously illegal, the German newspapers are very blatantly doing this. Why?
edit: almost all of them, not only this one.
Is it just me or is the appeal here: "Look! Poor people are having unapproved fun! Shame and Horror!" and assurances that they will suffer for it.
Wheras we have publications like this to protect us from going so dangerously astray.
This is not the kind of drug people do for fun. This is the kind that is done to make you forget that you exist while it's active. From the article:
> "We aren’t worried about it,” they say. Ultimately, they claim, they have nothing to lose. "Bombé helps us forget everything. In the West, they have bank accounts, I have nothing. With bombé everything is easier.”
This isn't weed, or LSD, or a "fun" drug. This is the kind of thing that puts you into a stupor so you don't think.
More like heroin, perhaps.
I would caution about taking everything this article says at entirely face value - you as a reporter could probably get a similar quote about marijuana in Africa as well.
I'm not saying that's how it is, I'm just saying that it's plausible that they know it's harmful without knowing exactly what it is.
"I drank something from your poison collection, but I don't know what." "Oh no! You're in grave danger." "How do you know, if I don't know what it was?"
Best of luck.
And no, "poor people" being out of it, sometimes even not eating, for days on end, isn't exactly good for them, even if chosen voluntarily. Maybe especially if chosen voluntarily.