Do people do ether anymore?
December 31, 2009 7:00 AM Subscribe
Do people do ether anymore?
So I'm on the last day of a temp job in a supply room, and I'm looking for some canned air for one of the offices. I find a locked cabinet, pull out the key ring, and open it up. Inside are some family pictures of the guy I'm replacing, a small stack of those cheap air filter masks, and a tall paper cup with a kleenex rubberbanded over the top. None of it smelled like anything other than filter masks and kleenex. I know virtually nothing about drugs, and all I can think of is a scene from some movie where one of the characters, a doctor, huffs ether. What could this stuff be used for?
It's the the supply room of a clinic, so there's access to a bunch of medical stuff like rubbing alcohol and lidocaine, and other low-level meds that get distributed to the area. Assuming this is something illicit, he could probably get his hands on it and then hide it. He's a nice guy, though, everyone here loves him, he seems clean-cut, blah blah, but if he has a problem and is good at hiding it...
Thoughts?
So I'm on the last day of a temp job in a supply room, and I'm looking for some canned air for one of the offices. I find a locked cabinet, pull out the key ring, and open it up. Inside are some family pictures of the guy I'm replacing, a small stack of those cheap air filter masks, and a tall paper cup with a kleenex rubberbanded over the top. None of it smelled like anything other than filter masks and kleenex. I know virtually nothing about drugs, and all I can think of is a scene from some movie where one of the characters, a doctor, huffs ether. What could this stuff be used for?
It's the the supply room of a clinic, so there's access to a bunch of medical stuff like rubbing alcohol and lidocaine, and other low-level meds that get distributed to the area. Assuming this is something illicit, he could probably get his hands on it and then hide it. He's a nice guy, though, everyone here loves him, he seems clean-cut, blah blah, but if he has a problem and is good at hiding it...
Thoughts?
Unless you think that his ether use could be putting people at risk, in which case I would think there is a moral imperative (and possibly a legal obligation) to report him.
But rubber band with a cup on it doesn't scream out "illicit" to me. E.g., say he catches a grasshopper and puts it in a cup; kleenex allows grasshopper to breathe, since it's porous; he takes grasshopper home to feed pet frog. That's obviously a flight of fancy, but usually I like to be pretty certain before I, you know, ruin peoples' lives.
But not always.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 7:13 AM on December 31, 2009
But rubber band with a cup on it doesn't scream out "illicit" to me. E.g., say he catches a grasshopper and puts it in a cup; kleenex allows grasshopper to breathe, since it's porous; he takes grasshopper home to feed pet frog. That's obviously a flight of fancy, but usually I like to be pretty certain before I, you know, ruin peoples' lives.
But not always.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 7:13 AM on December 31, 2009
I know virtually nothing about drugs, and all I can think of is a scene from some movie where one of the characters, a doctor, huffs ether.
That man was a doctor of journalism, not a medical doctor.
More seriously, I really doubt that this someone doing ether, I wouldn't worry about it.
posted by atrazine at 7:15 AM on December 31, 2009 [3 favorites]
That man was a doctor of journalism, not a medical doctor.
More seriously, I really doubt that this someone doing ether, I wouldn't worry about it.
posted by atrazine at 7:15 AM on December 31, 2009 [3 favorites]
It's the the supply room of a clinic, so there's access to a bunch of medical stuff...
Due to its flammability very little ether is used in medicine (what little I have seen is in collodion which is sommetimes used to dress wounds). It hasn't been used as an anesthetic in decades; the most common place to find it now is at an auto parts store. It has a strong, distinctive smell which could be hard to hide, and finally, kleenex would fall apart if soaked with a substantial amount of ether. Cotton gauze would be more appropriate; Crawford Long used an towel. So while I have no idea what that stuff is for, inhaling ether is a pretty remote possibility.
posted by TedW at 7:53 AM on December 31, 2009
Due to its flammability very little ether is used in medicine (what little I have seen is in collodion which is sommetimes used to dress wounds). It hasn't been used as an anesthetic in decades; the most common place to find it now is at an auto parts store. It has a strong, distinctive smell which could be hard to hide, and finally, kleenex would fall apart if soaked with a substantial amount of ether. Cotton gauze would be more appropriate; Crawford Long used an towel. So while I have no idea what that stuff is for, inhaling ether is a pretty remote possibility.
posted by TedW at 7:53 AM on December 31, 2009
Response by poster: Unless you think that his ether use could be putting people at risk...
Which is something I thought of, and doubt. Making a mistake means sending out the wrong medicine, which will simply be noticed and sent back for the right thing.
More seriously, I really doubt that this someone doing ether, I wouldn't worry about it.
I should have been clearer in the OP that I'm more curious about what an empty cup with a tissue attached to it would be used for, with all the other stuff being secondary conjecture. I don't really think he's huffing anything, but it was a weird and out of place discovery, and the first thing that jumped to my mind was a scene from a movie that I can't even remember the name of.
posted by Evilspork at 8:06 AM on December 31, 2009
Which is something I thought of, and doubt. Making a mistake means sending out the wrong medicine, which will simply be noticed and sent back for the right thing.
More seriously, I really doubt that this someone doing ether, I wouldn't worry about it.
I should have been clearer in the OP that I'm more curious about what an empty cup with a tissue attached to it would be used for, with all the other stuff being secondary conjecture. I don't really think he's huffing anything, but it was a weird and out of place discovery, and the first thing that jumped to my mind was a scene from a movie that I can't even remember the name of.
posted by Evilspork at 8:06 AM on December 31, 2009
Response by poster: Another thing I forgot to say: I don't really care if anybody uses drugs of any kind, not my business/pro-legalization and all that, as long as they're not harming anyone.
posted by Evilspork at 8:09 AM on December 31, 2009
posted by Evilspork at 8:09 AM on December 31, 2009
Yes people do it, but considering the cost and, what a PITA it is to get there are a ton of other more easily available options. And, truth be told, I'm not sure why a clinic would need to have this stuff on hand, its not something you can just tuck into any ol' cabinet and, forget about. Ether forms peroxides when exposed to light, air or heat and, will explode given the right conditions.
Plus, it smells really awful.
(what little I have seen is in collodion which is sommetimes used to dress wounds)
It's used in special effects make up and, wet plate collodion (which is why I use it) too.
posted by squeak at 8:11 AM on December 31, 2009
Plus, it smells really awful.
(what little I have seen is in collodion which is sommetimes used to dress wounds)
It's used in special effects make up and, wet plate collodion (which is why I use it) too.
posted by squeak at 8:11 AM on December 31, 2009
I think the movie you're thinking of is Cider House Rules. The doc, played by Anthony Hopkins, runs and orphanage and an illicit rural abortion clinic while enjoying his ether fairly regularly.
posted by Wylie Kyoto at 8:21 AM on December 31, 2009
posted by Wylie Kyoto at 8:21 AM on December 31, 2009
My first thought for the movie was also Cider House Rules, but I'm pretty sure the doctor was played by Michael Caine.
posted by El_Marto at 8:32 AM on December 31, 2009
posted by El_Marto at 8:32 AM on December 31, 2009
Some bodybuilders use it to make their own androgenic steroids. And if he's really hardcore, he might drink it.
posted by aquafortis at 8:35 AM on December 31, 2009
posted by aquafortis at 8:35 AM on December 31, 2009
Oh, you're totally correct, El_Marto; my bad.
posted by Wylie Kyoto at 8:54 AM on December 31, 2009
posted by Wylie Kyoto at 8:54 AM on December 31, 2009
The setup you found does sound like a huffing thing, but I doubt if it is ether.
posted by herbaliser at 9:34 AM on December 31, 2009
posted by herbaliser at 9:34 AM on December 31, 2009
Response by poster: You're right, Cider House Rules it was.
posted by Evilspork at 9:40 AM on December 31, 2009
posted by Evilspork at 9:40 AM on December 31, 2009
You might have found something interesting but I'm quite sure it was not ether. If doing lab work in a large room with a lot of new undergrads learning organic synthesis has taught me anything, your suspects ether habits would have been giving a lot of people really bad headaches associated with a strange and distinctive smell coming from your clean-cut guys direction.
Also as squeak said, ether is extremely dangerous to handle over any period of time. You open the bottle, a catalytic amount of O2 enters the bottle which converts the ether into a peroxide, then the next time you open or even shake the bottle it explodes in your face. You need to know when and how to dispose of your stocks properly in order to avoid this.
posted by Blasdelb at 10:36 AM on December 31, 2009
Also as squeak said, ether is extremely dangerous to handle over any period of time. You open the bottle, a catalytic amount of O2 enters the bottle which converts the ether into a peroxide, then the next time you open or even shake the bottle it explodes in your face. You need to know when and how to dispose of your stocks properly in order to avoid this.
posted by Blasdelb at 10:36 AM on December 31, 2009
The only other gas I know of in a dentist's office is nitrous oxide, which would be far easier to just use the mask, unless they were controlling the dosage.
posted by unrepentanthippie at 12:05 PM on December 31, 2009
posted by unrepentanthippie at 12:05 PM on December 31, 2009
That man was a doctor of journalism, not a medical doctor.
Yeah, I thought we were talking about Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which prompted some experimentation with ether in a chemical supply room at my high school, with the only result, vomit all over the floor.
posted by Rash at 2:18 PM on December 31, 2009
Yeah, I thought we were talking about Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which prompted some experimentation with ether in a chemical supply room at my high school, with the only result, vomit all over the floor.
posted by Rash at 2:18 PM on December 31, 2009
The kind of ether that would get you high is hydrated, and marketed specifically as an anesthetic, usually for veterinary purposes,. Anhydrous ether (the type you'd see in an automotive store or a chemical stock room) will only make you sick. I'd look at the canned air as a more likely huffed substance than ether.
posted by oceanmorning at 10:00 PM on December 31, 2009
posted by oceanmorning at 10:00 PM on December 31, 2009
Response by poster: Maybe, except I never found the canned air.
posted by Evilspork at 1:22 PM on January 1, 2010
posted by Evilspork at 1:22 PM on January 1, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by oinopaponton at 7:07 AM on December 31, 2009 [2 favorites]