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Since then well, there have been a few more.

The definitive heroin movie, for example Trainspotting?Pulp Fiction?The Basketball Diaries?
is the familiar stuff of barstool debates.
As such, its typically associated not with recreation but persistence and ambition.

The writer Tao Lin has confessed to taking Adderall and staying up all day and night while writing.
Notable laureates:My thing is Adderall, Brown toldComplexmagazine in 2012.
Thats really just a working thing.

Backstory:This product of fermented grains dates back to at least 7,000 B.C.
Notable laureates:Choose one.
How about William Faulkner?

Backstory:Peruvians have long chewed coca leaves as part of cultural traditions.
Now, cocaine consists of processed coca leaves in the form of a white crystal powder.
Its what we did.

As the influence of Houstons rap scene grew, so did the popularity of the drink.
When Lil Wayne came to national prominence, he brought lean with him.
Lean, lean, lean!).

Backstory:Ecstasys chemical name is 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, often shortened to MDMA.
Molly is a resurgent form of ecstasy that commonly comes in powder or crystal form.
Fentanyl
May induce:Euphoria, relaxation.Also known as:Fent.Status:Prescription.

Backstory:Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is similar to morphine but up to 100 times more potent.
In 2017, it was linked to more overdoses than any other synthetic opioid.
Cultural connotations:With fentanyl, its less about what it does than about who its taken away.

Notable laureates:Usually, by the time we hear about someones fentanyl use, its too late.
Backstory:Opium cultivation from poppies dates back to ancient civilizations.
Notable laureates:FromTrainspotting, again: I chose not to choose life.

I chose somethin else.
There are no reasons.
Who needs reasons when youve got heroin?

Backstory:Albert Hofmann, a Swiss chemist, synthesized LSD in 1938.
The sketches above are from an experiment believed to have been conducted circa 1954 by the psychiatrist Oscar Janiger.
Notable laureates:That would have to be Hunter S. Thompson.

Backstory:Cultivated for centuries across various civilizations.
OxyContin
May induce:Euphoria.Also known as:Oxy, hillbilly heroin.Status:Prescription.
Backstory:The synthetic opioid oxycodone was first derived from an opium alkaloid in 1916.

Percocet
May induce:Euphoria, numbness.Also known as:Percs, blue dynamite.Status:Prescription.
Backstory:Percocet is the brand name for a combination of Oxycodone and acetaminophen.
Frank Zappa and David Bowie were also avowed fans.

Quaaludes also play a featured role in one of the most memorable scenes inTheWolf of Wall Street.
Vicodin
May induce:Mild euphoria.Also known as:Vikes, fluff, scratch.Status:Prescription.
I seriously dont remember shit.

(Hes said he doesnt remember recording Lose Yourself or theMarshall MathersLPat all.)
Notable laureates:Beyond Eminem, theres Future again (Oh, you done did more drugs than me?
You must be hallucinating / Oh, you did more Percs than me?

Another rapper,Lil Peep, died of a fentanyl-tainted-Xanax overdose in November.
Ima see yall tonight.
His passing caused Lil Uzi Vert to tweet: We Would love 2 stop …

But Do You Really Care Cause We Been On Xanax All Fucking Year.
We leaving Xanax in 2017, Smokepurpp tweeted.
Lil Xan has since announced plans to change his name.

*This article appears in the February 5, 2018, issue ofNew YorkMagazine.











