Hi, and welcome to Behind the Paddle podcast with me, Porcelain Victoria. Now, today, if you are watching, I am in my gym outfit. I just had a very spicy session full of teasing with my trainers and very tight gym wear. So yeah, if you're watching, enjoy. Enjoy, and if you're listening, enjoy even more with my lovely voice. And yeah, be captivated by today's episode, which is 1970s knockout pills. What are these? You've never heard of them? Well, neither had I actually until I came upon a little post. And I was like, what? I need to investigate these way more. And I got so intrigued and I also got really f like infuriated. Infuriated? Furiated. So yeah, we're gonna take a deep dive into whatever these knockout pills are. So these are just some lily quotes. Tired of resistance. Need someone to relax. Our special formula works fast one sip and she's all yours. She'll never know who did it with these high potency pills. They can be used straight or with food or drinks. But do anything you desire with these fast acting pills without anyone ever knowing. They dissolve quickly in any liquid. Knockout pills are absolutely safe and free from harmful side effects. So she will never know you did it. You must be delighted with the results or return the unused portion within ten days for a complete refund. So does that give you a little idea of what we're gonna discuss today? Because that that to me just it sounds horrifying. And it should be, it really should. Just those little quotes. And those quotes were from ads in the back pages of papers that were actually like published and like out there in the 1970s. It is absolutely crazy that this has even happened. So yeah, like you can do as much research on these as possible. I stayed up so many nights trying to research as much as I could, and it feels like they've erased it from history that there were these back pages. You all find certain, like maybe one article, uh, and like a few pictures, but it's really hard to find. And it's just crazy that this was a pitch, and this was actually being advertised as essentially a date rape drug where you could knock out, as you've clearly heard, women. What exactly is being sold, what effects it had on women, and what is like the more modern versions, and how sadly the culture still exists today of drugging women. So this episode is gonna be mainly gender-based with women, because this is what these ads were catered towards. So yeah, enjoy this episode. I've found this topic really, really interesting. So the 1970s advertising landscape was a free-for-all. If you had the money, you could pay for a bit in the paper. There was no like algorithm or something, yeah, algorithm basically, that sorted things out and shadowband you. It was nothing online. Back in the day, it was just the paper, basically. Um yeah, so if you wanted to do a segment in the paper, no matter what it was, you've got the money, and they'll do it. They'll do it. So among the bizarre weight loss scams and miracle cures, because we love those, don't we, were classified ads selling s sedatives marketed specifically for coercion. Some ads were blunt. One sip and she's all yours. Complete relaxation guaranteed, no resistance. Others were sneakier, pretending to be medical solutions while preying on women's safety. The most shocking part, these weren't being sold in underground criminal circles. They were right there in the mainstream newspapers and magazines hiding in plain sight. And yet, try searching for them today. Little to no research exists, it's almost as if they were erased from the history. It is crazy that there is so much on the internet these days that you can find. Like something happens in a few seconds and boom, it's online. Whereas when shady shit happens, especially to women, if it doesn't fit a particular person's narrative, then it's it's not there. It doesn't exist. So, what exactly were these knockout pills? So, what exactly were these pills? A nightmare cocktail of sedatives and memory-wiping drugs. Now that that sounds familiar if you know a little bit about drugs and what goes on mainly uh in the nightlife these days. It is still quite popular drugs to use. And the most infamous included chlorocal hydrate, also known as Mickey Fin. So you're gonna slipper a Mickey. If you've ever heard that phrase, then there's a whole lot of lore which comes with why it's called Mickey Fin as well, which we're not really gonna get into in this episode. If you guys want to hear why exactly we call it a Mickey, then we can get into it. Used for over a century to incapacitate victims by slipping it into their drinks. So that's what that little thing does. And then we have scopolamine. They're really testing me with the words today, which is also known as devil's breath, not devil's lettuce, devil's breath, a terrifying drug that could erase memory and make victims highly suggestible. And then the last one, we have one which really I didn't really know that much information about, to be fair. Um, and I didn't realise how infamous it was until I dove deeper. Qua Ludes, also known as Ludes, the 1970s most infamous party drug, and predators weapon of choice. Picture this. You're at bar, someone slips one of these into your drink. Within minutes, you're sedated, disorientated, and powerless. Oh horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible. I would never wish it upon my worst enemy for this to happen. Ugh, no, no. It's a scenario that's haunted women for decades. And it didn't stop in the 1970s. We continue to see people getting drugged in nightclubs or in just in broad daylight. And sadly, it's become more and more popular to drug victims. I mean i it it is a woman one of women's worst fear. It is anybody's worst fear to get drugged, to not know what's going on. But we'll we'll get more into that. So I wanted to dig more into what the role of Quaaludes was. Party drug or predator's weapon? You decide. Qualudes or ludes were were everywhere in the 1970s, originally a sleep aid. Doesn't everything come down to it'll make you sleep better, it'll get you to relax. But they became the drug of choice in clubs, celebrity parties, and behind closed doors. They caused drowsiness, euphoria, and memory loss and making them perfect for predators. One of most infamous users? Bill Cosby. Like wow. Court documents revealed that Cosby obtained quaaluds specifically to use on women without their consent. Over 60 women came forward describing eerily similar experiences. Drinks spiked, waking up confused, unable to remember what had happened. And he wasn't alone. Roman Polansky used quaaludes and alcohol to drug and assault a 13-year-old girl in 1977. In Hollywood, quaaludes were passed around like party favours, but many victims didn't realise what was happening until it was too late. And again, they're victims. They didn't consent, they weren't fully there. There is no blame on victims. There should not be. At the end of the day, no matter what it is, men specifically would use whatever they had to their advantage. I mean I'm not saying the men were desperate, but they had an agenda. It wherever it was premeditated or the it was a spare-in-the-moment thing. We still thought about it. So yeah, a w weaponized tool of control. Very specific wording. When Qualutes were banned in the 1980s, that's how bad it was. That's how bad. I believe they were banned in the US. Um and like come on, it takes a lot for them to ban things. Did predators start when they were banned? No. They just switched to new drugs. And I I feel like whenever a new drug gets banned, then they just recreate but tweak it a little bit. And it's the reason why we can't really put a ban on like Poppers, which is a relaxant drug that um a good amount of people use, whether that be in my line of work or in the clubs, where it gives you a little high and it helps you relax your muscles and things like that. So yeah, you just tweak one little ingredient, and there you go, it's legalized again. Because it's quite hard to ban a drug when there's specific ingredients to make that drug, and it'll eventually go underground. I mean, in this day and age, there's a lot of things underground, but you literally have people in the streets giving you like a business card for drugs and things. I've had that happen, and I was like, what? Like what? What is this? Okay. So the market for knockout pills now and back in the day, who exactly was selling them? Shady pharmacists peddling them with no oversight. So pharmacists who were well aware of what would happen, what is going to happen, and what somebody can actually do with the drug. Again, it's just like you you know what this can do and what effect it can do on people, whether they take it as a party drug or use it as a tool and weaponize it. Ah. Um, there was black market dealers advertising through coded language, predators who knew exactly what they were doing. So there was multiple people who wanted to benefit just solely by profit. They didn't care what effect it had on other people, how they didn't care what effect it would have on women. All they cared about at the end of the day was filling their pockets, which is how a lot of the world sees these days. And I think another reason, again, why that comes about is because of poverty. And yeah, I feel like if we go back to like the Q ⁇ A, I feel like if people actually had the necessities to live and they didn't have to worry so much about bills and food and housing, then it would relieve a lot of pressure. I mean, at the end of the day, there will be people who abuse the system and people who want more and more and more, absolutely. But I don't know, I think maybe if people, especially back in the day as well, and like it's getting worse and worse with poverty, but I've I feel like if we did have the baseline of giving people the essentials, maybe, maybe things would help and be a little bit better in life, would you guys think? Eventually, law enforcement caught on. Again, there's so little about the knockout pills. I can't give you a time frame, but they were banned in the 1980s, so there's a bit of a time frame there, but the crackdown, it was very slow. It's like they didn't really care. They did not at all care, they had other things on, and they just didn't really care about this these drugs on the streets, basically. They didn't care that they were getting advertised in the magazines, and people were literally freely getting them. Like, I will share an image on socials where you can literally fill out a form, send it away with like your address, name, and they will deliver it to you in the mail. I believe it was twenty dollars for ten tablets, or vice versa. I was like, that's crazy that they can just deliver it. Wow. So by the time regulations tightened and countless women had already been victimized, it was just too late. Too late, guys. Come on, government. You need to show us that you do care, especially about the women that have been victimized. So I couldn't really find that much about if the women got any payment for what had happened or any um not revenge, what's the word? Redemption? No, that's not it. No, I'm thinking of Inkmasters when they when they get redemption from like uh doing a shitty tattoo. No, they they just didn't get anything to lighten the blow of what happened to them, they didn't get any closure. Quaeludes, they got banned in the 1980s, but what about all the other drugs? And today the market is just as as evolved like everything else in society. We evolve and we try and make ends meet and think about different ways of how to reinvent something or get the new high when it comes to drugs. So instead of Qua Ludes, predators now use rahypnol, GHB, and ketamine. Instead of classified ads, they buy these drugs online or get them from friends who or dealers who make them in illegal drug labs. Sadly, there is no instead with this one where instead of spiking drinks in bars, that still happens. There's no like shift from that. In fact, it's expanded even more to they target women at house parties, concerts, college campuses, universities, anywhere. The crime, you you can the government can try and tackle it however they want to, but it will always stay the same. So, fast forward to today, as you've just heard, we're still battling the same issues where women are getting drugged and knocked out. And it is crazy to think that in the 1970s this was a massive thing where it was okay to be in the back pages of paper and not necessarily not to be noticed, but to be there, and there is there was a large demand, and there still is a large demand for drugs that will do the exact same as the knockout pills, and yeah, they might be a little bit more expensive, I want to imagine. I really want to imagine that they're not the same price as um back in the day where it was like $10, $20 for a good amount. But yeah, it's so sad to know that this was something I guess normal in the 1970s, and so I did I remembered mid-research about this invention that I saw on Shark Tank of all things called The Nightcap. And when I saw it, I thought it was really awesome, really cool. It's a scrunchie that hides a reusable drink cover, a simple but brilliant defense against drink spiking. I mean, how are you gonna get it in there if you you can't get the hole? It was invented by Sherry Bernard, a teenager who had heard horror stories of women being drugged. And after appearing on Shark Tank, they secured a investment from Laurie and had since become a widely recognized tool for drink safety. I feel like we need it more in the UK. I know that when I was discussing this with other people about this topic, that they mentioned that they'd make paper ones now, which was very interesting. Uh which is great, absolutely great. While no product can guarantee safety, small defenses like the nightcap can make it harder for predators to succeed. So, yeah, I feel like you need to stay very vigilant and aware that this can be a possibility that can happen. So, what did we uncover today? Today we uncovered what the knockout pills sort of were, because I'm sure there was other ingredients mixed in. But drugging women openly in the 1970s is such an insane thing to think about, and the fact that I can't really find that much research done on it, instead, there's individual cases like Bill Cosby and Roman where they have been used to get victims and to assault women and to hurt them in some way. In the 1970s, they openly marketed knockout pills in the back pages, normalizing the drug and the assault, and I guess fantasizing what you could do to a woman, and the fact that apparently there's no harmful side effects, and that the woman won't even realize. It's disgusting, it honestly is. The fact that there was people behind the paper, and they were openly printing it, and there was people openly admitting they have the drug and they want to supply it, and they didn't care the consequences at all. The drugs that were used they were quote unquote like party drugs, but also weaponized in the worst ways possible. Tactics have changed, sort of, but at the end of the day, women are still getting spiked somehow, and it it just hasn't changed that much. It's just a disturbing chapter in history where you can't run from it, and it shows how far back women have been getting drugged, and just people in general as well just have been getting drugged and used and abused, and there has been a string of people behind it who have openly advertised that specific reasons of what this drug is used for, and yeah, it's crazy to me with the fact that it it was so open and it was so normalized that you can buy this drug by for just a few dollars, and it can be in your mailbox within a few days, or you can just go meet up with somebody. But it was advertised and it was marketed towards victimizing women, like it had pictures of women, the cartoon pictures and things, just like asleep, and like oh, it's messed up, very messed up, and the fact that there's so many victims out there that were taken advantage of in the 1970s, and still to this day there are victims and there are people getting drugged. If there's one message to take away, it's that predators thrive in silence. The more we talk about this, the harder it is for them to hide, and the harder it is for them to openly do this. So, yeah, thank you for joining me, Postno Victoria. Thank you for listening to Behind the Powder Podcast. I hope you have enjoyed this little episode about something which I found really interesting, and my ADHD definitely tried to find more of. It is that simple. No, but yeah, thank you for joining me on this little episode. If you would love to support Behind a Powder Podcast, then you are welcome to tip. 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