Chloral Hydrate
Pronunciation:KLOHR-ul HIGH-drait
Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number:302-17-0
Formal Names:Aquachloral, Chloradorm, Chloralex, Felsules, Noctec, Somnos
Informal Names:Jelly Beans, Knockout Drops, Mickey Finn, Mickeys
Type:Depressant.Seepage 19.
Federal Schedule Listing:Schedule IV (DEA no. 2465)
USA Availability:Prescription
Pregnancy Category:C
Uses.This substance is the first synthetic central nervous system depressant,
created in the 1830s. After that creation, however, several decades passed be-
fore chloral hydrate’s medical usage as a sleep inducer began. The anesthetic
chloroform is produced from it. Chloral hydrate has also been used against
pain of rheumatism. In the nineteenth century the drug was popular among
middle-class women and middle-aged men for reducing anxiety.
In former times chloral hydrate was routinely administered to produce an-
esthesia, but such use is tricky; the difference between an effective dose and
a poisonous one is so close that the drug has been replaced by other substances
for human anesthesia, although chloral hydrate is still used for that purpose
in animals. The substance has been largely superseded by barbiturates but still
has medical applications as a sedative and to induce sleep. Chloral hydrate is
also used to treat seizures caused by fever and is a secondary choice for con-
trolling the seizures of status epilepticus (an emergency in which persons keep
having epileptic seizures, one after another, with little or no letup). Medical
caregivers sometimes administer chloral hydrate to help withdrawal fromher-
oinandGHBdependence and to helpalcoholaddicts withstand delirium
tremens during withdrawal. The famed “Mickey Finn” drug used by criminals
to knock out victims was a combination of chloral hydrate and alcohol, but
animal and human experiments have failed to demonstrate that the combi-
nation worked as advertised.
Drawbacks.Chloral hydrate users may act drunken and confused. An ex-
periment found reduction in abilities needed to drive an automobile. The same
research, however, also showed that if the product was taken to induce sleep
the night before, persons performed better the next day after the drug had
worn off, presumably because they were better rested than usual. At normal