Hypothetical Question

Suppose a friend of your teenage daughter leaves a small vial of clear liquid in the bathroom. Liquid smells like acetone/ketone and is in a bottle smaller than nail polish. Said bottle is confiscated by parents without questioning anybody. Ensuing search for the bottle the next morning (covertly as to not raise any suspicion of parents) belies the possibility that the bottle was actually nail polish (as some of you are thinking). Is there a way to get this liquid tested somewhere in NYC? Ultimately I have no problem turning it over to the police if that's all I can do but I suspect I will know more if I can take it to a private lab. Hypothetically speaking of course.

Mod I assume you're a guy, right? Nail polish is pretty easy to spot. First there's usually a brush attached inside the lid, second (even if there isn't) touching a smear of it on your finger it should be stick and dry fast into a lacquer.

Or screw it, just taste the thing and see if you get high or hallucinate. If it tastes a dirty gym locker (I forget the name of the drug) you should be drunk in seconds.

True enough Mamacita, but there was no brush and the bottle was way smaller. Still though it could be simply nail polish/remover. The search for the bottle the next morning bordered on frantic, not to mention a bathroom closet full of gallons of the stuff available.

Taste the stuff? probably been stepped on too much to get high anyway.

Mamacita wrote: Mod I assume you're a guy, right? .

I resent that. I might be a metro sexual!

LOL, fair enough.

You can take it to a chemical testing lab, although any experienced chemist could probably just whiff the stuff and tell you what it is in two seconds.

You're probably right that it's nail polish remover (acetone).

If you have some nail polish remover, you could do a side by side sniff comparison. Acetone has a distinct smell.

If you want to have it tested, I've used this lab:

http://www.emsl.com/index.cfm?nav=Lab_details&LaboratoryID=1

It could just be nail polish remover. Maybe the daughter's friend had a color on that they didn't want their parents to know about? (I would take off my make up before I got home since I wasn't allowed to wear much). Did you check their nails?
If you are thinking it is something more nefarious the only thing I can think of is what we used to call "rush". It was a clear liquid (usually in an amber bottle) that you would inhale and it gave you a "rush" for a few second/minutes. If you take the bottle, smell it and get a head rush then I would say that is what it is.

Yeah, it kinda sounds like it could be poppers.

Poppers are a kind of sniffing drug that leaves you with a very light-headed feeling after you inhale them.

P's are used somewhat in the gay community as a pre-sex drug that falsely relaxes you.

I hope it's nothing. When I was a tween, we weren't allowed to have sugary drinks or sweets of any kind. A friend gave me a baggie of powdered lemonade that I used to eat like pixie sticks. My mom found it, freaked out and didn't believe me when I told her what it was. She sent it through the pharmacy at the hospital she worked at and was pretty embarassed to discover country time was all she wrote.

stacey wrote: It could just be nail polish remover. Maybe the daughter's friend had a color on that they didn't want their parents to know about? (I would take off my make up before I got home since I wasn't allowed to wear much). Did you check their nails?
If you are thinking it is something more nefarious the only thing I can think of is what we used to call "rush". It was a clear liquid (usually in an amber bottle) that you would inhale and it gave you a "rush" for a few second/minutes. If you take the bottle, smell it and get a head rush then I would say that is what it is.

We called it "rush" in the suburbs of DC as well. It was used to cut the nastiness of cheap weed, "shake", you were about to smoke.

...or so I was told. (wink)

I believe that whatever yall called "rush" is probably the same as a popper. Take a good whiff...if you get high, its probably not anything she should legitimately be having.

you could also apply it to some paint and see if it comes off. Not much besides acetone will quickly remove paint.

Funkytoot wrote:
P's are used somewhat in the gay community as a pre-sex drug that falsely relaxes you.

About right now Modsquad is freaking out. :P

Mamacita wrote: [quote=Funkytoot]
P's are used somewhat in the gay community as a pre-sex drug that falsely relaxes you.

About right now Modsquad is freaking out. :P

Ha! My kid does drugs, is gay and has sex?



Modsquad - I can't come up with a story as to why they'd be freaking out over lost nail polish (even trying to put on my "teenage hat". I suspect some sort of popper/rush thing like the others have said

It's either GHB or a popper. Throw it out and move on.

It's been agreed that my daughter will not be socializing with certain people from this point on. No accusations were made as to who was to blame or what was done. Her objection to the unfairness of it all was only obligatory at best and duly noted.
All things considered, we've been pretty lucky, outside of a few experimental episodes with liquor and weed (and this) 4 kids have been brought to near adulthood. Maybe they'll actually get jobs someday and move out.
A bit of advice regarding questions about drugs: Never admit to any drug use, lie to your kids. No matter what wisdom or sage advice you think you bring to the table the only thing your children will remember is that "you did drugs too , Dad".
Thanks everyone.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

As a sidenote, I highly doubt its GHB which is odorless.

ditto, I'm going with the rush of my high school "daze". The short term buzz was so intense, you could smoke the harshest weed. (or so I was told)

http://www.urban75.com/Drugs/drugamyl.html

ghb is also expensive and rarely used recreationally anymore.