Lethal drugs & poisons
Lethal drugs & poisons are complex and difficult topics in the context of a peaceful and reliable DIY death.
This is because human pharmaceuticals (products, compounds and medicines) are never developed to end life.
Yet some drugs do cause death, especially if they are administered in ways that were not intended.
The usual misuse of a pharmaceutical is to overdose (exceed the suggested dose).
The outcome of an overdose does not always result in death.
Indeed, when a drug has produced the possible side effect of death in overdose, safer alternatives have been quickly developed.
The barbiturate sleeping drugs of the 1950s are a good example.
Because safer sleeping tablets are now available, the barbiturates have largely disappeared from the pharmaceutical schedule.
While there are some drugs that can cause death if misused, the number is small and ever decreasing.
Routes of Administration
There are several ways to introduce a lethal drug or poison into the body.
The most common administrative route is oral (through the mouth) where the substance is swallowed as a drink or as tablets etc.
Other possibilities include direct administration into the stomach by way of a nasogastric (NG) tube inserted through the nose, or via a PEG (percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy) which is when a tube is inserted through the abdominal wall.
Both of these methods bypass the mouth and take the substance directly to the stomach.
Neither of these two methods requires the person to be able to swallow.
Instead, the substance is absorbed into the blood either from the stomach or, later, when it reaches the small intestine.
Rectal administration is also sometimes possible and allows the drug to cross into the bloodstream.
Direct intravenous administration allows the drug into the blood through a needle in a vein.
If the lethal substance is a gas,inhalation is a possible route that enables the poison to move into the blood via the lungs.
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