sedative drugs

[elisheva_m]

Context for this wee scene - shift handover between bodyguards, 1st speaker has drugged their boss because his gambling was out of control. Can't find the right search string to get around medical advice on mild sleeping pill sedatives etc, but I think diazepam probably isn't strong enough? Or maybe it is, or maybe only if enough is administered it would cause other problems. Not that anyone is particularly worried about an overdose but the scene is rather early in the novel for that to happen.

“You’re in for a rough day once he wakes up.”
“How bad did he lose?”
“I spiked his drink at 750,000 bhat.”
Pod shakes his head.
“We could just not let him wake up. Keep feeding him diazepam until we’re ready to deal with him again.”
“Is that what you gave him?”
“Rohypnol first, and GHB to mess with his memory. Diazepam cause we got home at 4 and I wanted the rest of the night off.”

Comments

[pallas_rose]

Diazepam, or any benzo in quantity sufficient to put someone to sleep, risks respiratory depression severe enough for the person to die, just like from a heroin or fentanyl overdose.

Midazolam, a related benzodiazepine, has the anterograde amnesia effect you want, but is pretty quick on/off, and also has the respiratory depression problem. Valium/diazepam lasts longer but enough to put a gangster who drinks regularly involuntarily to sleep is enough to really make him stop breathing. Are they slipping it to him when he is going to bed to make him sleep faster? Or are you going for alert and then faceplant into table?

Usually we use midaz to start an OR case or procedure and follow with a propofol drip or other anesthetic, with monitors for oxygen level, respiratory rate, and an anesthesiologist or nurse monitoring the patient.

But I guess it's only a risk? I wouldn't do it without an anesthesiologist present but if your scene doesn't mind risk of death?

How long do you need them asleep? Another option is an absolute shitton of ketamine. He's keep breathing, at least.

Source: me, a surgeon and ICU doc

[dreamtigress]

Medical folks correct me if I am wrong here, but, couldn't a high dose of benedryl accomplish a similar drowsy effect without as much respiratory risk?

[lilacsigil]

It has a lower risk of respiratory effects but a higher risk of seizures. Also, much harder to get a sufficient dose in.

[lilacsigil]

The reason why this is not a good idea IRL is that people react differently, and anyone with a history of using these medications can react differently again. But it doesn't sound like you've got characters making sensible decisions here anyway.

Rohypnol in itself will mess with memory. More realistic would be drugging him until he's drowsy and more compliant, then walking him off to bed, rather than drugging him unconscious. It still has a solid overdose risk, of course, but I can see people thinking that's not such a big deal.

[dsrtao]

I'm going to suggest that you take refuge in deliberate vagueness. Figure out the effect that you want, and let that happen:

“We could just not let him wake up. Keep dosing him until we’re ready to deal with him again.”
“Do we have enough to do that?”
“Yeah, there's more than enough. One tablet under his tongue every three hours, and expect him to wake up four to five hours after the last one.”