its a really old myth linked in with the one of strychnine being found in LSD. Neither is true, but strychnine was used as a “recreational” stimulant drug in the 19th and early 20th century, especially for performance improvement in sports and mental work.
The major drawback is that the lethal dose is very near the useful dose for giving energy, so it was thankfully abandoned when safer substances like amfetamine were discovered.
nowadays you need all manner of licenses to get the stuff and its use is discouraged for pest control as “cruel to the pest species!”
this medical student nearly OD’d whilst experimenting on himself…
One medical student in 1896 described the experience in a letter to the Lancet:
Three years ago I was reading for an examination, and feeling “run down”. I took 10 minims of strychnia solution (B.P.) with the same quantity of dilute phosphoric acid well diluted twice a day. On the second day of taking it, towards the evening, I felt a tightness in the “facial muscles ” and a peculiar metallic taste in the mouth. There was great uneasiness and restlessness, and I felt a desire to walk about and do something rather than sit still and read. I lay on the bed and the calf muscles began to stiffen and jerk. My toes drew up under my feet, and as I moved or turned my head flashes of light kept darting across my eyes.. I then knew something serious was developing, so I crawled off the bed and scrambled to a case in my room and got out (fortunately) the bromide of potassium and the chloral. I had no confidence or courage to weigh them, so I guessed the quantity-about 30 gr. bromide of potassium and 10 gr. chloral-put them in a tumbler with some water, and drank it off. My whole body was in a cold sweat, with anginous attacks in the precordial region, and a feeling of “going off.” I did not call for medical aid, as I thought the symptoms declining. I felt better, but my lower limbs. were as cold as ice and the calf muscles kept tense and, jerking. There was no opisthotonos, only a slight stiffness at the back of the neck. Half an hour later, as I could judge, I took the same quantity of bromide of potassium and chloral, and a little time after I lost consciousness and fell into a ” profound sleep,” awaking in the morning with no unpleasant symptoms, no headache, &c., but a desire ” to be on the move ” and a slight feeling of stiffness in the jaw. These worked off during the day. [1]
