Drugs in the Wizarding World

[IckleRonniex]

In my WIP, there are two characters that are drug addicts. They are twins, both Muggle-borns and are in fifth year.

I created an OC thread in the Character Clinic and a few people started asking questions like "Where would she get the drugs from? Because if they arrive in an owl at breakfast, people might start noticing." Then loligo8me made a suggestion:

It would make more sense, though, if she becomes addicted to a magical drug which is used for medicine, in which case she could find in in the Hospital Wing or Potions Cupboard or the Potions storeroom. It would be interesting if she is caught stealing the drug, plant or potion from the Potions storeroom...

I would like to know what somebody else thinks about this and if they have any suggestions or something...

[Sapphire at Dawn]

I was actually going to make this suggestion in Camille's thread, but I forgot, so I shall do it here. In Fantastic Beasts it says something about Billywig stings and people trying to get the insects to sting them. I'm not sure if they're addictive or not because I haven't got the book on me, but perhaps you could go down that line. Mix the dried stings with a few other ingredients (maybe opium poppy seeds). She could make a potion and drink or somehow inject it.

Or maybe there could be a magical herb or something that you have to chew or suck or something, though I think that this type of thing would be hard to come by and perhaps only be kept in the potions master's private stores.

I'd take a look at plants on the Lexicon and see if they could be used in any way, and perhaps creatures too.

Perhaps you could go down the lines of things like hashish, which can sometimes be eaten to produce an effect. Variations of that are made by hand-rubbing part of the canabis plant, so perhaps you could use something similar. However, I don't think that this is a hardcore drug and I think that if you wanted to get across the severity of what she's doing, doing it intravenously. Perhaps use the billywig sting as a route into the vein.

I hope this helps a bit

Sarah x

[Karaley Dargen]

In Fantastic Beasts it says something about Billywig stings and people trying to get the insects to sting them. I'm not sure if they're addictive or not because I haven't got the book on me, but perhaps you could go down that line.

The people stung suffer "giddiness followed by levitation" and they "enjoy these side effects, though too many stings may cause the victim to hover uncontrollably for days on end, and where there is a severe allergic reaction, permanent floating may ensue. Dried Billywig stings are used in several potions and are believed to be a component in the popular sweet Fizzing Whizzbees."

(from "Fantastic Beasts....", p.5 (on Billywigs))

Fizzing Whizbees are:

"-- and massive sherbert balls that make you levitate a few inches off the ground while you're sucking them," said Ron, who was plainly not listening to a word Hermione was saying.

Soo... apparently even if the stings are used in something (and the Billywig doesn't sting you directly) you can still have at least part of the side effects. So they wouldn't have to go to Australia (where the Billywigs live) or import live ones...

Or maybe you can extract the stuff from the Fizzing Whizbees...


About plants - they have to grow somewhere, so maybe they could steal them from the greenhouses? I'm thinking a bit of that scene in the HBP movie with Slughorn here, but maybe if they are good Herbology students, Sprout would even let them work in the greenhouses in free periods, and then it would be easy to snatch a leaf here and there.

Do they have to inject it? *didn't pay attention there* If not, they could just smoke it somewhere... cast a spell so that the smoke doesn't go everywhere (some variation of the bubble-head charm) and smoke at the edge of the forest or something. Or you could invent something completely new. Like, they just have to put it on top of their heads/chest/palms... and cast a spell and it starts working.

Or inject it by using the Billywig sting - for increased effect :P


You could look for/come up with something that's used in potions like the Elixir of Euphoria, or Relaxation Draughts or something like that. Just look at an effect that in moderation would be socially acceptable/not health impairing/..., but if you take one ingredient and take it in extreme quantities would count as a drug.

[Annalise28]

Wonderful ideas, guys. *issadbecauseshedoesn'townFantasticBeastsandWhereT oFindThem*

I was thinking about swallowing. Does a drug have to be smoked or injected to have full effect? Because with medicine, you just swallow it. Wouldn't that be easier than finding some solution to smoking in the school grounds? Although, I must say that I do like the creativeness, Karaley Dargen .

I was also thinking that a shop in Nocturn Alley could send the drugs, or ingredients needed in the drugs to Cam and Sam by owl, but the meeting place being at the edge of the Forbidden Forest or behind the Owlery or something. Is it possible to arrange a meeting place with an owl? I just thought it would be much simpler than having to steal from the potion stores. I'm being very uncreative, but maybe if the measures to get the drugs were simpler, it would take Rose longer to get suspicious and start investigating.

~ Annalise x

[IckleRonniex]

Kara and Sarah: WOW! Thanks a lot, you've been helping me so much!

And Annalise, drugs can be swallowed or inhaled. There are drugs that are in pills and some are simply meds that are misused, so they could be pills. I do believe that in Knocturn Alley you can find drugs (seeing as how dark the mood is in there) but I think that if someone started owling it to Hogwarts, it would get suspicious, in my opinion. I mean, yes, Rose has to find out what is wrong with her friends and all, but I think that the teachers would also notice and Cam and her brother would be in so much trouble (not that they already aren't because of the amount of drugs they are supposed to be having) and stealing stuff from the potions cupboard is hard... but doesn't it give the story a little bit more of edge? lol

[Sapphire at Dawn]

I'd actually be careful with Camille being able to get her drug supplies from Knockturn Alley. Yes it's a Dark and dodgy place, but I'm sure it would be subjected to Ministry laws just of the rest of the community is. If something's illegal, I doubt they'd sell it because it is against the law. At the end of they day those shops are buisnesses and are there for the owners to make money. You can't make much money if your shops been closed down because of a drugs raid.

However, they could know places or people where you could obtain them from, or dabble scecretly in black market drugs, but Camille would have a time trying to find all that out. I think it would probably be easier if she went down there in search of some, and then got pointed in the right direction.

But I doubt that Knockturn Alley is the only place where one can obtain such Dark objects. In fact, I think it would probably be a lot less dodgy than other places, if there were some. It is, afterall, just round the corner from Diagon Alley, which is an incredibly popular shopping place. It wouldn't be hard for a decent witch or wizard, or even a Ministry representative to accidentally stumble in and report to the authorities any illegal activities.

Not much to do with drugs but a few points

Sarah x

[the_weird_one]

Don't know a lot about drugs, but here with my own random hints!

First off, if you want to find out what specific drugs to do, I would suggest looking a potions that are addictive, or make the drinker ditzy, and decide what would be in it, and then rule out the ones you think are addictive (this might be hard, seeing as there aren't many potions mentioned in HP.) Another way you could make drugs (just a theory) would just be to maybe put an intoxicating spell on the food, and then eat it. I would expect this would involve still some potion-making, but there would definitely be some confusion spells in there. Just a hint.

And to make your research a bit easier, I've narrowed out some magical drug components
-aconite this would be have to be in small doses, since it is poisonous (near deadly), would probably give drugeea death high.
-asphodel a lot like aconite, would give drugee a death high also.
-Babbling Beverage not sure how it's made, but you can infer what it does by the title.
-sopohorous sleeping ingredient.
-scurvy-grass can cause recklessness and hotheadness.

I got all of these from HP Lexicon, there's certainly more, if you want to go look!
-Addy