Some Bristol students claim they got hold of Quaaludes

When life gives you Lemmons

| UPDATED national

A house of free-wheeling Bristol students say they managed to buy Quaaludes, the notorious drug made famous by The Wolf of Wall Street.

A second year told The Tab he bought 50 of the banned blue pills for £95 from a local dealer who said they were Ludes imported from South Africa.

This photo was taken by a Bristol student who got a hold of the pills

He told The Tab: “My friend managed to buy them off his dealer after a lecture.

“They came in the usual baggie and they looked like those small half-size Paracetamol.

“They had a strange effect. They’re essentially a muscle relaxant but they give you so much confidence.

“I got half way up the stairs and then hit the cerebral palsy phase.

“My legs splayed out and I was stuck on for about 10 minutes just propping myself up. I thought I was making perfect sense but all the girls there said I just kept slurring.

“My mate just got really horny. He kept groping all his best mates and trying to chat them up. He thought he was really smooth but he was just a mess.”

Another member of the group, who asked to remain anonymous, added: “After he was really confident, he just became a mess and started crying and telling me I’d left him.

“They were really fun though. I couldn’t stop laughing. Your mind is completely with it, but you’re very dopey.”

The drug has been banned since the 1980s, but it is still made in “cottage industry” labs – although some Lude-hunters are tricked into buying Valium and fakes.

London based drug charity Release confirmed Quaaludes have made a comeback in the UK since they were popularized by the Wolf of Wall Street.

Dan Williams, a spokesperson for Release, confirmed these pills were the right size and the lack of markings suggested they were made illicitly.

He said: “Quaaludes have had a minor upsurge since the Wolf of Wall Street.

“Since the film came out, there have been more cases than before of people taking Quaaludes and we’re hearing accounts of people trying get hold of them.

“Most of the stuff would be imported from India, South Africa and the Far East. It would be made in smallish factories in low level production.”

“It’s a sedative hypnotic that works in the same way as a Valium, reducing the heart rate and making you sleepier.

“It works as a respiratory depressant, so take too much and you might have breathing problems.”

“For some people one potential minor side effect can be an increased sexual drive. It can also cause loss of motor function and general coordination.”

Quaaludes – the brand name for the drug Methaqualone – were sold over the counter in the 1970s and became seriously popular because of their hypnotic effect, until they were banned.

There was a huge spike of interest in them after the Wolf of Wall Street came out last year.

There are accounts on online drug marketplaces claiming to sell Quaaludes, and drug charities say they are still made in underground labs in South Africa and Asia.