Quaalude

Quaalude is a brand name of Methaqualone, a sedative-hypnotic drug that is similar in effect to barbiturates, a general central nervous system depressant. Its use peaked in the 1960s and 1970s as a hypnotic, for the treatment of insomnia, and as a sedative and muscle relaxant.

Methaqualone was first synthesized in India in 1951 by Indra Kishore Kacker and Syed Hussain Zaheer, and was soon introduced to Japanese and European consumers as a safe barbiturate substitute. By 1965, it was the most commonly prescribed sedative in Britain, where it has been sold legally under the names Malsed, Malsedin, and Renoval.

At about the same time, it was becoming a popular recreational drug . In 1972, it was the sixth-bestselling sedative in the USA, where it was legal under the brand name Quaalude; at that time "luding out" was a popular college pastime.

Quaaludes became increasingly popular as a recreational drug in the 1970s. The drug was often used by people who went dancing at glam rock clubs in the early 1970s and at discos in the late 1970s. One slang term for Quaaludes was disco biscuits. In the mid 1970s, there were special bars in Manhattan called juice bars that only served non-alcoholic drinks that catered to people who liked to dance on methaqualone.

The drug was more tightly regulated in Britain under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and in the U.S. from 1973. It was withdrawn from many developed markets in the early 1980s (in 1982 in the United States), being made a Schedule I drug in the U.S. in 1984.

Clandestinely produced methaqualone is still seized by government agencies and police forces around the world.