Talk:Secobarbital

Famous Deaths
I'd like to see a list of deaths from this drug. There are so many celebrity or famous deaths associated with it. Anyone? --71.125.90.20 03:28, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

jimi hendrix is identified as the "great" rock musician - isn't this just the author's pov. shouldn't he be described as a "well-known" musician instead? 192.158.61.142 (talk) 20:19, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

I think at this point I'm questioning the validity of having a list of deaths associated with Seconal up on the article. While it is mildly interesting I feel it sort of casts the drug in an unfair light and gives it a demonizing element. I think however that there is enough information for separate article on 'Deaths from Seconal' and possibly infusing this with a 'Secobarbital in Popular Culture' section. Other pharmaceuticals listed on wikipedia typically don't include a death roster I don't really see how this should be the exception. Ariadavid (talk) 03:13, 5 January 2013 (UTC)

I have deleted the 'Famous Deaths' section as proposed. It seemed unusual to have it in place when other articles on pharmaceuticals don't typically list such things. Mentioning of every celebrity death associated with the drug is not entirely relevant to the drug's history. I would suggest that someone create a Secobarbital in Popular Culture article with the information on the famous deaths as it is nonetheless still interesting. Ariadavid (talk) 04:36, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

Famous deaths related to use

 * Neal Cassady who was a major figure in the Beat Generation had been seen taking an unknown quantity of Seconal the night before his death. He was found in a coma near a railroad track in the morning. Cassady was then transported to a hospital, where he died a few hours later on February 4 1967, four days short of his forty-second birthday.


 * Lupe Vélez, a Mexican-born film actress, committed suicide in 1944 with an overdose of Seconal. The story (which gained notoriety when described in Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon and inspired Andy Warhol's film Lupe) that she died with her head jammed down the lavatory after slipping on vomit, is an urban legend.


 * Aimee Semple McPherson a Canadian-born evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s was found in a hotel room unconscious on September 26, 1944 after taking Seconal.


 * Carole Landis was a popular actress of the 1940s who committed suicide on an overdose of Seconal in her Pacific Palisades, California home on July 5, 1948. She was 29.


 * Beverly Kenney (January 29, 1932, Harrison, New Jersey – April 13, 1960, New York City) was an American jazz singer. Kenney committed suicide through a combination of alcohol and Seconal. She was 28.


 * Dinah Washington, blues, R&B and jazz singer, was found dead at age 39 in 1963, from a lethal combination of secobarbital and amobarbital.


 * Dorothy Kilgallen, an American journalist and television game show panelist, was found dead on November 8, 1965, having apparently succumbed to a fatal combination of alcohol and Seconal, possibly concurrent with a heart attack.


 * Judy Garland was found dead in her bathroom by her husband Mickey Deans on June 22, 1969. The stated exact cause of death by coroner Gavin Thurston was accidental overdose of barbiturates; her blood contained the equivalent of 10 Seconal 100 mg capsules.


 * Jimi Hendrix, guitarist and vocalist, died while at girlfriend's Monika Dannemann flat in London. The coroner Gavin Thurston accepted that he had probably taken nine of his girlfriend's tablets, after which he vomited and choked to death due to the tablets. He gave an open verdict (not enough evidence to say why he took so many tablets). He died September 18, 1970 aged 27.


 * Alan Wilson, vocalist and founding member of Canned Heat, was found dead at age 27 in 1970, from a self-induced overdose of Seconal.


 * Poet Alejandra Pizarnik died in Buenos Aires of a self-induced overdose of Seconal.


 * Seconal contributed to Musician Tim Buckley's death
 * Charles Boyer (28 August 1899 – 26 August 1978) was a French actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. On 26 August 1978, two days after his wife died from cancer, and two days before his own 79th birthday, Boyer committed suicide with an overdose of Seconal while at a friend's home in Scottsdale.


 * Tennessee Williams was reported to have died of "acute Seconal intolerance" at the Hotel Elysee in New York City in 1983. Reports at the time indicated he had choked on a bottle cap but later reports indicated the Seconal connection.


 * Singer Phyllis Hyman (July 6, 1949 – June 30, 1995) committed suicide by overdosing on pentobarbital and secobarbital in her New York City apartment.


 * Leila Pahlavi (27 March 1970 – 10 June 2001) Leila Pahlavi was the youngest daughter of the Late Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his wife Empress Farah. On Sunday 10 June 2001, Leila was found dead in her room in the Leonard Hotel in London just before 19:30 BST by her doctor. She was found to have more than five times the lethal dose of secobarbital in her system, along with a nonlethal amount of cocaine.

removed Fragment
There was a weird, rambling paragraph about the safety/dangers of Seconal after the end of the article: it was run-on sentences, in the wrong place, and was not referenced. If the author wants to include it in an appropriate place in the article and include references, he/she can. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.85.151.177 (talk) 04:09, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Symptom of withdrawal
I have removed "Death" as a symptom of withdrawal from this unreferenced section. I imagine it was included as a hoax. Death is never a symptom. When it occurs, it is a result. DanTheShrew (talk) 16:34, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Bad article quality & Availability information
This article is in dire need of a rewrite. Right now, the article makes secobarbital out to be the evil-nasty drug-of-death. Only secobarbital related killings (accidential overdose, suicide, or euthanasia) are mentioned in any detail. Where is the non-death related medical information? Only the chemical information sidebar is of any real use.

A few months ago, someone wrote in several myths, facts, and precautions (referenced above by 71.85.151.177). Most of it would have been correct and useable if it had been written in an encyclopædic manner.

For anyone's information, in the United States, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc. recently divested their Seconal (secobarbital) 100 mg capsules to Marathon Pharmaceuticals. Marathon is now shipping this drug. --- W5WMW (talk) 23:23, 12 March 2009 (UTC)


 * It's been about six months and the "example farm" has been made slightly smaller. Otherwise, the article is still needs rewriting or overhauling. - W5WMW (talk) 22:10, 11 September 2009 (UTC)


 * A bit better, but still need a LOT of work. --- W5WMW (talk) 03:56, 19 February 2010 (UTC)


 * The "example farm" of deaths has been expanded again. I suggest it be culled to the most important cases with a link to the Wikipedia page on drug-related deaths for the rest.  --- W5WMW (talk) 02:37, 10 August 2010 (UTC)

Lupe Velez, identified as "an actress in the 1960s," dies in 1944. 66.44.116.163 (talk) 22:01, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

My Experience
When I was 19, I had a pilonidal cyst removed. The night before the operation, the physician prescribed two secanol capsules, which I took. It was about 9:00 p.m. After I swallowed them, I closed my eyes, turned my head, and then opened my eyes. It was morning. Wow. That is powerful stuff!

John Paul Parks (talk) 03:38, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

Availability in Canada
Please see this article from CTV News: Drug commonly used for self-administered death now available in Canada Eastmain (talk • contribs) 22:22, 17 November 2017 (UTC)