General Discussion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenochrome

Adrenochrome is a chemical compound produced by the oxidation of adrenaline (epinephrine). It was the subject of limited research from the 1950s through to the 1970s as a potential cause of schizophrenia. While adrenochrome has no currently proven medical application, the semicarbazide derivative, carbazochrome, is a hemostatic medication. Adrenochrome is mass produced and commercially available to the public, and is not a controlled substance.

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In his 1954 book The Doors of Perception, Aldous Huxley mentioned the discovery and the alleged effects of adrenochrome, which he likened to the symptoms of mescaline intoxication, although he had never consumed it.

Anthony Burgess mentions adrenochrome as "drencrom" at the beginning of his 1962 novel A Clockwork Orange. The protagonist and his friends are drinking drug-laced milk: "They had no license for selling liquor, but there was no law yet against prodding some of the new veshches which they used to put into the old moloko, so you could peet it with vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom or one or two other veshches [...]"

Hunter S. Thompson mentioned adrenochrome in his 1971 book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. This is the likely origin of current myths surrounding this compound, because a character states that "There's only one source for this stuff ... the adrenaline glands from a living human body. It's no good if you get it out of a corpse." The adrenochrome scene also appears in the novel's film adaptation. In the DVD commentary, director Terry Gilliam admits that his and Thompson's portrayal is a fictional exaggeration. Gilliam insists that the drug is entirely fictional and seems unaware of the existence of a substance with the same name. Hunter S. Thompson also mentions adrenochrome in his book Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72. In the footnotes in chapter April, page 140, he says: "It was sometime after midnight in a ratty hotel room and my memory of the conversation is hazy, due to massive ingestion of booze, fatback, and forty cc's of adrenochrome."

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Adrenochrome is the subject of several conspiracy theories, including QAnon and Pizzagate, in which the chemical plays a similar role to Satanic ritual abuse stories. The theories commonly state that a cabal of theistic Satanists rape and murder children, and harvest adrenochrome from their victims' blood as a recreational drug or as an elixir of youth, similar to children's blood infusions. In reality, adrenochrome has been produced by organic synthesis since at least 1952, is synthesized for research purposes by biotechnology companies, who will then sell it to anyone; as it is not a controlled substance, any medical or recreational use of the chemical is effortless to access.

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