Qualude

It was used in the 1960s and 1970s as an anxiolytic, for the treatment of insomnia, and as a sedative and muscle relaxant. It has also been used illegally as a recreational drug, commonly known as Quaaludes (particularly in the 1970s in North America) or as Mandrax.

In the 2000s, it is widely used as a recreational drug in South Africa.


Effects
Usual effects include relaxation, euphoria, and drowsiness, also reducing heart rate and respiration. Larger doses can bring about depression, muscular miscoordination, and slurred speech.
An overdose can cause delirium, convulsions, hypertonia, hyperreflexia, vomiting, renal insufficiency, coma, and death through cardiac or respiratory arrest.Toxicity is treated with diazepam and sometimes other anticonvulsants.
Illegal use as a recreational drug
Quaaludes became increasingly popular as a recreational drug during the 1960s, and during the disco club scene in the 1970s. They were often used during sexual activity because of heightened sensitivity coupled with relaxation and euphoria.

The drug was more tightly regulated in Britain under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and in the U.S. It was withdrawn from many developed markets in the 1980s, being made a Schedule I drug in the US in 1984.
Smoking methaqualone, either alone or as an adulterant added to various legal and illegal smoking mixtures, gained popularity in the United States during the mid 1970s.When smoked, methaqualone gives the user an immediate trance-like euphoria that quickly wears off. Smoking methaqualone pills can lead to emphysema and other chronic lung disorders, most notably talcosis.
South Africa
Commonly known as Mandrax or Buttons, it is not taken orally but is crushed and mixed in a pipe (or the neck of a broken bottle) with marijuana.

Mandrax is one of the most commonly used hard drugs in South Africa.