History Main / ArtisticLicensePharmacology

* More than one classic mystery fiction writer assumed that aspirin was not just a pain reliever but a sedative as well. Creator/NgaioMarsh was especially prone to having characters take aspirin as an insomnia remedy. In one novel, it was even used as a knockout drug.
** To a certain degree, TruthInTelevision. Many people treat aspirin as if it's a sedative, and if you have a headache or a backache, relieving the pain will help you get to sleep. The placebo effect works particularly well on problems like insomnia.

* In Creator/AlbertBrooks' ''Real Life'' (1979), a veterinarian requests "two and a half percent halothane" twice during surgery. The nurse administers five percent halothane, and the horse dies. Interpreting a repeated request of dosage as a request to double the dose makes some sense when the drug is administered in discrete doses (it could be interpreted as a request to iterate the administration of the drug), but halothane is a continuously administered inhalation anaesthetic. Moreover, since the mistake was discovered immediately, they could've simply lowered the concentration at once in order to avoid giving the poor horse a fatal overdose.

* In ''Webcomic/QuantumVibe'', Bustamante [[http://quantumvibe.com/strip?page=332 implies acetaminophen is a stimulant]]; shady as he is, there's nothing to suggest he's wrong about this. There's also some UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheory overtones when Seamus recommends an "[[http://quantumvibe.com/strip?page=710 old remedy]]" for ''post-traumatic stress disorder'' drawn [[SpiceRackPanacea entirely from the supplement shelf]] (accompanied by cannabis, but this is explicitly his idea, not part of the "old remedy").

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* Every comic book use of drugs fails miserably at pharmacology, especially the Franchise/{{Batman}} villain Scarecrow since his gimmick is a hallucinatory "fear gas". Hallucinogens take 30-90 minutes to circulate to the brain and actually cause hallucinations (and almost all are administered orally). Hallucinations are also extremely unpredictable and are usually caused by setting and expectations before ingesting the drug and most people can easily tell a hallucination from reality, although the Scarecrow does supply some set up by naming it a ''fear'' gas. In short, the drug onset is unlikely, the route of administration is atypical, and most importantly, the effects are wrong. Some drugs ''might'' fit:

* The Marvel Comics one-shot title "Carnage: Mind Bomb" shows the side effects to a Vitamin C overdose as being a severe shock to the nervous system. Dr. Kurtz, after blasting Carnage with a sonic pistol to keep him at bay, injects Cletus Kasady with an overdose of Vitamin C which causes the symbiote to disconnect from Kasady's brain and body. At best, Cletus would suffer indigestion if it had been taken orally but by injection, any excess would be filtered out with no such side effects. This sort of happens as the Vitamin C is metabolized out quickly (in minutes, but the writers had the good sense to tell us that his metabolism was much higher than normal so it didn't seem too much like magic or convenience) and the symbiote reconnects. This use of Vitamin V is just odd, considering that Dr. Kurtz also injects him with "classified" drugs as well to make Carnage more talkative and open, so why not do the same with the first injection?

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* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' had Lisa being put on antidepressants and immediately falling into a blissful and oblivious state complete with hallucinations. In real life antidepressants simply get you back to normal; they don't give you instant happiness. And they certainly don't cause visual hallucinations.
** While it is not the normal reaction, there is a bit of truth to this one. Antidepressants, when given to a bipolar individual, can make them go into a manic episode. They also can cause mood imbalances when they're first started while the body acclimates, but nothing so extreme.
** They also take a while to take effect (sometimes several ''weeks''); it wouldn't be the instant mood lift that Lisa got.

* [[http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57468876-10391704/fda-mandates-drugmakers-to-provide-more-painkiller-education-for-doctors-patients/ This article on prescription opiate abuse]]. "The government's risk management plan is specific to extended release versions of opioid drugs, which come in both pill and patch forms and are designed to give long-lasting effects. That potency carries serious risks when patients abuse them as stimulants." CriticalResearchFailure meets this trope meets InsaneTrollLogic meets MarijuanaIsLSD and they all had GRatedSex to produce this. Anyone taking an opiate as a stimulant will be sorely and sadly disappointed. Or, you know, just toss away their troubles and sink into the [[OpiumDen pipe dream]].\\

* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': In one episode an old lady took a large number of pills, wrote a suicide letter, had tea and then confessed to everything to the detectives before oh-so-conveniently dying before she could be arrested.

* NoMedicationForMe (Withdrawal exists, as does the thing you are taking the medicine to treat coming back, sometimes worse, and there are certain things where missing a single dose is downright dangerous.)
* OneDoseFitsAll - In most cases in real life, medicine doses are tailored for people of different ages, sexes, weight, and a multitude of other factors. This isn’t the case in fiction, where a single dose suits anyone!

* SuicideByPills: While TruthInTelevision for the most part, doing this in real life can and often does lead to violent convulsions, foaming at the mouth, and other not so clean, neat, and pretty [[NoDeadBodyPoops bodily reactions]].

* During the ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' time-travel quest "Meeting History", you save a character from lifelong throat damage by learning the formula for the cough medicine she takes as an adult and feeding it to her as a baby. Not only would the dosage be different for a baby than for an adult, but the medicine contains raw honey and raw cow's milk, which can make an infant extremely ill. Her father is also [[LampshadeHanging rightly concerned]] that [[AdultFear you're a stranger trying to give his daughter medicine without invitation or proof that you are qualified to do so]].

* An episode of ''TheSimpsons'' had Lisa being put on antidepressants and immediately falling into a blissful and oblivious state complete with hallucinations. In real life antidepressants simply get you back to normal; they don't give you instant happiness. And they certainly don't cause visual hallucinations.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' usually avoids this by not naming substances or using entirely fictional ones, but "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS22E4TheMarkOfTheRani The Mark of the Rani]]" gets things badly wrong when the Doctor and Peri survive a booby trap claimed to involve mustard gas without ill effects, by wearing minimalist gas masks that only cover their noses and mouths (and look more like medical gas administration masks than anything protective). In reality, the effects of mustard gas on skin and eyes would have killed them. [[BodyHorror Slowly and horribly.]]

* In Film/ValleyOfBones, one person treats poison by using an [=EpiPen=] (AKA adrenaline). As WebVideo/MidnightScreenings points out, this would spread the poison over the body and kill the person faster.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' usually avoids this by not naming substances or using entirely fictional ones, but "The Mark of the Rani" gets things badly wrong when the Doctor and Peri survive a booby trap claimed to involve mustard gas without ill effects, by wearing minimalist gas masks that only cover their noses and mouths (and look more like medical gas administration masks than anything protective). In reality, the effects of mustard gas on skin and eyes would have killed them. [[BodyHorror Slowly and horribly.]]

* PerfectPoison

* SpiceRackPanacea

* UniversalPoison

* OneDoseFitsAll - In most cases in real life, medicine doses are tailored for people of different ages, gender, weight and a multitude of other factors. This isn’t the case in fiction, where a single dose suits anyone!

* PoisonIsCorrosive

* MagicAntidote

* InstantSedation

* FingertipDrugAnalysis

* BitterAlmonds: That particular nutty smell that indicates that something is poisoned.

* PsychoSerum: A SuperSerum that makes you crazy and mentally unstable.

* BitterAlmonds
* DruggedLipstick
* FantasticDrug

* GRatedDrug
* ImmuneToDrugs

* LoveIsInTheAir

* MarijuanaIsLSD

* OneDrinkWillKillTheBaby

* PsychoSerum

* SuperSerum
* TruthSerums