Inositol: the powder Hollywood uses to make fake cocaine
Anyone with even a fleeting knowledge of Hollywood history will be aware that many stars past, present, and undoubtedly future have a penchant for a certain white powder that tends to be taken through the nose. The Devil’s Dandruff has been a staple of many movies and TV shows revolving around the excess, addiction, and damaging effects of cocaine.
There’s even an entire movie based around the true story of an illegal shipment that ended up being dropped in the woods of rural America and devoured by a bear that was none the wiser. However, Elizabeth Banks’ Cocaine Bear did take a fair amount of artistic and creative licence with the facts that inspired its bloodthirsty and drug-addled narrative.
While it may or may not be true that certain actors have indulged in the real thing when the cameras are rolling, no production with even the slightest interest in adhering to health and safety precautions is going to allow its stars to be hoovering up oodles of nose candy in the name of realism. It has to look authentic, which is where Inositol has come in very handy.
It hasn’t always been the go-to, with Al Pacino ingesting mountainous amounts of powdered baby laxative up his nose while shooting Scarface, to the point he admitted to Fox that “my breathing apparatus has been altered a little” after he hoovered up so much of the stuff. Sure, it was the 1980s when excess reigned supreme, but a more suitable substitute demanded to be found.
That doesn’t mean there can’t be any side effects, with Inositol being a vitamin B powder derived from sugar made in the body and found in foods and turned into a supplement. Jonah Hill devoured so much of it on The Wolf of Wall Street that he ended up giving himself bronchitis after refusing to take it easy during any of the multiple takes required of his many snorting scenes.
According to science and biology, the human body produces around two grams of natural inositol on a daily basis, and the highest concentration is found in the brain. When the brightest minds in their respective fields first discovered its composition, function, and effect, it’s unlikely they imagined the movie industry would eventually find a way to turn it into the fake cocaine of choice, but that’s what happened anyway.
Sometimes, ingeniously sneaky prop masters have coated the inside of a dollar bill or straw with Vaseline so that less of the powder ends up going straight up the nasal cavities of an actor. Still, in the case of life imitating art, inositol has also found itself becoming popular among real-life drug rings, cartels, and criminal organisations. Thanks to its look, texture, and solubility, it’s been known to find its way into cocaine, methamphetamines, and heroin as a cutting agent, bringing the whole thing full circle in the worst kind of way.
