Q: What is Talwin®?
A: Talwin is the brand name of a drug called pentazocine. It is legally available only when a doctor prescribes it.
Q: What is Ritalin®?
A: Ritalin is the brand name of a drug called methylphenidate. It is legally available only when it is prescribed by a doctor and is used to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children.
Q: What happens when these two drugs are taken together?
A: Talwin is a painkiller and Ritalin is a stimulant drug (upper). When they are combined, they produce a brief but strong high. This high is like the high produced by mixing cocaine and heroin. Because Talwin and Ritalin are cheaper when prescribed by a doctor, they are sometimes called “poor man's heroin.”
Some other names for the mixture of Talwin and Ritalin are “Ts and Rs,” “Ts and Rits,” “One and Ones,” “Crackers” and “Set.”
Q: Are Talwin and Ritalin illegal?
A: Both drugs are legal if a doctor prescribes them. But if they are stolen or bought from someone who has stolen them, they are illegal. The Talwin and Ritalin sold on the street is usually stolen either from people who have a prescription from their doctor, or from a pharmacy.
Q: What does the combination of Talwin and Ritalin do to people?
A: Besides producing a very brief high, the combination of these two drugs has a lot of other effects. The combination can cause dizziness, nausea, vomiting, tremors, confusion, constipation, anorexia, insomnia and paranoia (the feeling that everyone is out to get you). The high doesn’t last very long, and it is always followed by a low that leaves users depressed and sluggish.
High doses of Talwin and Ritalin can increase blood pressure and cause hallucinations (seeing things that don’t really exist).
Q: Are there other medical problems caused by combining Talwin and Ritalin?
A: Very high doses of the two drugs can lead to an overdose and result in coma and death.
Most of the other medical problems that come from using Talwin and Ritalin come from the fact that users inject the combination. Using dirty needles or sharing needles can cause a variety of problems. Some are relatively minor, like infected veins or skin problems. Other problems are very serious. Dirty or shared needles can cause infections in the lungs, heart, bones and liver. Shared needles can also increase the risk of becoming infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Q: Is the combination of Talwin and Ritalin addictive?
A: The brief high people get from Talwin and Ritalin can result in a person taking them more often, making the abuse of these drugs very expensive.
Taking the drugs more often can also lead to tolerance (meaning that people need more of the drugs to feel the same effects they used to feel from a smaller amount).
If people suddenly stop using Talwin and Ritalin, they can feel agitated, depressed or exhausted. These feelings are generally stronger because these people are addicted to two drugs.
