Natural Tranquilizer

When I saw the heading I thought of kava but it definitely wouldn't work the way you want it to. Sorry.

Opium. I think it might even work in your scenario, as you can inject it.

Thanksgiving dinner tranquilizes me pretty effectively.

That probably didn't help, did it?

Generally speaking, a chemical that's powerful enough to knock someone out that quickly and completely will also show up in a tox screen...*if the scientists know what to look for.*

I'd think about a non-lethal dose of curare. This is what was used on poison arrows. It's relatively short acting, with a half-life of 1 - 2 hours. It would show up on a tox screen, but only if someone was looking for it. Probably by the time anyone was seriously looking for it, it would be out of the system.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

'Herbal' usually refers to something taken by mouth. Thus you don't inject anything herbal.

There are a few tranquilizers that are plant based/natural. But other than what's been given, I couldn't tell ya what they were. However, why do you need natural? You've described most tranq drugs used on wildlife (and a few others). Unless you are planning on moving your novel to curare-rich areas, just get a drug from somewhere (abandoned scientist's camp) and have at it.

Just check the effects are what you want for your scenario. Which will be hard since they don't usually fill tranq darts with human drugs (but sometimes the drugs ARE used for humans and animals).

How are your characters getting their hands on tranq darts and guns/whatevers? Zoo?

Vallerian is a natural sedative, but the smell alone would be enough to tell anyone what it was.

Bahamutchild said:

'Herbal' usually refers to something taken by mouth. Thus you don't inject anything herbal.

Click to expand...

I thought "herbal" meant something made from - er - herbs. Why does it specifically relate to something taken by mouth?

OP, my first thought was curare too.

Well, that too. But you usually take it by mouth. Sorry, my brain is working funny this evening.

And another point, there's a difference between traqs, sedatives, and the like. fyi

Saint John's root is a well known tranquilizer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrodotoxin

-cb

Kava, Valerian, and St. John's Wort are all taken orally, and I've never heard of a person taking enough to actually be knocked out. Tetrodotoxin is also used orally--but who knows, maybe someone has injected it, somewhere. Maybe snake venoms?

I'm guilty of not reading the OP. The trick here is undetectable. Nearly everything can be detected, if you're looking for it. If you don't suspect a tranquilizer, you won't test for one. In that case, Ketamine would work.

Calliopenjo said:

It needs to be something that wouldn't show up on physical exam.

Click to expand...

Ah, right, missed this. Well no drugs will show up on a physical exam (unless the person is still loopy) since it's a physical.

A drug test however... well, first of all, drug tests have to check for specific things, and those tests add up fast. Usually you check for rec drugs, not anesthetics and the like (unless you saw your person was loopy and wanted to see if they were taking too much valium, on a guess. But that's still just valium and maybe the related compounds.)

You also have the fact that most tranqs, etc clear really fast. There's a few that go for hours (good for long procedures) but with most it's a get in, get out, or hook them up for proper anesthesia (with gas agents like isoflurane/sevoflurane/whatever). Sure there will be traces, but unless I'm missing something from your summary, a PE isn't going to lead to a mass tranq-drug screen.

And remember that tranqs, etc not only knock you out, but they bring you to a threshhold closer to death. An overdose can very quickly cause you to stop breathing or fark your heart and then you are good and dead if someone doesn't have a reversal agent and/or know CPR.

So, you have some reading up to do still I think