DOSE:

0.2 - 3.5 ml

oral

1,4-Butanediol

(liquid)

BODY WEIGHT:

70 kg

1,4 – Butanediol (0.2ml, 0.5ml, 0.7ml, 1.0ml, 1.2ml, 1.5ml, 1.7ml, 2.0ml, 2.5ml, 3.0ml, 3.5ml)

Text:
The birds who drop drugs into my window gave me a free 50ml sample of 1,4 – Butanediol. I felt pretty good about trying it. The first time I’d read about this niche drug was more than 20 years ago. Back then its “alcohol-like” description in the few experience reports about the drug, along with its legality at the time and ease of access via the adolescent phase of the internet, piqued my teenage interest. I used to live in a country with a legal drinking age of 21 – much too high, and a direct contributor to irresponsible binge drinking among teenagers who almost entirely lack positive role models who enjoy good relationships with alcohol. It’s a damn good thing that I didn’t end up getting any 1,4 – Butanediol in my late teens, because apparently it’s really dangerous and has to be measured very accurately.

For a proper experiment all these years later, I made sure to start very low n’ slow, with an initial dose of 0.2ml… This produced definite threshold effects – a + [plus one] on the Shulgin scale. The next day, I titrated up to 0.5ml, and another day to 0.7ml, a few days later to 1.0ml, 1.2ml, and so on up to 2.0ml… To paraphrase Shulgin “Slow titration like this is not only important from a safety aspect, but it also saves materials since you hardly use any during the early stages.” The importance of the low n’ slow method of drug assaying simply cannot be overstated.

All of the above were daytime doses (usually taken in mid-afternoon). Nighttime, anti-insomnia doses are quite a bit larger, and this is where I wanted to take even more care to respect this powerful substance and remain very patient with dosage titration. I have the type of insomnia where it’s actually very easy to fall asleep at night, but staying asleep is a major issue. I wake up several times most every night, sometimes just for a few minutes, sometimes half an hour or more, and in extreme cases for the rest of the early morning. Among the very strange-sounding and unique / unusual properties of 1,4 – Butanediol and the other drugs in its class is the ‘timed dopamine release’ which people describe as kicking in almost always right on schedule, four hours after administration. There are reports of people waking up abruptly after taking a sleep-inducing dose and feeling refreshed, as if they’d had a great, full eight-hour night’s sleep. I’d pay good money to experience that! Hell, I’d even carefully weigh the possibility of getting physically dependent on a sort-of-sketchy drug in exchange for truly refreshing sleep on a consistent basis…

I tried setting up doses in the evening, leaving the carefully measured [2.5ml, 2.7ml, 3.0ml, 3.3ml, 3.5ml on various nights] material in a safe place for later consumption upon the first significant waking of the night, usually between midnight and three in the morning. These doses did not keep me fast asleep – I still woke up to urinate, for instance, but with the vertigo / dizziness in full effect, making it difficult and annoying to walk even a short distance. Fortunately, I did not experience any nausea. It basically feels like being really drunk in terms of the physical ‘spinning’ effect I remember from high school, but without the mental impairment. In other words I was thinking clearly, but at the same time I felt like I was going to fall over. Driving on ANY amount of this substance is strictly out of the question.

I had actually just started a new exercise program not long before receiving my free sample. The lowest end of the dosage range [0.2ml – 1.0ml] does seem to provide a muscle-relaxing and stamina-increasing effect which is useful. The thing is: I for one don’t see a lot of appeal in going to the gym after slamming a few shots of tequila, and for me the dizzy / vertigo effects of this drug are apparent at all dosages. In the really low end, it’s easy enough to ignore the distracting swirl, and 0.5ml or so shows a somewhat remarkable ability to “take the edge off” from the 200mg caffeine that I frequently use for my exercise sessions.

Aside from the aforementioned caffeine, and my daily marijuana habit, I did not mix any substances with the 1,4 – Butanediol. This is not a chemical that plays well with others!!

In conclusion, I don’t think that 1,4 – Butanediol is all that interesting. It’s a hard drug by my personal standards [I define a ‘hard drug’ as one that is highly addictive, has tons of bad side effects, is difficult to use responsibly, can kill in a dose that is relatively close to the active dose, and/or unreasonably inflates the ego – alcohol, for instance, is certainly a hard drug by these criteria; LSD is a soft drug – the distinction between natural and synthetic materials is irrelevant in this classification system]. With all that said, 1,4 – Butanediol does have its benefits and positive uses. I could see it serving as a benzo-substitute for situations like uncomfortable dentist’s appointments. It definitely does enhance tactile sensation in the sexual nether regions, but not as powerfully or nearly as elegantly as certain psychedelics.

I measure the dose carefully and write down the dosage and time of administration. I do not re-dose until at least an hour or two after the last dose has worn off. I do not drive anything at all, at any speed, on any dose [seriously, I wouldn’t trust myself to stay upright on a skateboard]. I keep this hazardous material way the heck outta the reach of children, animals, and everyone else… While I’m glad to have had the opportunity to assay this unusual substance, I personally wouldn’t go out and buy this stuff , although it is reasonably priced. As with many past experiments, I intend to finish this one by using up the small quantity I have left, and move on. I may try to save a dose for next year’s dentist appointment, though!

** UPDATE ** :
The next night, after I had already written up and submitted this report [the first time], I work up as usual around 11:30pm. I went to the toilet, completely emptied my bladder, and then to my office to swallow a 3.5ml dose of 1,4-butanediol. Some time later – it could have been a few minutes or a few hours – I woke up abruptly, my shorts, shirt and bedsheets soaked in urine. I got up to quickly shower and change into fresh clothes, but the damage was already done. I used to be a very heavy alcoholic from age 18 through 35, and pissing myself had become a regular occurrence by my early 30’s. It was one of the major wake-up-calls that if I kept on boozing heavily, I wasn’t just going to keep going and eventually just die – that death would be very slow, agonizing, freezing cold, and stinking. Needless to say last night’s incident brought back unpleasant memories – I do not know if 1,4-butanediol is a diuretic or not (none of my research indicated it as such). What I think happened is that the nighttime drug dose completely knocked me out so that I wasn’t able to wake up and go pee. Of course, the next step in this progression includes larger doses to where the user cannot wake up to vomit.

The 4-hour-mark dopamine release woke me up for good at 3:45am. There would be no chance of sleep for the rest of the morning, so I sat down and wrote this update / warning. Considering how the main body of this text is chock full o’ warnings already, this one is the icing on the cake. Since I hate wasting drugs – I hate wasting ANYTHING, food, shelter, etc, probably because the Germans murdered and starved more than six million of my people… So I plan on continuing to use up the 1,4-BDO remaining, but only in the lowest active doses (0.2ml – 0.7ml) and only for the weight lifting stamina, which has proven to be the only real positive effect of this drug.

Exp Year: 2023	ExpID: 117203
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 38
Published: Aug 6, 2025	Views: Not Supported
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1,4-Butanediol (51) : General (1), Therapeutic Intent or Outcome (49), Retrospective / Summary (11), Alone (16)