I dig Wired Magazine. Our household subscribes. But some of the most interesting stuff is that which isn't directly related to technology. In the November issue's "What's Inside" we get to know our favorite OTC nighttime drug a little better. I'm talking of course about NyQuil.

In large print at the top of the page, the article greets you with the words "Fortified With Powerful Narcotics!" Of course, we kinda know that beforehand, but it was a nice hook to get you to read the details.

They start, naturally, with the painkiller, acetaminophen. It's the same painkiller in Tylenol. It's the only painkiller that seems to work for me (I have to be careful picking out medicine, because ibuprofen does nothing, aspirin makes my headaches worse, etc), so it was veerrrryyy interesting to see that acetaminophen breaks down in the body to become a cannabinoid. That's right. The same family of compounds that "makes marijuana so irresistible."

Next is dextromethorphan HBR. The bottle lists it as a cough suppressant, but it's also "a painkiller five times as powerful as morphine." Pretty sweet. And it's the component of NyQuil gives its users the more famous highs. "For people whose bodies are unusually slow at metabolizing the drug, even low doses of DXM trigger full-blown 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' psychedelic trips."

The less interesting ingredients are the antihistamine/sleep aid, citric acid, alcohol solvent, thickeners, acid-base balancer, sugar, and that highly recognizable NyQuil flavor. The makers of NyQuil are mum about the flavor, but Wired writers suspect that it's to help prevent psychedelic abuse of the product. I'd have to say... probably.