MovieChat Forums > A Scanner Darkly (2006) Discussion > cocaine in the freezer?

cocaine in the freezer?

posted 14 years ago by vomitsvodka
4 replies | jump to latest

i haven't seen this movie in a few years but i remember towards the beginning robert downey jr placed cocaine in something like a plastic grocery bag and maybe something else in the freezer. he then claimed that whatever he was doing would make the small amount of coke triple, or something to that effect. i remember at the time not understanding what he was actually doing and feeling like i missed something. could someone please explain to me what he did? if that's a real thing or if it was just for the film? thanks in advance for any feedback. and just to be clear i'm not asking this to find out for personal use but for informational purposes only. i don't like coke, i'm a downer kind of guy.

[–] saint665 14 years ago

This is discussed in the FAQ: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405296/faq#.2.1.9 Don't worry, I'll save you a click:

Cocaine is an excellent topical anesthetic, and there is an urban legend dating from the 1960s that certain pain medications had it as an active ingredient. One such product (allegedly) was Solarcaine (the sun-burn stuff.)

Barris claimed that from a $3 bottle of "Abrasocaine" (in the book it was Solarcaine) he could get extract a gram of pure cocaine. His technique was to spray the aerosol into a balloon and quick-freeze it, "causing the cocaine to rise to the surface because they are lighter than the oils." Presumably he would break the balloon and scrape the coke off the top from the frozen mass inside.

No, it won't work... not the least among reasons being there's no cocaine there to begin with.

The scene serves the purpose of showing Barris as a know-it-all who talks large but ultimately fails at every project. Of course, it's always possible he knew it wouldn't work anyway, and was just playing with Freck's mind.

"That's right, ma'am: I'm in charge here. No one's getting through to you unless I say so."

[–] vomitsvodka 14 years ago

wow, didn't think i'd even get an answer for this and definitely not one that was that clear. thanks a lot, i really appreciate the feedback.

[–] saint665 14 years ago

no prob. :)

"That's right, ma'am: I'm in charge here. No one's getting through to you unless I say so."

[–] 14 years ago

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