"Operation Lude Behavior" Uncovers Real-Life Breaking Bad

Twenty-two people were arrested Tuesday night as part of a massive $3.5 million quaaludes manufacturing and distributing ring, stretching from California to NYC. Twenty of those arrested as part of the three-year probe, dubbed "Operation Lude Behavior" (seriously), are expected to be arraigned today in Manhattan federal court. Among them are two current city public school teachers and a retired one.

Last year, there were reports about a resurgence of ludes, a designer drug that has a sedative/hypnotic effect on the user. The alleged ringleader of the conspiracy, Dennis Fairley, 65, is a chemist who owns chemical testing laboratories in Brooklyn and Emeryville, Ca., where officials say he's been manufacturing hundreds of thousands of ludes a year. Much of the conspiracy was allegedly run out of Fairley's $1.4 million 5th avenue apartment.

Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara told reporters, "Instead of applying his training as a chemist to advance science, he allegedly used it to concoct dangerous poisons and advance his personal wealth." Law and Order might have a hard time ripping this story from the headlines, considering there's already an amazing show on TV about a public school teacher who uses his knowledge of chemistry to make drugs (sometimes sans pants).

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By Ben Yakas in News on April 8, 2010 9:05 AM

Comments [rss]

Trilby16

Whaaat? I thought you couldn't get those anymore. Where are they being distributed, please?

@nicemarmot- I did them back in the day as well. They make you feel drunk without the physical downsides of drunkenness. So, better than booze.

They used to be an actual medicine for stuff like back aches from muscle tension. Unless I'm mistaken.

jaycjay

"So, better than booze"

Of course, just like the similar stuff that's readily available now, they were/are often used while drinking booze. Which is probably what "mom" above was doing, so... "Imagine being very drunk and very very out of it."

theLtrain

Wait, if all they do is "make you feel drunk without the physical downside of drunkenness" then why are people after them?

This is exactly what benzos make me feel like. Xanax is like a chemically perfect drunk.

Actually fuck it, I still wanna try some 'ludes.

Trilby16

Sure, there are a number of drugs that do that. Valium. Quaadludes are/were very effective, very relaxing. Words don't do them justice. You'd have to try them.

nicemarmot

My mom told me just last night she did ludes a few times back in the day. I asked, so what are they like? And she says "Imagine being very drunk and very very out of it." There's just so many other things that can make you feel drunk and out of it. Like you know, getting really drunk.

thefacts

Hate to contradict mom, but, no, ludes didn't make you too stoopid, like booze does. Not at all like booze, really.

More relaxed without being stupified. Great at bars or clubs if you were the nervous type and wanted to loosen up and feel comfortable. You could still carry on a conversation and dance, and barely show it. That's why they were popular at discos. Pretty nice drug, and I didn't do downers.

I forged a script on the day that they were outlawed and the pharmacist in the East Village laughed as he handed them to me, saying, "Enjoy yourself".

Changed times.

nicemarmot

Well, she also said pot made her paranoid and she hated it, so rest assured I take all her drug stories with a grain of salt.

DorothyMick

Why do you find this so weird? Pot makes a lot of people I know extremely paranoid-including myself- which is why I don't smoke it particularly frequently.