Cyanide Capsule
 

Does such a thing actually exist in public? Are they actually obtainable?

If given the chance, would you ever want to own one?

They have to exist, since all those Nazi officials used them to get out of imprisonment back in the day.

I wish I had one when I was forced to see Moulin Rouge at the theater.

I'm sure some CIA operative somewhere has 'em...I don't and, hopefully wouldn't have any use for such a thing. I think that's where the term "bite the bullet came from"...chomping down on a cyanide capsule= go bye bye...I could be wrong though.

All a cyanide capsule is is pressed potasium or sodium cyanide. It hits your stomach, the ions dissassociate and the CN- ion group combines with the hydrogen from the hydrochloric acid in your stomach. This is absorbed by your stomach lining into your blood stream where it combines strongly with you hemoglobin, stronger than oxygen can combine. You die of cyanosis.

Why you would want to know this is beyond me. There are much less painful ways of offing yourself and I hope you would seek help before trying them.

Lebell nailed it.

There are far more enjoyable ways to kill yourself. Why suffer?

You know what sounds like a painful way to die? Getting pushed out into space.

so you're telling me i can't just run down to wal-mart and pick up a bottle? bummer.

sheesh.

Off topic but I just wanted to add that that is not wear bite the bullet came from. I heard it is from civil war areas were battlefield doctors would give their patients a lead ball to bit during surgery (this was pre anthestics) ... which is probably wrong as well but I do know the term predates these.

More off-topic.
Well... back in the olde civil war days, one had pre-packed "rounds" of ammo: piece of paper or something, wrapped around the lead bullet and a bit of powder. One had to bite the bullet (tear open the paper) to put the powder into the musket. Then one would put in the actual bullet (ball). After some further work (ramming it in, perhaps stuff a bit of paper in too, to keep the bullet from falling out), one could fire.

...but I could be wrong. :)

Lebell, you've got me just a tiny bit concerned about you. You seems to know an awful lot about this stuff. Have you ever worked in the Texas State Penetentiary System?

Sounds like an ugly way even for a spook to off himself. I'd think an Extasy OD would be more fun.

BBtB and Dragonlich, I've actually heard both of those.

And I can't think of any easy ways to kill ones self. Obviously if you had a gun, you could try to shoot your way out.

I think people are missing the point i was getting at.
I wanted to know if you would actually want to own one, not use it immediately.
Basically, a small, portable means to quickly end your life, if you were ever in a terrible situation or would rather die from the capsule than endure something like a rapid spread of a new disease or if you were trapped in a burning room and would rather not suffer the pain of being burnt alive...you know?

I don't know. If I have to spend anymore time with the guy who handles our company 401K plan, I might need one of those.

Ok, seriously, I would hope that I would always have hope. Even stuck in a burning room, I think I'd be looking for a way out up till the moment of death.

well, if the choice were to burn to death or jum 95 stories to my death as in the WTC attack, I would definitely choose the cyanide.

Dragonlich is correct about the origin of the term "bite the bullet".

And no, I've never worked in the Texal Penitentery System, nor have a been in a Turkish prison ;)

I was however in analytical chemistry for a few years plus I like gathering bits of essoteric knowledge and how cynanide poisoning worked was something I looked up one day.

Why on earth would you want to commit suicide? Such a wimpy way to leave.

Yes they exist....they are a quick way to stop yourself from being used for information...Yes it's painfull but effective...It can be concealed where as if you are put in to a position a handgun or such might not be available.If someone is caught doing something in another country where they are not supposed to be they could cause a major problem by their knowledge and just their presence.If they are dead they can not be tortured for information or used to blackmail or damage the country of their origin.Black ops are a dangerous game...The people that play them know the risks they take.Most of them live off the rush..Strange group of people if you ask me..The information they obtain can be invaluable though.

I would never want to own one for me. Nothing could be that bad that you would have to off yourself...

nothing could ever be so bad? perhaps, but perhaps _not_

if there were a little pill that would put you to sleep, then die, i would have it on me. :) I have been suicidal in my life, but not now at all. but anyhow, fact is, what if something fuckin _odd_ happened? like.. you're walking down the road, are attacked by aliens who paralyze you except for one arm (for the pill) and transfers you one mile away and forces you to watch gerlado and rosi o'donald all day and night for thirty years?

wouldn't you wanna end it!??!

This is old really old

Sweet Jane.....Lou Reed ,if ya had too.

Bless all of you to happiness.

No, I wouldn't want one. Because I think I would be far more likely to get drunk and eat the thing than end up in a situation that I felt was so horrible I would want to commit suicide (painfully).

If it ever came to that there are many other, more efficient ways to off yourself.

I wouldn't. Death, is a part of life. Something that I hope to experince to its fullest when the time comes. I hope to live a long and full life but death is something unique, the moment when perhaps we accept what is happening around us and learn the truth about what man has pondered for thousands of years.

They exsits.

*bites down... dies*