Drugs, Colorful Drugs Trivia Quiz

Answer: Pink

Just like that cartoon panther.

Answer: Amber

The classic amber varies from a light yellow-orange to a dark brown. One drug packaging supplier markets a light-resistant plastic product called "Nultraviolet" - it comes in green or orange.

Answer: White

Most drugs are naturally colorless, and manufacturers apparently feel it's more economical to leave them this way. Also, white probably doesn't appeal as much as bright colors do to youngsters on the lookout for candy.

Answer: Orange

Docusate is a stool softener, while senna (sennosides), derived from a plant, falls into the stimulant class of laxatives. I have spent many a long, weary hour in the pharmacy drawing sticky blackish-brown liquid senna from bulk bottles into 5 cc oral syringes. Its smell is distinctive - leafy, organic, syrupy - but not at all unpleasant.

Answer: Calcium-based antacids

To have brightly colored, fruit flavored chewable tablets in any of the other classes given as choices would probably be pretty ridiculous.

Manufacturers may also wish to present tablets in a spectrum of colors to distinguish between strengths when many strengths are available - two examples of this are levothyroxine and warfarin (Coumadin).

Answer: blue

Yes, it really does look blue. Methylene blue has numerous uses in health care, but pharmacy people will occasionally feed "methylene brownies" to the naive - I'll let you figure out what happens after "nature takes its course." (Actually, the results are supposedly more green than blue, but I apologize, I've said too much already...)

Answer: Rifampin

"Rifampin in cherry syrup" is something my pharmacy compounds from time to time - and yes, opening the capsules and pouring out the red powder can be very messy if you're not careful. Rifampin is a disturbing shade of red in its intravenous form as well.

Answer: Yellow

Liquid vitamins are not only yellow, but they stink to high heaven as well. Some pharmacies call intravenous vitamin preparations "banana bags" - imagine a one-liter I.V. bag full of clear, bright yellow liquid. I.V. diazepam (Valium) is another yellow drug - a very pale, clear yellow, to be precise.

Answer: False

Yes, it's a white powder, and no, it isn't legal. Sometimes applied to supposedly very pure heroin, the term China White more accurately refers to alpha-methylfentanyl, a potent opioid narcotic. The fentanyl family is quite large, and includes a significant number of analogs.

While certain analogs such as alfentanyl, sufentanyl, and remifentanyl are legal (but carefully controlled by the Drug Enforcement Administration), others like alpha-methylfentanyl and 3-methylfentanyl (so-called "designer drugs") currently have no accepted medical use in the U.S. and are illegal.

Answer: green

It supposedly prevents the growth of gram-positive bacteria. This stuff is also used as a fabric dye. Brilliant. Just brilliant.