The quaalude comeback: a once ‘extinct’ drug from the 70s makes a resurgence

Quaaludes featured prominently in Martin Scorcese’s film The Wolf of Wall Street. Photograph: Photo 12/Alamy

Quaaludes all but vanished after the US banned the euphoria-inducing sleeping pills in 1984. The sweeping measure was the one unequivocal success of the “war on drugs”, since “ludes” were produced entirely by the pharmaceutical industry – which complied with the order to cease doing so.

“We eliminated the problem,” said former Drug Enforcement Administration diversion control head Gene Haislip. “We beat them.”