2M2B Stats & Data

2-Methyl-2-butanol, historically known as amylene hydrate, was used as an anesthetic from approximately the 1880s through the 1950s. However, its medical use was limited due to the availability of more effective anesthetic agents. During the 1930s, the compound found its primary application as a solvent for tribromoethanol (TBE), a short-acting anesthetic. These TBE-TAA solutions were marketed under the brand name Avertin by Winthrop Laboratories, formulated at a volume ratio of 0.5:1. As with chloroform, tribromoethanol demonstrated significant hepatotoxicity, leading to the decline of these formulations for human use during the 1940s. The solutions continued to see use as short-acting anesthetics for laboratory rodents. As a fusel alcohol, 2M2B occurs naturally as a byproduct of grain fermentation and is consequently present in trace amounts in many alcoholic beverages. The compound has also been detected in various food substances, including fried bacon, cassava, rooibos tea, and fruits such as apple and pineapple. Notably, it is present in rabbit milk and appears to function as a pheromone involved in suckling behavior in newborn rabbits. More recently, 2M2B has emerged as a recreational substance, sought for its depressant effects which are comparable to but distinct from those of ethanol.

Forked from Subjective Effect Documentation by Josie Kins, September 2015. Via dose.wiki (CC0).

The toxicity and long-term health effects of recreational 2M2B use do not seem to have been studied in any scientific context and the exact toxic dosage is unknown although the lowest recorded fatal dose in a human is 30mL. However, 2M2B is expected to be less toxic than ethanol as it cannot be metabolized into aldehydes in the same way. Anecdotal evidence from people who have tried 2M2B within the community suggest that there do not seem to be any negative health effects attributed to simply trying this drug at low to moderate doses by itself and using it sparingly (but nothing can be completely guaranteed). It is strongly recommended that one use harm reduction practices when using this substance.

Effects aggregated from 3 experience reports (3 single-substance Erowid)

Each bar is the share of reports mentioning the effect; its whisker, and the band on the rows below, is the 95% interval: where the share could plausibly be with other reports of the same kind.

Too few reports for bars: these effects come from 3 single-substance Erowid reports, and a bar is drawn only from 20 reports or more. With fewer, a percentage cannot tell a common effect from a rare one. Counts are shown instead. Why 20?

Also reported in combinations. In the 2 2M2B reports where another drug was taken too, 1 mentions hospital, emergency services or an overdose, 0 a seizure and 0 psychosis (too few reports for percentages). In the 3 single-substance reports: 0, 0 and 0. These are not in the figures above: they cannot be put down to 2M2B alone, and a mention is not always something that happened to the writer.

Most common forms and preparations, as a share of the 4 reports that give one

Too few reports for bars: these forms come from 4 reports, and a bar is drawn only from 20 reports or more. With fewer, a percentage cannot tell a common effect from a rare one. Counts are shown instead. Why 20?

• Capsule 2 of 4
• Liquid 2 of 4