[Erowid Note: Our understanding of the literature is that there is no such thing as safe recreational use of volatile solvents, aerosols and other street inhalants : their psychoactive effects are inseparable from nerve and organ damage.
Chloroform
Limited data
Limited data
Sparse data. Doses and effects may be unreliable or untested.
- 2 corroborating sources
- no dose data
- toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)
- classified Tentative
Limited data
Sparse data. Doses and effects may be unreliable or untested.
- 2 corroborating sources
- no dose data
- toxicity data (PsychonautWiki, PubChem)
- classified Tentative
Summary
A naturally occurring organic compound once used as an anaesthetic. Has practically disappeared in this usage due to numerous harmful effects including danger of sudden death through cardiac arrhythmia. Has been implicated in numerous murders.
Dose Information
Tolerance
Build-up
develops over 1–4 weeks of regular use
Reset
Falls after you stop, at a rate that varies from person to person. If you've been using regularly, cut down gradually with medical help rather than stopping suddenly.
No tolerance chart. Our decay curves for these drugs were estimates, and a curve can make tolerance look longer-lasting than it is, which is the dangerous direction.
How fast tolerance to these drugs fades after a break has not been measured well enough to draw, so don't count on a dose you used to take still being safe: after time off, start with a much smaller amount and don't use alone. Mixing sedatives with each other, with alcohol or with opioids sharply raises the risk of a fatal overdose. If you've been using regularly, don't stop suddenly: withdrawal from benzodiazepines, alcohol or GHB/GBL can cause seizures or delirium, so get medical help to cut down gradually.
Sources: FRANK: benzodiazepines · Alcohol and Drug Foundation: GHB · FDA 2020: benzodiazepine boxed warning · FDA 2019: gabapentinoids and breathing · NHS: alcohol use disorder
Effects
Aggregated from 10 single-substance Erowid experience reports; 1 Erowid reports where another drug was taken too are left out
Each bar shows the share of analyzed reports whose text mentions that effect — a mention is not always a first-hand experience (fear of an effect or something witnessed can count). Mentions saying the effect did not happen are left out; that check reads keywords, so it can miss some. The shaded band on a bar, and the small range after its number, is the 95% interval: where the share could plausibly be with other reports of the same kind. Fewer reports, wider band. Tap or hover any number for details. The second value is the Bluelight extractor's per-effect confidence; a dash means the row is Erowid-derived, which has no confidence measurement.
Too few reports for bars: these effects come from 10 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?
Effect glossary — · full glossary
Positive Effects 1
3 of 10
–
Adverse Effects 1
5 of 10
–
Community Trip Reports
Anecdotal first-person accounts from Reddit, Erowid, Bluelight, and Dose.wiki. Click a source to expand. Reports are harm-reduction context, not medical guidance. Tags summarise each author's own verdict — how reports are classified.
Erowid 8 reports 3 neutral 5 cautionary visit
I recently took a little bit of chloroform from the lab where I work to try it out. At night, I put a few milliliters on a tissue and put the tissue into a plastic bag, which I then breathed out of (I didn't want to put the chloroform soaked tissue directly against my skin in case I had an allergic reaction to it).
It had been about 3.5 months since I had used drugs of any kind, and since I had ready access to it, I figured I'd try some chloroform. Having watched movies and TV shows in which people are rendered unconscious instantly with a chloroform soaked rag, I was intrigued and figured I'd try some.
[Erowid Note: Our understanding of the literature is that there is no such thing as safe recreational use of volatile solvents, aerosols and other street inhalants : their psychoactive effects are inseparable from nerve and organ damage.
[Erowid Note: Our understanding of the literature is that there is no such thing as safe recreational use of volatile solvents, aerosols and other street inhalants : their psychoactive effects are inseparable from nerve and organ damage.
[Erowid Note: Our understanding of the literature is that there is no such thing as safe recreational use of volatile solvents, aerosols and other street inhalants : their psychoactive effects are inseparable from nerve and organ damage.
It has been five days since my last chlorofom binge. This is by far the best solvent that I have had the pleasure of huffing! :) I obtained some CHCL3 sometime ago, analytical grade.
[Erowid Note: Driving while intoxicated, tripping, or extremely sleep deprived is dangerous and irresponsible because it endangers other people. Don't do it! ] I had two experiences with chloroform which I wish to report. The first one was several months ago.
Chloroform's nerd page
Pharmacology, chemical data, effect profiles, and more
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Helpful Links
Add to PsychonautWiki Journal
The PsychonautWiki Journal logging app doesn't include every substance. To track Chloroform there, start adding an ingestion, search for the name, and choose to add it as a custom substance. Paste these values:
Name
Chloroform
Unit
mg
Description
Chloroform Source: SubstanceSearch (substancesearch.com) Oral duration: after-effects 1-6h Note: ranges are harm-reduction guidance, not a prescription. Start low, go slow, and test your substances.
The app keeps custom substances simple, so the full dose ranges live in the description text above. Ranges are harm-reduction guidance, not a prescription.
Report an issue or suggest an edit
Spotted incorrect or dangerous information, have a correction, a new study, or a useful addition for Chloroform? Let us know. Reports are reviewed by moderators — this is not posted publicly.