The Pills
“Bennies (“cartwheels” or “whites”) are basic to the outlaw diet – like weed, beer, and wine. But when they talk about “getting wasted,” the action moves onto another level. The next step up the scale is Seconal (“reds” or “red devils”), a barbiturate normally used as a sedative, or tranquilizer. They also take Amytal (“blue heaven”), Nembutal (“yellow jackets”), and Tuinal. But they prefer the reds – which they take along with beer and bennies “to keep from getting sleepy,” Thompson described.