We’ve all seen movies in which poisoning is used one way or another since it’s one of those things that is so insidious that a person can’t help but think that it’s both effective as well as simple enough to work. The reality of poisons however is that they’re not difficult to procure if one knows what to look for, but they’re also not as easy to handle safely and they’re definitely not something that needs to be played with. In the movies, it’s often seen that women poison more often than men, but in reality, there’s no distinction between men and women when it comes to poisons, as they can be effective when used by anyone. The thing about poisons though is that seeking to harm anyone with them is not only seen as a truly diabolical act, but it’s also something that can dangerous to the handler as well if they don’t know what they’re doing. Quite often the movies make this appear to be something that’s simple and doesn’t take a lot of thought, other than the method of delivery, and of course not getting caught in the act.
Here are a few things that movies get wrong about poisoning.
5. Fast-acting poisons are easy to get. Nope, and they can be dangerous for more than one reason.
A person usually has to go looking for the kind of poisons that can act that quickly, plus, unless a person knows their poisons, there are a lot of things that can be detected and then traced back to an individual. Plus, there are plenty of poisons that can be just as dangerous to someone when handling them as they are to someone that’s bound to ingest them. Handling a poison isn’t like adding Kool-Aid powder to your drink, it’s something that can do a lot of damage to anyone handling it as well. But the other part of this is that by purchasing the stuff, a person might be remembered, meaning that the person might as well hold up a sign saying “I did it”.
4. Most poisons act quickly. Not even close.
There are some that can have a quick and noticeable reaction when taken in great enough doses, but again, they’re likely to be traceable unless a poison is exotic enough to be absorbed into the bloodstream and somehow erased from any easy detection. But this is often a movie device that’s aim is to make things harder so that the narrative can be pushed that some ‘untraceable’ poison has been used, thus making it hard to determine the cause of death. But to be serious, in real life, there are already so many poisons that are known by their effects and how they take hold in the body that trying to stump a forensic scientist is pretty difficult.
3. A person can build up a tolerance to a certain type of poison. Theoretically yes, but it’s not something to take lightly.
This is possible with some substances, but it’s not advised since it’s something that has to be carefully measured and taken care of during the process of building immunity. Plus, there are some substances that this won’t be possible with and there’s a high probability that a person shouldn’t be trying this with more than one poison. The idea of poison immunity is nice and all, but it’s not realistic since the human body isn’t built to withstand an assault from within to this degree, and will begin to shut down after a while if enough damage is being done by one or more substances.
2. People can be immune to poisons. No, and don’t bother trying this, please.
There are actually some people out there that think that they’re immune to certain things in this world and don’t need to worry about them. While some folks have definitely built up a tolerance to some stuff that’s been considered a poison, which it is, since there are a great many poisons throughout the world, the truth is that their tolerance only goes so far. An immunity would mean that they could drink glasses of poison and not feel a single twinge from the concoction. But the reality is that no one simply develops an immunity apart from those in the movies, and even then it’s usually a god or other powerful being that develops such a thing.
1. Poison is a great way to get revenge. Not really, there are better ways.
Poisoning someone in the movies looks as though it would b so easy, but the truth is that the circumstances would have to be just right and the individual doing the poisoning would have to plan everything out and still have contingencies ready if things didn’t go their way. In the movies, it’s pretty easy, but in real life, it’s better to resolve your differences in another manner.
Poison is nothing to mess around with no matter where it comes from.
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