Drug Injection - Modifications

Modifications

Particularly for intravenous administration, self-injection in the arm can be awkward, and some people modify a syringe for single-handed operation by removing the plunger and affixing a bulb such as from a large dropper or baby pacifier to the end of the barrel to in effect make it a large dropper with a needle affixed. This is therefore a variant of the common method of injection with a dropper with the hypodermic needle affixed, using a "collar" made of paper or other material to create a seal between the needle and dropper. Removing part of the plunger assembly by cutting off most of the shaft and thumb rest and affixing the bulb to the end of the barrel, thereby allowing the bulb to operate the plunger by suction, also does work in many cases.

An alternative to syringes in the 1970s was to use a glass medicine dropper, supposedly easier to manipulate with one hand. A large hairpin was used to make a hole in the skin and the dropper containing the drug (usually heroin) was inserted and the bulb squeezed, releasing it into the tissues. This method was also reported, by William S Burroughs and other sources, for intravenous administration at least as far back as 1930.