Conspiracy-minded supporters of President Donald Trump have a new conspiracy theory about Hollywood and Democratic politicians harvesting children for a fake drug called adrenochrome.
As The Daily Beast reports, adrenochrome is actually "an easy-to-come-by chemical compound, usually found as a light pink solution, that forms by the oxidation of adrenaline, the stress hormone."
However, believers in the QAnon conspiracy theory falsely think that the compound is actually a highly charged psychedelic that can only be extracted from children who are in heightened states of fear.
"For conspiracy theorists, adrenochrome represents a mystical psychedelic favored by the global elites for drug-crazed satanic rites, derived from torturing children to harvest their oxidized hormonal fear," the report explains.
However, the idea that adrenochrome is a high-powered drug is a myth that grew in the 1950s and 1960s, and was famously popularized by author Hunter S. Thompson in his classic book, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."
"The compound’s supposedly psychedelic properties have been debunked, in part by Thompson himself, who reportedly told Terry Gilliam, director of the black comedy’s adaptation, that he had invented its effects," the report notes. "Eduardo Hidalgo Downing, a Spanish writer behind the meandering drug memoir Adrenochrome and Other Mythical Drugs, described it as 'an absolute bullsh*t,' [sic], adding that 'it is of no value in psychoactive terms... it is infinitely more useful to drink a cup of coffee.'"
Nonetheless, the belief that the phony drug can only be harvested from frightened children fits in perfectly with QAnon's belief that the entire Democratic Party is a Satanic global pedophile ring that is slowly being unraveled by President Donald Trump.