Question: What is the drug the characters use in the film? They inject it like heroin, but they snort it like cocaine. There's also the dialating eyelids, which occur when coke is snorted - so what is the drug in the film? And please don't base the answer on the IMDB.
Question: [Spoilers] What exactly happens to Sarah Goldfarb at the end? Some people say she's in a catatonic state, but she seems to be functioning too well for that. Can someone please explain the situation she's in after the Electric Shock Therapy?
Answer: Sarah Goldfarb is not catatonic, but she appears lethargic and withdrawn after the ECT, and she has lost the vigour and excitement she had while taking the diet pills. The way she walks around suggests she has been given typical antipsychotics (eg thorazine, stelazine) to subdue her.
Answer: Both heroin and cocaine are used in the film. Cocaine is used mostly by Marion, and also injected at least once but heroin can also be snorted. The route of administration stereotype does not hold to all drug users (except for alcohol, which can pretty much only be taken by mouth) The fact the prison guard says "He won't be putting any more DOPE in that arm" - dope is slang for heroin in New York, not coke - and the severe withdrawals as soon as the drug is unavailable suggests heroin is used by all three major characters. The pills used by Sara are preludin, dexedrine and diazepam (according to the novel which the film is based on) but I do not know what the "Blue" pill (the one she takes in the afternoon) is.