Just as an update, I took ~350mg of chloral hydrate 4 days ago as I was having a lot of trouble getting to sleep. I'd had a few drinks prior and 1mg of clonazepam however after 30 mins of lying in bed I just couldn't sleep. I tried 25mg of promethazine and was still wide awake 40 minutes later.
After taking roughly 350mg (I weighed it out to be about 370mg but didn't consume all of it) I lay down and felt an almost immediate rush from the chloral. I fell asleep within 10 minutes but those 5-10 minutes felt quite good.
I was pretty drowsy and groggy the day after but it does feel like it has some recreational potential, it's just not the same as benzos/barbs. However it's (by far) a better sedative/hypnotic than the sedative antihistamines.
I feel it's place in pharmacy is well earned. It's definitely not a first line drug and I probably wouldn't say it's a recreational drug (at least on it's own or in low doses) but it definitely has a use and I guess that's why it still hasn't been totally superceded by newer drugs like benzos.
Given the fact that tolerance (supposedly) builds up after more than one day of concurrent use and dependence mimics alcohol withdrawal (and can happen in a week or just more) I definitely wouldn't use it more than two times a week with a 4-5 day break in between but if I just can't get to sleep it's something I would use. It does seem to have a place as a hypnotic however, though it's probably best used when you don't have to do anything the day after which is probably why it's used in surgery, pediatric medicine and in rehab; people in those situations don't need to wake up early and go to work.
