I find it funny how some people think it is such a big deal to stay up all night and think it is hard.
After one does it a few times you learn it really is not all it is cracked up to be. Most of the time when people pull their first all nighter they get to go to bed in the morning so they are only up for 25-27 hours max. The true all nighters are the one where you are up all night then have to about your next day. Those are the true challeage.
Like I said you hit a wall at about 21-23 hours. First wall is not to bad I hit mine at about 22 hours of being up. Then their is that 2nd wall that I tend to hit at about 26 hours. Once I get past that 2nd wall it is not hard to go to 40+ hours with out sleep. Mind you I can not think as fast and slight dazed but still up. Random things freak you out. I also do not recommend hitting those 30+ hours because you will of past that 2nd wall and it is just harder to fall asleep.
Yeah, back when I was that age, we'd use speed. I don't recommend it though. Nasty stuff, really.
The legal equivalent would be chocolate covered espresso beans. Won't keep you up quite as long, but that's generally a good thing when you're only trying to make it through one night.
My personal 'best' in school was right around 60 hours with no sleep. Two full days and nights in lab, and one day of critiques, then went out for a couple beers and slept for almost 20 hours. Of course, I was using a tablesaw and a MIG welder around hour 36-40 -- something else I definitely don't recommend.
One of my instructors told me they used to stay up for a night or two before crits, then go donate blood and then hit the bar for the one beer that it took them to get wasted before heading off to bed. Those guys were ***** hard core.