Ik kan de tekst posten die ik kort nadien schreeft (29 aug 1993)
Hij is wel in het engels.
What is it ?
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Datura is a genus of plants in the family of Solanaceae. Most if not all
of the species in the genus Datura are extremely poisonous. The tropical
members of this genus are woody plant, those of the temperate climates are
herbaceous. The herbaceous species contain more alkaloid.
Why write about them then ?
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Well i've come over a lot of text files that refer to the hallucinogenic
potency of this plant ('Legal highs'; 'Food of the Gods'). After meeting
the 4th person who had taken this drug but didn't want to talk about it's
effects, i set up a little experiment of my own.
These plants are lethal, don't you forget it. Treat them with respect, of
the 4 persons i have spoken to 2 ended up in hospital. 3 out of 4 didn't
take it more than ones, i'm not sure about the fourth one.
One of the persons that ended up in hospital was first wrongly diagnosed
as being a cocaine OD. The diagnosis was rectified when parts of the plant
were found in his room.
In the middle ages Datura was also a popular manner of getting rid of your
political opponents (various sources). It is cited as being a component in
potions such as witches ointment (a paste the inquisition used too make
their poor victims believe they actually had been on a witches sabbath) as
well as being a component in the Haitians zombie potion. Datura &
scopolamine is/was used as a truth drug.
The literature on the intoxicated state of Datura isn't very clear. It's
generally regarded as very potent (the medical use of atropine is
0.25 mg). One of the descriptions from the beginning of this century
describes a person that is hallucinating and truly believes he is a fish,
gasping for air, like a fish on the dry.
In the medical literature of the '60 i found a description of 3 persons
that had been brought to an emergency ward after ingestion of Datura
husks (with seeds) together with alcohol. The descriptions doesn't go into
detail, but it is clear that these persons didn't have any clear
connection to the real world. Their state was described as being
worrying and they were released after 3 days (one day of observation).
T. McKenna describes a walk he took on a London market together with a
person under the influence. In this the hallucinating person believes he
is still at his apartment and is very confused about how, why and what T.
was doing in his apartment.
The active components are alkaloids scopolamine, atropine and others. I do know
Datura stramonium is grown commercially for this alkaloid production
(scopolamine).
The experiment :
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Species : Datura metel (less potent than D. stramonium)
Part of plant : seed husk (3) without seeds.
Note : this is a high dose if i would have use D. stramonium with seeds i
can safely say that i wouldn't be typing this text. The seeds contain more
alkaloids.
Mode of ingestion : 7 dried husks were placed in a bowl. Boiling water was
pored over them. This was left to stand for 2 hours until the water became
opaque and greenish in color. Less than half of this was actually drunk.
The taste was very bitter and generally unpleasant.
One of the symptoms of intoxications is dryness of the mouth. Swallowing
becomes painful. Soon this would become one of my lesser concerns.
Hallucinations :
On the more clear moment i had hallucinations similar but much stronger
than with LSD. On less clear moments i thought i was engaged in everyday
tasks. I remember a moment in which i though i was typing on a keyboard,
in fact at that moment i was lying on the ground. I did notice something
was wrong, thinking i was not hitting the keys the right way i became more
vigorous in my attempts. I could clearly see the keyboard, but i couldn't
though it. This continued for some time until i realized it was a
hallucination. As i said before all 'deep' hallucinations involved
everyday events and places, sometimes with small alterations. A tree that
had some shoots removed. Some objects were not where i expected them to
be, and i was sometime surprised about that, these small alterations were
the only indications that it was not a real experience.
Afterwards i realized that if those hallucinations wouldn't have been of
this domestic nature, but more scaring, i wouldn't have had any control
over them. I was completely disconnected from reality.
Other effects of this potion :
Dry mouth, painful
very severe dizziness
Feeling sick
perfuse sweating
Difficulty in controlling muscles, it's very hard to move, it's very hard
to get a muscle to contract. It's hard to control your movements, ones a
motions is started it is hard to stop that motion. Walking while on Datura
is absolutely the most difficult task i have ever had to perform.
Insomnia.
General feeling of discomfort
Retrograde amnesia lasting hours or even days (literature).
Fast heartbeat (didn't notice nor measure this, got this information from one of the persons that ended up in hospital)
These effects lasted in this case for about 10 hours.
After effects :
After the disappearance of the hallucinations and movement problems the
other effects continued for about another 15 hours. Initially with
difficulties in seeing (colors shifted, hard to focus). Severe head ache
and thirst.
About one day later (30-48 h) all discomfortable effects had disappeared,
leaving only a slight feeling of tiredness.
I have always had a trouble with blocked sinuses, they stayed clear for 4
days. But i wouldn't recommend this treatment for that purpose.
Conclusions :
This drug is to radical to induce hallucinations of leisure purposes. The
induced state doesn't feel pleasant had has several severe side effects.
The use of this plant also introduces death as one as the 'side effects'
(i would call that very severe). Don't try to duplicate this experience
unless you accept you could die trying.
