Jimson Weed

Jimson weed is Datura Stramonium, a member of the nightshade family. The active chemicals in Jimson include atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscamine. The buzz from this family of psychotropic plants is more like a dilerium with very strong hallucinations than anything else. Jimson is very poisonous, the buzz couldn't really be described as recreational, and I wouldn't try it, myself. If you decide to experiment with it, be *extremely* careful, because just a little too much could kill you. I have tried smoking a small amount of Datura Inoxia, and the buzz is interesting, but not overly pleasant. It has been reported that Datura Inoxia has been added to marijuana for extra effects, but I don't have any firsthand knowledge of this combination, since I personally wouldn't even *think* of doing any *illegal* drugs. ;-) It's possible that Datura Stramonium could be used in the same way, but I haven't heard or read of anyone trying this.

Anticholinergenic Deleriants.

These drugs are not usually regarded as psychedelic , although they have a great deal in common historically, culturally, and pharmacologically with other drugs taken for their mind-altering powers. They are called anticholinergic because they block the action f acetylcholine , a nerve transmitter substance that controlls the contraction of skeletal muscles and also plays an important role in the chemistry of the brain. They are called deleriants because their effects at high doses include incoherent speach, disorientation, delusions, an halucinations , often followed by depression and amnesia for the period of intoxication. The classical anticholinergic delirients are the belladonna alkaloids:

These tropane derivatives, the most powerfull and important of which is scopolamine, are found in differing concentrations in various plants of the Nightshade Family or Solanaceae, among them deadly nightshade (Atropa belladona), mandrake (Mandragora officinarum), black henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), jimsonweed (Datura stramonium, and over twenty other species of henbane and datura. Of all psychoactive drugs , only alcohol has been in use for so long over such a large part of the world. For thousands of years on all inhabited continents the belladonna alkaloids have been a tool of shamans and sorcerers, who take advantage of the sensations they evok to leave their bodies, soar through the air, or change into an animal in their imagination. They also produce toxic organic symptoms like headache, dry throat, loss of motor control, blurred vision , and greatly increased heart rate and and body temperature; death from paralysis and respiratory may occur.

The belladonna alkaloids are so terrifying and incapacitating - the physical effects often so unpleasant, and the loss of contact with ordinary reality so complete - that they are used only with great caution and rarely for pleasure. For the same reasons, ironically, they are not regarded as a drug abuse problem and can be bought in small doses on perscription or in over-the-counter sedatives and pills for asthma, colds, and motion sickness.

. _Brugmansia_ spp. are related to _Datura_, true...but the "tree Daturas" are not quite the same as far as chemical makeup as what we all know as Datura. Brugmansias, as a whole group, are _significantly_ more potent (having a higher and somewhat different alkaloid makeup) than Daturas of any species. Even Schultes and Hoffman, in _Plants_of_the_Gods_, treat these as two very different plants, with their own separate sections in the book. Incidentially, Schultes and Hoffman also note that neither _Brugmansia_arborea_ nor _Datura_arborea_ is the correct classification of this plant. Its proper taxonomic identification is _Brugmansia_aurea_, which is the most widespread of the Brugmansias in the Andes, where they are native. Yes, I'd say this would be some hysterical overstatements if this were an article on Datura, also. But this is Brugmansia we're dealing with here...a very different plant. There's also been deaths from it in the USA in the tropical regions (Florida, and such) because of people treating it lightly like they might _Datura_stramonium_. It's not a plant for casual play, in my experience and opinion.

I can confirm the validity of the description above from my own experience. This was from a TEA made out of the leaves of Datura Stramonium. If you want hallucinations this is your drug. However "you" are not there to experience them. This stuff takes over completely and irreversibly for at least 24 hours. Stupidly, I went out while the effects had not yet fully started. After having been thrown out of a bar, where I was desperately searching for my briefcase that was suposed to be there someplace (but which i hadn't even with me ) I found myself in a city that i did not recognize. I did not remember where I came from , where to go , what do do, who I was, let alone what I was doing there at this time of night, nor did I have any clue how to get "home" as far as there was still a conception of what home might be. There was complete retrograde amnesia: no acces to any knowledge at all. In the mean time I had encounters with people I knew , that were able to do a disapearing act. Just by standing behind a light pole they could make themselves invisible. (This must be the "witches sabbath" hallucination , which seems recurrent in this type of delirium: the very very real hallucination of speaking with people). Also I was constantly hallucinating that I was smoking a cigarette, which whould suddenly disappear leaving me searching te street , thinking that i dropped it. Witches are actually shrubs growing in front yards (they live underground, the branches are the hairs) Lots and lots of little bugs hand each other berries along branches. I must have walked the same street 50 times back and forth Wanting to get somewhere , forgetting were i was going to or were i was in the first place. A small statue of a child alongside the road started laughing and laughing harder and harder every time i passed, it was a ridiculous sight to see this idiot come by for the 40th time, even for a statue. And so on . For 24 hours. It was a really interesting experience, not a nice one, I could not see straight for a week (due to anticholinergic parasympatholytic effect of atropine/scopolamine.)

Only for those who want to be able to say that they tried EVERYTHING.