Datura and Other "Witches' Weeds"

Datura

Today's post is going to be on a plant that has a lot of rumors going around about it but I knew very little about. I first heard about datura in the book Aya Awakenings by Rak Razam but it went by the native name, or possibly spanish name toé. One of the shamans uses it as an admixture that causes a rushing sensation in his brew. Another ayahuasca tourist talks about smoking the leaves like tobacco or weed.

Then I heard the plant mentioned in the psychedelic thriller Into the Void. The main character's junky friend says something like "Datura is so fucked up you don't even realize you're tripping. You talk to people...vividly remember people and your conversations with them, only weeks later to realize that you were talking to yourself" 

Finally I heard it come up in this reddit post about someones brother who ingested Datura seeds and is now threatening to kill himself if a close family friend didn't marry him. Here's the link. Every one in the comments seemed to agree that Datura was bad juju. I decided to get to the bottom of it myself. I started my journey, like most of these plant studies, at wikipedia.

Deadly Nightshade

It turns out this plant has a ton of names associated with it. Jimson Weed, Thorn Apple, Angel Trumpet, Moonflower, Apple-peru, Kanak, Umatt, and Toloache. It's one of four plants known as "Witches' Weeds" that include the familiar sounding Deadly Nightshade, Hensbane, and Mandrake. I lumped all 4 together into this post because they all contain the same active compound, tropane alkaloids.

The two most common species of Datura are the D. Inoxia and the D. Stramonium. Every part of this plant is toxic in some way shape or form.

The plant has been used in cultures all over the world and its hard to pinpoint exactly who started using it first. One of the most widely noted cases of Datura use is after a group of settlers in Jamestown, VA cooked and ate a Datura plant and suffered temporary insanity. 

Its been used as a poison by the Europeans of the middle ages.

Mandrake Root

Almost no other plant has such a history of crime. In the Middle Ages, especially in Italy, professional poisoners would concoct a brew of Datura that would be almost painlessly fatal. That Quality of deadening the senses before death, or during the perpetration of a crime, made it of the greatest value to criminals.

It was used by Indian and White slavers to knock their victims unconscious and enslave, transport, or rape them. It has been combined with morphine to ease the pain of child birth and hiking accidents. The FBI experimented with it in the 60s and 70s for use in interrogation.

It has also been used in shamanic tradition for 1000s of years, and has been utilized for its psychotropic visions in shaman rituals. More recently it has been experimented with as a recreational drug.

So why does Datura work? I mentioned earlier that Datura, along with Mandrake, Hensbane, and Deadly Nightshade all contain tropane alkaloids. These include atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscymine. 

Hensbane

TROPANE ALKALOIDS- Atropine (dl-hyosciamine) a plant alkaloid, is the prototype drug of the group, and when used systematically in adequate doses, it provides all of the affects described above for the group as a whole. In most cases, it produces and initial transitory central vagal stimulant action before the blocking effect is manifested.

The CNS is stimulated by atropine; restlessness, mental excitement, mania, delirium, and hallucinations occurr with large doses. Large doses also cause hyperpyrexia because of a combination of central and peripheral effects (decreased sweating).

Atropine is well absorbed when given orally, and is rapidly eliminated from the body. About equal amounts of unchanged atropine and inactive metabolites are excreted in the urine; excretion is nearly complete in 24 h. Usually, 3 or 4 doses/day are needed to sustain pharmacologic effects, but cycloplegia and mydriasis may persist for days after a single dose, especially if given topically. The usual dose of atropine sulfate is 0.4 to 3 mg/day orally or parentally (s.c., IM, or IV). Above 3 mg, mental status and behavior usually change. The dose and maximum tolerated daily dose is usually given orally in 3 or 4 divided doses. Its use in the treatment of sinus bradycardia and incomplete atrioventricular block is described under CARDIAC ARRYTHMIAS in Ch. 25. In opthamology, it is used topically as a mydriatic and cycloplegic drug (for cycloplegia, 1 drop t.i.d. for 3 days prior to examination and 1 drop on day of examination; for iritis, solution or ointment b.i.d. or t.i.d.). Atropine can also be given orally as tincture of belladonna (0.03% solution, 0.3 to 3ml daily) or belladonna extract (15 to 60 mg daily).

Poisoning with atropine is best treated with physostigmine salicylate (see above), which antagonizes atropine effects both in the CNS and the priphery.

Scopolamine (hyoscine) differs from atropine chiefly in being a CNS depressant instead of a stimulant. It is used mainly in obstetrics (where its sedative and amnesic properties are useful), as an antiemetic, and to prevent motion sickness. The usual dose is 0.3 to 3 mg. Many hypnotics sold without a prescription contain scopolamine in combinations with a mildly sedative antihistamine; the hypnotic efficacy of these preparations is minimal.

Note: hysocyamine, a chemical in Datura species, does not seem to be in the merck manual. Also, doses indicated are not given in mg/kg ratios. Doses almost certainly may be different for someone who weighs 120 kg than for someone who weighs 60 kg.

Further research on the chemicals by themselves yielded this vice documentary that shows how Colombian criminals use the drug to rob people blind, especially tourists and travellers. The drug makes people so compliant that one man actually assisted his robbers in cleaning out his whole apartment. One prostitute in the documentary says how she uses the drug to rob rich looking men after sex. And it goes into how some women are dosed with the drug over a period of days and gang raped repeatedly. Supposedly the person administered the Datura loses all memory of what happened to them, making the criminals hard to catch.

I decided to turn to Erowid for some info on people actually using this stuff for fun. It sounds pretty dangerous and sketchy to me just from what I've read, but there are people who swear by the stuff.

Eating the seeds

So we took about two pods worth of seeds and pulverized them in a mortar and pestle until we ended up with a bowl of the stuff, so we each decided to take a teaspoon full. We downed the quite nasty tasting semi-powder with a half galss of water, five minutes later we decided to take another teaspoon each fearing it wouldn't be enough. About 25 minutes later I started to feel strange, not like I was building to a peak, but a genuinely strange and inexplicable feeling. 

I remember laying down and feeling kind of tired and then going up to go outside. I needed to get to the plants I wanted to look at them very badly. My friend stopped me from leaving I think, because I ended up sitting down on the floor. 

I remember thinking about a sandwich I had eaten the day before that I left in my friend's fridge, but then I remembered I had not eaten a sandswich at all and if I had eaten it it sure as hell wouldn't be in my friends fridge. 
I remember things were strange but didn't feel strange. I looked up and the sky was as blue as could be, but then dark clouds filled the sky and lightning started flashing in the sky, a woman's face appeared to me and I knew it was Her. The plants were an extension of her life force. She was calling for me. I tried to run, but then I was back in my friends apartment, sitting on the floor. 

I tried to get up I needed to see the plants, I needed to do something or else she would have my soul. I remember walking towards the door but not making it there I would always forget what I was doing, and then when I got there there was no door at all. 

I felt trapped I needed to get out, I looked over and my friend was lying down on the couch with his eyes closed, I remember wondering if he was dead and then I started to see his hair and fingernails grow really long. He appeared very old to me, and then I saw what was happening. She was taking him. I saw his eyes flash open just then and it was normal again. 

I remember asking myself where my cigarettes were. Just then there was a knock at the door, it was my girlfiend wondering where i was, she had brought three friends with her, all people I had went to school with in earlier years and had moved away, this did not seem odd to me at the time. I invited them in and we started talking about something. I can't remember exactly what, I reached in my pocked for a lighter light a cig my girl had given me, but when I looked up they were gone. I mean VANISHED. The odd thing was I still had the cigarette. 

I shrugged this off and tried to light the cigarette, but every time i tried the lighter wasn't working right or I'd forget what i was doing. 

I reached over to pet my dog, which is strange considering my dog died when I was twelve. 

I don't remember much after this except lying down on the floor and wondering if I would wake up with my soul still mine. I woke up still feeling weird, but it was manageble. Things were still where I put them ten minutes later, but my eyes were fucked up for about a week after. I conversed with my friend who had told me hat he had never been asleep at all. Pretty weird. All in all, an amazing substance, but not for beginners (or even some of the more experienced) Only for those who want to be able to say they've seen everything. 

Drinking a tea from the Leaves and Flowers

I'm there with my sister, 3 year old nephew and girlfriend of many years. We decide that I'll be the first to do this, and perhaps that they will try some the next night, depending on how it goes for me. I make sun tea out of the flowers, stems and leaves by stuffing a bunch of them into a waterbottle, and sitting it on top of the van until the sun goes down. I mix some up with a chai tea, and do my best to get it down. A pretty foul brew, and of course I make that choice I always recognize as foolish later - after my initial dose, and waiting for a short while, I feel nothing and decide to pour myself another dose. Almost immediately, the first dose kicks in. Considering the anti-emetic effects, I am lucky to vomit almost right away before it becomes impossible, kicking out some of that second dose before it piles on top of the first one. 

There's a process of being taken to the porta-potties and back to camp by my g/f. At this point, I'm having difficulty tracking the proper direction to and from these destinations, and an intense, horrid thirst. Absolutely the most parched I've ever felt in my life, and I don't have my water bottle with me during the trek. It's not pleasant in the least, and I'm squeezing my g/fs hand very hard, being mean and cranky and difficult to sit for, constantly pulling her off course and complaining loudly about how frustratingly thirsty I am as we make this little journey. Fortunately, this was probably the worst part of the whole experience, and things began to get better as soon as I managed to get back to camp and ingest some fluids. 

Nonetheless, things are coming on strong, with a lot of body buzz. After a small bit of exploring in camp, including apparently unsuccessful attempts to touch the pink flamingo attached to the van antenna, I decide that before I'm ready to deal with the world in this new state, I'm going to need to lie down in the van on the mattress and relax under the covers, and get used to my body. As I say to my companions, 'I feel like my feet are made out of something other than feet'. I spend some time in the dark, expecting the kalidescope fractals of other hallucinogens, but there's actually very little of this. 

I spend a bit of time reading (I think it was Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, but it may have been Inifinite Jest - I really can't remember at this point, except that it was one of my two large blue books, so it had to be one of them) and discover the visual distortion that will follow me through the evening. To wit, everything appears to be about six inches closer to me than it actually is (explaining my failure to make contact with the flamingo earlier that so amused my companions). I discover this because I'm unable to read my book with my glasses on, but if I take them off and hold the book at a normal distance, I'm able to read the book just as I would if I were holding it too close to my face with them off. 

Now, after a bit of accustoming myself to my new world, I get up out of bed and decide that it's time to play. My sister and g/f are not in camp when I climb out of the van and, reflecting on how unpleasant the trip to the bathroom with the g/f had been, decided to throw caution to the wind and left camp without a babysitter. When I eventually returned, I discovered that this had, of course, totally throw them for a loop, and that my g/f had a pretty good panic and went hunting for me, unsuccessfully. 

Once I set out on foot, I found that, while still present, the sensation of increased gravity began to lift away and my spirits rose. Other than the issue of depth perception, which made it seem to the people around me that I was trying to pet the things I was really trying to reach for, I didn't have the noticeable fluid visual hallucinations associate with many other hallucinogens. But, with the fact that I was at Burning Man of all places, and my lack of a babysitter to corroborate my story with, I frankly have no idea what I saw and heard that was real and what was purely a construct of my mind, making it hard to piece together a narrative of my experiences. 

I definitely experienced some disorientation, occasionally wandering into other peoples camps inappropriately. I was also subject to the phantom cigarettes and other items that so many other users report. In my case, I also had a phantom water bottle. I suspect that this phenomenon, while most commonly reported with the cigarettes, is actually something that is a user subjective occurence based on whatever repetetive actions they commonly perform. This would explain the water bottle for me (as keeping hydrated is the most common repetetive action I have going on out there on the Playa), and what I've heard for other people, like gamers who will fall into playing a game with a phantom controller. 

I had an extensive conversation with one fellow sitting under the scavenger hunt board, who I assumed was real, and a few other people encounters, but I do not recall imagining meetings with people I know, which seems to be something most people do run into. Instead, the most unusual effect is that I had what I can only call hallucinatory memories. I would find myself acting on a memory of something said or done, only to realize that not only had I not actually had the conversation or taken the action that triggered what I was doing, but that I hadn't even hallucinated the conversation or action, but that I was remembering something I had not experienced at all. Disconcerting, to say the least! 

One such scenario happened as I was trying to find my way back to our camp, and realized that I was bearing in the wrong direction, because I remembered distinctly having a discussion with someone about how a whole row of sites had been moved one row further out. Suddenly I realized that there was no way that would have happened, and that the conversation hadn't actually happened, nor had I even experienced a hallucinatory conversation, and that I was remembering something completely false. 

I also spent quite some time searching for my bicycle, which I had distinct memories of leaving... somewhere. In a very dreamlike state, I would wander looking for it, lose track of my self, start doing something else and then remember that I needed to find my bike. Eventually I gave it up for lost, and I did make it back to camp and reassured everyone that I was still alive and OK. I had never had my bike with me, it was in camp the whole time. 


Smoking Datura leaves

The last time that I took datura is also worth comment as it demonstrates how the strength of the plant varies. It was the following summer and I hadn’t smoked it for 8 months or so. I had grown a few new plants from the seed that I had and felt a strong desire to try smoking the flowers again. My girlfriend was away so I would get no grief. I rolled a joint with only part of a flower which should have been a very small ‘stoned’ dose. I cruelly tricked my mate into smoking it with me telling him it was MJ and me and him took only a few tokes each. For some reason the joint was way strong. Both of us tripped off it. I was totally unprepared and received proper acid style distortions and patterns, traces etc… We went to the cinema and I couldn’t concentrate of the film I was getting big perceptual distortions the whole time. The trip was dark, I felt very uneasy and paranoid at some points and had a dull stimulation in my mind that wouldn’t calm. I tried smoking MJ later but it only made me more para. I lay in bed all night unable to sleep with a racing pulse that was a quite unpleasant experience. It was surprising as the effect from this was very different to the other times that I have used it was much more powerful and physiological, trippy in the same way but not much fun. Needless to say I have not used datura since. 

My conclusion? Don't do Datura or other plants that use tropane alkaloids to get you high. It's pretty dangerous and the trips all seem pretty... dark. It doesn't seem like it is worth the risk of dying to uncomfortably lose your mind for a few hours when better, safer alternatives exist. There will be people who read this and decide to do it anyways. Thats just the way it goes. Datura is not a controlled or regulated substance in the US.