Teens Turn Legal Plant Into Dangerous Drug

Oh, now finally folks are paying attention! It seems as if the tea-drinking craze was actually spurred on by something. . . why, we can make hallucinagenic tea!

The drug, which is ostensibly legal, is made from a plant available at many nurseries. When distilled, toxins in the plant’s leaves can cause hallucinations that last for hours or days.

Last month, someone twice stole the plant — called the Angel Trumpet, Datura or Jimsonweed — from Johnson County Community College’s botanical department. The plant has become such a hot commodity, local nurseries are getting calls from teens who ask how much the plant costs and how they can get one, the station reported.

And the hallucinations can be nightmarish and last for hours or sometimes days, the station reported. Those who take the drug are often left seriously ill, combative and uncontrollable. A German teenager who was reportedly high on the drug recently mutilated himself by cutting off his penis and his tongue.

Wainscott said the poison center has taken about 20 calls about Angel Trumpet in the last few months.

Dumb, dumb, dumb. . . but legal. Sort of like absinthe, only no one has died from this (at least at levels to warrant national attention). Traditionally the flowers have been dried and smoked, but just like absinthe the results can be very, very bad – and you can never accurately measure out a safe dose. The results are hallucination, memory loss, and impaired vision.

Here is a bit of information about jimsonweed (otherwise known as Datura stramonium). Advice to those interested: play checkers.