Teens Get Sick on Landscape Plantings

Reuters ^ | Fri August 22, 2003 | Reuters

[visualops]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fourteen Ohio teen-agers trying to get a free "high" off plants out of their gardens ended up in the emergency room, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. The youngsters evidently thought they could get stoned by eating the seeds of a local plant called the moonflower but did not realize they were toxic, the CDC said.

"Plants with large fragrant flowers that bloom at dusk are referred to as moonflowers," the CDC said Thursday in its weekly report on death and illness.

There are several species, some of which are toxic, including Datura stramonium, commonly known as jimson weed.

The teen-agers in the Akron and Cleveland area ate the seeds of Datura inoxia, one of the toxic species.

"This may represent a new trend of substance abuse in this area," the CDC said.

The children, with an average age of 17, were all lucky in that they got medical help. They had dilated pupils, rapid pulse, hallucinations and an inability to urinate.

They were treated and their symptoms disappeared after 24 to 48 hours.

[visualops]

hallucinations and an inability to urinate

freaky

[xrp]

We humans really should allow Darwinism to take hold in our species once again.

[Junior]

Long time no pee...

[ChemistCat]

If they had an average age of 17, some of them were not children.

I hope none were pregnant. That said, I hope they were so miserable and so sick they hoped they'd die. I hope they learned something they'll never forget. I hope their days of ingesting random substances to get high are at a total end. If that is not so, then they deserve what will happen next time all the more.

SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME HOW THE (expensive) WAR ON DRUGS IS SAVING OUR KIDS?

[ChemistCat]

If they had an average age of 17, some of them were not children.

I hope none were pregnant. That said, I hope they were so miserable and so sick they hoped they'd die. I hope they learned something they'll never forget. I hope their days of ingesting random substances to get high are at a total end. If that is not so, then they deserve what will happen next time all the more.

SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME HOW THE (expensive) WAR ON DRUGS IS SAVING OUR KIDS?

[At _War_With_Liberals]

"...an inability to urinate."

Hard to pee when the paranoia sets in.

Had a friend who ate Mandrake root once. Had a bad reaction.

[visualops]

:::snort:::

[tet68]

their symptoms disappeared after 24 to 48 hours.

As they probably would have anyway, depending on the dosage.

Daturas are powerful analogues and shouldn't be played with by the inexperienced.

I always loved when Don Carlos told him to catch two lizards, and to sew ones eyes closed and the others mouth closed, then to make a paste of Datura seeds and spread it on his temples, then holding the lizards up next to his head he could ask the lizard with it's eyes sewn shut to look across the other world and see things for him, and the lizard with it's mouth sewn shut would tell him secrets from the other world.

Don't try this at home kids, the seed pods of the daturas look that way for a reason!

[visualops]

Heck yeah..I understand it's an effective emetic.

[templar]

There are several species, some of which are toxic, including Datura stramonium, commonly known as jimson weed.

You can get very stoned on this. You can also get very dead on it. Note: It is much easier to get dead than to get stoned on jimson weed. Leave it to the Yaqui Bruho's, they know what they are doing (the ones that live do, anyway).

OTOH, an infusion of Jimson weed, taken in very minute amounts (drops, not spoonfuls), can be an extraoridnarily powerful decongestant/antihistimine. I think it is probably illegal to use Jimson weed for anything under current drug laws.

[greydog]

Journey to Ixlan, wasn't it.

My favorite part was the Death as an Advisor chapter.

[visualops]

[uvular]

I bought one of these plants last year, and this year had a bumper crop of seedlings this spring, giving them to family and friends. Am I a drug dealer, lover of flowers, or both? Had read warnings online that the plant had such properties, but have never tested it.

They are all in bloom now, and are quite spectacular-to look at!

[uvular]

Yep, that's the seed pod, but unless this is southern Ohio, the plants don't have any seed pods yet. Wonder if they were instead chewing the leaves or flowers?

[Redcloak]

The Indians of southern California called the plant toloache. It was used as part of the initiation ceremony marking the transition of young men from boyhood to manhood. The problem was that a certain percentage of the boys didn't survive the toloache ceremony. They would drink the toloache and dance around a bon fire having hallucinations until they passed out. And mind you, the drug was administered by a shaman who knew what he was doing. The dosage was regulated by the boy's weight. But there's a fine line between the effective dose and a fatal dose. As I recall, about 10% of the boys didn't make the transition.

[WIladyconservative]

Yep - bumper crop of volunteers in the garden. Once you have ONE plant and let it go to seed, you'll never want for them again. I know they are poisonous and just touching the pods or the leaves makes my hands smell horrible. I can't imagine voluntarily ingesting this. Ick.

Gorgeous flower, though!

[NewRomeTacitus]

I let a roommate at the state institution for troubled youth read my copy of “Don Juan (Carlos)”. A week later I found him carefully counting out Jimson Weed seeds from a pod. The (open) campus guards found him in the restroom flushing a toilet while repeating “Open up, door. Open up”.
While at the hospital he ripped canvas restraints like tissue and had to be literally tied down with nylon rope.
Two days after that he confided to me that the motorcycle races and my frequent visits made his barred confinement easily tolerable.

1.There’s no television there, and
2.I hadn’t visited him.

This is what Croce meant when he sang “you don’t mess around with Jim”.

[July 4th]

Had a friend who ate Mandrake root once. Had a bad reaction.

Did he print out the prompt or swallow the entire computer?

[visualops]

You can buy the stuff online (dried leaves, seeds etc)
http://www.seekershop.com/datura.html