Datura hallucination

Species of Datura, Hyoscyamus and other tropane-containing genera are of more risk to humans than animals. These plants and their seeds have been used for religious or social functions with ritualistic emphasis. Numerous cases of bizarre and often aggressive behavior have been reported in people using seeds or teas from these plants (Burrows and Tyrl, 2002). As recently as October of 2003, a report appeared at CNN.com of four teenagers who ate Jimson weed seeds. All hallucinated and had to be hospitalized. Two were sedated and placed on life-support to prevent danger to themselves and others. The same press release reported that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention... 

I found her on the ground floor of my building. She was sitting on the earthen floor sfaring af her reflection in the gas tank of a motorcycle, which belonged to the miller s son-in-law. Still disoriented in the way that is typical of Datura, she was hallucinating persons not present and mistaking one person for another. "Are you my tailor " she asked me several times as I led her back to my room. "Are you my tailor "... 

The atropine series contains a number of very closely allied alkaloids of which the chief are atropine, hyoscyamine, and hyoscine (also called scopolamine). They are found in the roots and leaves of many plants of the Solanaceae, notably belladonna (Atropa belladonna), henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), the thorn apple or jimson weed (Datura stramonium), and some members of the Duboisia and Scopolia genera. These plants were used during the Middle Ages as sorcerer s drugs and have been smoked, chewed, or imbibed in the form of decoctions by primitive people for the hallucinations and frenzy they produce (Figure 14.1). 

Intoxications with higher concentrations will cause tachycardia, mydriasis, CNS excitations and hallucinations, coma and ultimately death [42], Incorporation of atropine (more correctly S-hyoscyamine) is the predominant reason for TA intoxication after ingestion of Datura plants. 

The mental effects are equally dramatic restlessness, disorientation, and other symptoms of delirium, including vivid hallucinations that may seem so real that people lose all contact with ordinary reality. Because scopolamine usually leaves you with some amnesia, it is often hard to remember these hallucinations clearly when the drug wears off. Going into other worlds is tasci-nating, but the worlds datura takes people to can he frightening populated by monsters and devils and filled with violent, frenzied energy. 

Tropane Alkaloids found in plants of the family Solanaceae, especially Datura suaveokns, Brupismansia and Brunsfdsia species. The alkaloid Hyoscine (scopolamine) in high doses can cause hallucinations giving the sensation of flying through the air, hence... 

Ironically, the first recorded 20th century use of solanaceae in a military situation occurred in Hanoi, French Indo-China (later known as North Vietnam) on 27 June 1908. On that day, two hundred French soldiers were poisoned by datura in their evening meal. One of the intoxicated soldiers saw ants on his bed, a second fled to a tree to escape from an hallucinated tiger and a third took aim at birds in the sky. The delirious troops were soon discovered and all recovered after medical attention. Two indigenous non-commissioned officers and an artilleryman were later convicted by courts-martial of plotting with ex-river pirates who had been influenced by "Chinese reformer agitators. 10,11... 

The use of medical scopolamine (most often in the form of tablets) for euphoria is uncommon but does exist and can be seen in conjunction with opioid use. The euphoria is the result of changes in dopamine and acetylcholine levels and ratios and appears to be related to some part of the chemical stmcture of the drug and other factors. Another separate group of users prefer dangerously high doses, especially in the form of Datura or Belladonna preparations, for the deUriant and hallucinogenic effects. The hallucinations produced by scopolamine, in common... 

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