Misc Datura/Scopolamine and other deliriants.

[pharaoh]

Based on the stupid "OTC" thread which just lists drugs that could be obtained legally, a lot of the drugs mentioned were deliriants, namely the active chemical in benadryl. This got me interested in datura and other plants which contain scopolamine. Also nutmeg (which I tried as a dumb kid).

I was looking at psychonaut wiki and wondering why anyone would want to take any of that stuff - it is quite rare to see drugs that aren't things like anti-psychotics, antidepressants or similar that have such negative effects, with people almost universally agreeing that they are horrible and shouldn't be played with,yet people still take these deliriants.

People buy benadryl, try and get a buzz and end up in some horrible trip being tortured by horrifying hallucinations. There were some amazing drawings associated with datura/scopolamine -terrifying stuff. I was even reminded of a nightmare I had whilst reading Ed Sanders' book 'The Family' on the Mason Family which still haunts me to this day.

My question is to those who have taken deliriants, especially datura or scopolamine powder but also the benadryl kiddies: what was your experience like? Was it as bad as the consensus makes out? Has anyone had a positive experience? If you have tried them, would you do so again? Would you recommend this class of drugs to anyone who might be curious/might want to tick all the boxes?

Nutmeg was awful. I'll go into my experience later if this the war gathers any interest but it seems that there is an almost unanimous agreement that the deliriant class is best avoided even by hardcore users who want to see it all.

 

[Snafu in the Void]

I was looking at psychonaut wiki and wondering why anyone would want to take any of that stuff - it is quite rare to see drugs that aren't things like anti-psychotics, antidepressants or similar that have such negative effects, with people almost universally agreeing that they are horrible and shouldn't be played with,yet people still take these deliriants.

The overwhelming amount of people who use deliriants are teenagers, or younger folks who have not yet developed a sense of mortality, or "mental mortality", aka psychosis and permanent brain damage. The others outside of that are probably so desperate to get fucked up on anything, they just don't care.

My question is to those who have taken deliriants, especially datura or scopolamine powder but also the benadryl kiddies: what was your experience like? Was it as bad as the consensus makes out? Has anyone had a positive experience? If you have tried them, would you do so again? Would you recommend this class of drugs to anyone who might be curious/might want to tick all the boxes?

Yes, they are bad as everyone says.

I would never recommend anyone use them under any circumstance. Beyond the dangers, they are incredibly dysphoric and physically uncomfortable experiences. There is nothing about deliriant levels of these drugs that is redeemable. I'm sure some hippie shaman may disagree, particularly with the plants like datura, but there are certainly much safer and better ways to have transformative experiences.

I used datura once and high dose benadryl once, both when I was 15 years old or younger. I would never use them again, even if they were the last drugs on earth. In fact, I found the experiences so unpleasant that I refused to take any therapeutic doses of benadryl for many years afterward. Benadryl in particular seemed to cause long term damage, and for many years afterward taking just 25mg of DPH for sleep would be extremely uncomfortable for me.

These days I use 50mg of DPH for sleep sometimes, but that's it.

I don't even remember much from the experiences. EXTREME confusion. Time loops. Talking to relatives who were not there. I also had a continuous hallucination of a large fly that would buzz around and land on me for hours, but there was no fly.

There are some oddball proponents of recreational DPH use. Supposedly it increases sexual pleasure/orgasm substantially (for some people). Hell if I know. From what I've seen of those types, they're probably a little delusional and at the very least do not practice harm reduction.

I also tried nutmeg once, didn't even get high, just felt like shit for 36 hours.

 

[Nas47]

In my country in the 90-ies was very popular trihexyphenidil.That is antiparkinsonic drug very simillar to atropa alcaloids like effect.Awfull stuff.Real deriliant-u don't know who u are,what are u doing and don't remember anything from the trip,which usually is absolute terror,but in fact these pills had huge number of fans.Took once or two only two pills-very unpleasant feeling in the throat...it's hard to breathe.dizziness,light headness....and also one time chew only one leaf of fresh atropa belladona,which found after a nice mushroom trip in the mountain......well same shit-this tightness in the throat....atropin drunkness somekind.don't like it at all...my two companions felt very pleasant and calm...and three fresh leaves could be fatal.....also back in the old days in pharmacies here they sold cigarettes from dried datura leaves for people with lung problems-they act like bronchodilatator...well guys who wanted dreadful hallucinations boiled them like a tea a drank a concoction.......crazy stuff....also very dangerous

 

[pharaoh]

Thanks for the replies. Basically confirmation bias for me as I assumed that the majority of users (particularly of benadryl) would be teenagers looking for a high and being naive/stupid.

@Snafu in the Void basically confirmed this theory. I almost put Harm Reduction as the prefix because there are so many people talking about taking that stuff and it is obviously so potentially dangerous to ones mental health.

The "OTC" thread should've been taken down as most of the drugs listed or spoken about weren't OTC. But seeing so many people in that thread asking about benadryl or starting threads about it is a bit worrying in my opinion from a harm reduction POV.

Even still, it is interesting to hear people's experiences.

 

[brokedownpalace10]

I'm not sure that nutmeg can actually be classified as an anti-cholinergic. The NIH says, "anti-cholinergic effects at high doses". Guess that could be said about a lot of drugs. I've never read of folks talking to people that weren't there and the like. It does seem unpleasant at high doses and the extended time for effects to manifest seems to result in a lot of high doses. I'm not sure how it should be classified.

As a 16 year old, I loved the effects (prolly didn't overdose). The aftereffects were horrible enough to make me only do it a few times. Can't be good for you.