Claims of wild lettuce & its recreational value

[burn out]

Here's another thing. If it had any recreational value, it would be much more popular than it is.

Not necessarily true. Kava for example, has absolutely tons of recreational value and yet it is not all that popular and most drugs users I've encountered have never tried it some never heard of it. Wild lettuce is nowhere near as recreational as kava, so why would you expect it to be super popular? It's definitely being used because there are lots of sellers on sites like etsy and ebay, some which offer quite large amounts and there would not be a small but thriving market for it if it didn't do anything.

I have experience with wild lettuce and it's definitely not placebo and it does have what I'd consider slight recreational value. I would put it perhaps on the level of valerian, there are plenty of people who enjoy valerian but it's not the sort of thing that's likely to knock your socks off or become the next big thing. It's somewhat enjoyable for people who are into herbs and such, if you're into fentanyl and heroin and are expecting something like that you will be dissapointed.

 

[Dreamflyer]

I think that wild lettuce definitely has some positive psychoactive/painkilling/anxiolytic effects, but it's such an obscure herb that it's almost impossible to find a reputable source.

I've gotten some dried versions from head shops that looked like they were sprayed with fiberglass or something that burned my lungs and had no positive effect on me.

I also found it in bulk form at an old health food/herbal shop that burned up like dried hay and incinerated instantly.

I'm sure that if you could find it in the wild, extract the latex and process it properly, it would probably serve some benefit. Unfortunately, I've never found a source to do that.

 

[gordonliddy]

I'm starting to worry that I've been smoking the wrong type of wild lettuce?

 

[burn out]

I think that wild lettuce definitely has some positive psychoactive/painkilling/anxiolytic effects, but it's such an obscure herb that it's almost impossible to find a reputable source.

I've gotten some dried versions from head shops that looked like they were sprayed with fiberglass or something that burned my lungs and had no positive effect on me.

I also found it in bulk form at an old health food/herbal shop that burned up like dried hay and incinerated instantly.

I'm sure that if you could find it in the wild, extract the latex and process it properly, it would probably serve some benefit. Unfortunately, I've never found a source to do that.

There are reputable sources on Etsy and ebay that are way better than the headshop versions. When I bought wild lettuce from a headshop it was barely psychoactive and the mild effect I did get was only sedative with none of the euphoria I get from the wild lettuce I get off ebay.

You also don't need to find it in the wild, you can order wild lettuce seeds or even use regular garden lettuce once its gone to seed.

I used wild lettuce for pain after my last tooth extraction. It was of some benefit just not very strong. I didn't want to take opiates though due to past addiction issues. Wild lettuce is better than nothing for pain but it's nowhere near as powerful as opiates. It's an interesting herb that would appeal to the sort of person who is into herbs. It doesn't have a lot of recreational value, though the effects can be pleasurable.

 

[gordonliddy]

There are reputable sources on Etsy and ebay that are way better than the headshop versions. When I bought wild lettuce from a headshop it was barely psychoactive and the mild effect I did get was only sedative with none of the euphoria I get from the wild lettuce I get off ebay.

You also don't need to find it in the wild, you can order wild lettuce seeds or even use regular garden lettuce once its gone to seed.

I used wild lettuce for pain after my last tooth extraction. It was of some benefit just not very strong. I didn't want to take opiates though due to past addiction issues. Wild lettuce is better than nothing for pain but it's nowhere near as powerful as opiates. It's an interesting herb that would appeal to the sort of person who is into herbs. It doesn't have a lot of recreational value, though the effects can be pleasurable.

Very interesting. And I think that what some psychonaughts don't understand is that when wild lettuce was used as an opiate in the Civil War, it was used as a painkiller of last resort. So I don't know, but I would suppose that it's what they would use if they ran out of even alcohol.

So anyways, though some claim that wild lettuce is psychoactive (and I've yet to try it, even though some is growing in my very backyard!!), it's reputation is built upon it's applicability as a painkiller rather than as something that could send you to the moon. To wit, you'd think that if wild lettuce were all that heady that Civil War veterans would have turned to it for meriment after the war. But they didn't, I don't think? They went back to (lowly) alcohol because wild lettuce gets you high (some say), but it never gets you that high.

What I understand about painkillers is that a painkiller doesn't have to be very strong at all in order to provide some relief. In the orient some people use acupuncture to provide pain relief. I use caffeine when I'm in moderate pain, which (not to bore you with my personal pedadillos) is why I'm not a daily coffee consumer. So really it doesn't take much. I like @burn out 's experiment with wild lettuce as an aide to recover from dental surgery, seems spot on in my uneducated opinion.

 

[F.U.B.A.R.]

Wasn't Jimson weed all the rage in the Civil war?

 

[gordonliddy]

Wasn't Jimson weed all the rage in the Civil war?

See I really question this. For that story to make sense, Jimson Weed would have to be some kind of exciting or even acceptable drug. Never tried it and I confess that I'm kind of a scaredy cat to try it. This week for me it's to be giner tea, coffee, wine and with any luck Delta-8.

I tend to think of Jimson Weed as an 'Indian Drug.' If a Native American wanted to get high, IMHO tobacco was their drug of choice. They used other drugs for things like producing visions, or to encourage vision quests. So to me Jimson Weed isn't even a narcotic drug in the sense that Bluelighter's tend to think of one.

Every single report I've run into about recreational daturum comes from somebody who was ...smoking trace amounts of them in order to deliberately disconnect from reality. Doesn't result in what I would call a high.

So back to the Civil War. ...I tend to think of the fighting man in the American Civil War as blue collar types, generally Anglos. I'll note the participation of Buffalo Soldiers, with some Indians fighting on the side of the Confederacy.

Do you know many Blue Collar types? They are notoriously fussy eaters. I find it difficult to imagine one of them imbibing Jimson Weed deliberately, or very difficult to imagine them trying it more than once.

Based upon what I found online, the drugs of choice for the fighting man were whiskey, tobacco and ....especially coffee? I'll note the familiarity of most folk back then with chicory, sassafras tea and mint. But most of all they seemed to want coffee.

Soldiers on both sides had a daily whiskey ration. If they were truly desperate they raided. Yankees are widely known in the Americas to be thieving Jayhawks. " it was easy to see why soldiers used this fiery liquor to fortify themselves before charging into battle. Whiskey was seen as a stimulant, Wynn said, and these fatigue duty laborers were issued about a shot a day.
Those who wanted more had to find it, either by raiding local homes or by finding saloons called grog shops willing to sell to soldiers, despite laws against it."
from https://www.fredericknewspost.com/n...cle_18a9c0dd-99dc-5a4e-b7fe-7d01dd903046.html

Where in Sam Hill is my whiskey, Varmit!​

I'll confess that I know almost nothing about the civil war. I found this source to be excellent:

Parched Corn and Rye Coffee: Eating as a Civil War Soldier

How long could you survive on a diet of parched corn ground to a fine powder, ersatz coffee made from rye or okra, and the occasional squirrel or raccoon?

www.seriouseats.com

 

[SpiralusSancti]

Plants containing tropane alkaloids in low to moderate dose are quite good sleep-aid and antidepressant (probably more harmful than most usual meds used for that).

Either atropine or scolopamine in currently under investigation as rapid acting antidepressant (I can confirm that works very well).

Laudanum used to be made with opium, alcohol and Datura or similar plant to increase opiums effects.

Twilight amnesia for woman pushing out a child was induced by morphine, ether and atropine or scolopamine.

And in both western folk medicine, ayurveda and Chinese traditional medicine those plants were/are used for many conditions.

OD on same can lead to death or worse so they are better avoided.

 

[Neuroborean]

That’s very true. I’ve never taken wild lettuce either. I was just making a point.

I’ve done potent Kanna extract though. Supposedly the best vendor too for Kanna extract and I wasn’t overly impressed. Very interesting pharmacological profile though.

Some ppl love it though. Just wasn’t that recreational for me but everyone is different biologically and how drugs affect them.

kanna needs what some call "priming" some sort of reverse tolerance issue, like with kava kava
I can attest that with both kava and kanna I've felt much more recreational effects when using several days in a row.

 

[Juicewrldfan]

kanna needs what some call "priming" some sort of reverse tolerance issue, like with kava kava
I can attest that with both kava and kanna I've felt much more recreational effects when using several days in a row.

I guess it’s just not for me. I used it a week strait and didn’t find it recreational but hey that’s just me. I am sure others have found it different. Maybe it doesn’t work for my personal biochemistry.

 

[Neuroborean]

I guess it’s just not for me. I used it a week strait and didn’t find it recreational but hey that’s just me. I am sure others have found it different. Maybe it doesn’t work for my personal biochemistry.

if I were you I would use different extracts using the nasal route before being "too sure" about that, mesembrenone and mesembrine feel pretty different