As I dive more into foraging new plants for both food and medicine, I stumbled upon a plant that was supposedly used for its psychoactive effects by Natives and Settlers alike.
Commonly called Kinnikinnik, Bearberry, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi.
Various references give different details of its use. Some spots describe it as a tobacco substitute while others say it was used for “hallucinogenic” states.
The book I have describes the berries as edible yet not very tasty, and the leaves used for teas or in smoking blends. So with those thoughts I decided to try the following.
First I tried a couple berries, more sucking on the juices, an interesting taste reminiscent of apples. No psychoactive effect.
Then later on I took 1 moderate sized leaf, and as I do trying most plants for the first time chewed it up then put it in my lip. There was a very bitter taste which vanished quite quickly, I didn’t swallow any juices and after 5min spit it out and kept going with my day.
Not thinking it would do much I began making dinner, as I was cooking my vision started to fade a bit, anxiety was growing in me and I felt dissociated from my body. I tried pushing through thinking it was anxiety to no avail, I had to stop and sit near the A/C.
The effects just kept building and getting worrisome, mainly cuz it was so unexpected. I decided to hop in the shower, to chill out. My libido was through the roof and I felt aggressive, and mildly poisoned in a way too.
I felt like I’d just chewed way too much tobacco with some evil twist to it.
I eventually got out of the shower but was too fucked to do much, I ate what I could and laid down. Laying down felt a lot better, kind of like opiate nausea where you feel a lot better if you just close your eyes and relax.
I fell asleep very quickly without taking any edibles and slept deeply, when I’d wake up I still felt the effects, they weren’t pleasant, the feeling of an almost headache and just unease.
Woke up now feeling slightly better but still noticeably altered.
Is this plant psychoactive? Without a doubt yes. Is it pleasurable/worth it? Very likely no.
Too long lasting, the only positive sides were sleep and increased libido, mostly a feeling of poisoned. Like a crappy dissociative long lasting nicotine.
Taking a look at my book again, I get the impression the psychoactives aren’t water soluble based on how potent the sublingual use was as well they claim teas aren’t “potent enough unless steeped for a long time.”
Gonna go grab me a white bean coffee to hopefully shake this off
-GC
Commonly called Kinnikinnik, Bearberry, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi.
Various references give different details of its use. Some spots describe it as a tobacco substitute while others say it was used for “hallucinogenic” states.
The book I have describes the berries as edible yet not very tasty, and the leaves used for teas or in smoking blends. So with those thoughts I decided to try the following.
First I tried a couple berries, more sucking on the juices, an interesting taste reminiscent of apples. No psychoactive effect.
Then later on I took 1 moderate sized leaf, and as I do trying most plants for the first time chewed it up then put it in my lip. There was a very bitter taste which vanished quite quickly, I didn’t swallow any juices and after 5min spit it out and kept going with my day.
Not thinking it would do much I began making dinner, as I was cooking my vision started to fade a bit, anxiety was growing in me and I felt dissociated from my body. I tried pushing through thinking it was anxiety to no avail, I had to stop and sit near the A/C.
The effects just kept building and getting worrisome, mainly cuz it was so unexpected. I decided to hop in the shower, to chill out. My libido was through the roof and I felt aggressive, and mildly poisoned in a way too.
I felt like I’d just chewed way too much tobacco with some evil twist to it.
I eventually got out of the shower but was too fucked to do much, I ate what I could and laid down. Laying down felt a lot better, kind of like opiate nausea where you feel a lot better if you just close your eyes and relax.
I fell asleep very quickly without taking any edibles and slept deeply, when I’d wake up I still felt the effects, they weren’t pleasant, the feeling of an almost headache and just unease.
Woke up now feeling slightly better but still noticeably altered.
Is this plant psychoactive? Without a doubt yes. Is it pleasurable/worth it? Very likely no.
Too long lasting, the only positive sides were sleep and increased libido, mostly a feeling of poisoned. Like a crappy dissociative long lasting nicotine.
Taking a look at my book again, I get the impression the psychoactives aren’t water soluble based on how potent the sublingual use was as well they claim teas aren’t “potent enough unless steeped for a long time.”
Gonna go grab me a white bean coffee to hopefully shake this off
-GC
