Please Help: Atropa Belladonna

[CrypticArc]

I recently began experimenting with what seems to be a very little used drug (at least that's the conclusion I came to after my research) called Belladonna, or deadly nightshade. I experimented with the plant that was growing in my back yard, but after making it into a tea, I couldn't down it due to a horrible underlying taste that made me gag, and i was unable to drink it. I found it growing in my town square, and I made it into tea again, and this time it didn't have that awful aftertaste. Last time I didn't get to drink much, but I was only doing a lower-level trial run anyway. I now have the ability to consume a higher amount, but I am concerned about the lethal dose; is a single cup of tea made from one large leaf enough to kill the average person? If it is, where should I start? I'm not exactly an experienced psychonaut but this isn't my first hallucinogenic experience either. Can anyone offer some form of input?

 

[DJRolling]

its not really hallucinogenic... surely not psychedelic. this is a very unpleasant drug that you have no good reason to do. if you wish to be delirious just neck some Benadryl, if you want to trip take some DXM. these cheap and easy to get OTC drugs are much safer and (in DXM's case) much more recreational. unless you have someone larger than you to babysit you and possibly have to physically restrain you for a day or two, you should not be taking large doses of belladonna, or datura.

 

[Magickduck]

Please do not eat that shit, it is not fun, its not something you will enjoy, you may well end up in the hospital, dead, or in jail.

 

[Folley]

I would recommend smoking it, taking one to two hits MAX every 10 minutes or so. Making sure you're feeling the complete effects from the last dose before taking more...


with oral dosing, it's WAY TOO EASY to drink up a lethal dose without even realizing it.




NOTE: I have no experience with this drug, and would not recommend you use it either way. Just don't want you poisoning yourself.

 

[phenethylo J]

The only input I can offer is don't do it. Even for a very experienced psychonaut there is a very high chance the trip will end in disaster. It's nothing like traditional psychedelics were you may get really out there but still know you're tripping; it's a deleriant. You may think you are hanging out in your living room with your brother but you never had a brother and you're actually wandering naked down in the middle of a high way.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I am pretty sure that one leaf can have a big difference in potency from the same exact plant.

 

[Solipsis]

Yes there is a reason people don't do this more often: a delirium is often terrifying and dangerous, for more reasons than that the plants are poisonous.

It is nigh impossible to figure out how potent a leaf is, if you want to dose more reliably make a large batch of tea and when you are all done making it strain all particulate matter out and mix thoroughly. Freeze most of it. Then start with an extremely small amount and very slowly work your way up, doubling or smaller increments. This would basically be called titration of a homogenous solution.

But again: reconsider taking this before you get yourself killed or arrested running into traffic or something fucked up like that.

 

[CrypticArc]

Thank you all for the advice, it's good to see that there are genuinely helpful people on this forum.

 

[.:Holy::Toast:.]

Belladonna is another scopolamine containing plant correct?
If so I would veer far away. It could certainly be hallucinogenic, but not in the way you're used to from traditional psychedelics.
Any remains of rational thought could instantly vanish, and all you're left with is a delerious zombie acting entirely on instinct.
It could seem perfectly normal to you that your bedroom looks like it's on fire, or that spiders are crawling over every inch of your body, or that you're talking with a friend who has been dead for years

 

[Solipsis]

Yes it contains such tropane alkaloids. Actually the plant is in the same family as potato and tomato plants, the green parts of which are poisonous but for different reasons (another kind of compound being mitochondrial / nerve toxins).

HT is right: tropane alkaloids can not only be dangerous physically but produce scary effects on your mind that go beyond remaining your hallucinating self. If we have souls, it seems these drugs send them on a holiday for a little while...

In any case, welcome to Bluelight / PD!

 

[exists]

If we have souls, it seems these drugs send them on a holiday for a little while...

Funny you should say that; an old hippie friend of mine agrees. She says that Datura (and I will assume she means other related plants as well) "compromises your soul" if you get into it too far. She has seen its effects firsthand, with another beloved friend who was also very close to my circle. This other friend loved to mix datura with cannabis quite frequently, and I guess she got pretty out there at times... and seemed to stay there at the end.

OTOH, there was a guy _everyone_ knew who did Datura a lot, the ostensible reason being to speak with a spirit guide. And he seems OK these days.

Overall, I think most people aren't meant for the full-on anticholinergic experience. From the doses I've played with I'd say I certainly am not :S

 

[kidklmx]

There seems to be *some* spiritual potential though, if you go to the Amazon for healing sometimes a Shaman will give you a deleriant instead of Ayahausca. Would definitely not take it without a spiritual guide though, and even then ask why he wants to give me this instead of Aya

 

[GreenMachine]

this doesnt sound very fun...

what was nightshade used for back in the day? i know there it was used for some medicinal uses that were common before modern medicine

 

[bloodshed344]

I've read some accounts of people that have used this compound extensively and loved it. Please don't down it so much. Almost any drug with spiritual effects can be used safely and productively if the precautions are taken and experience is gained in small amounts.

I personally hope to engage on a belladonna voyage one day, I loved my diphenhydramine experiences... they shook me down to my soul in an area that psychedelics have never touched.

this doesnt sound very fun...

what was nightshade used for back in the day? i know there it was used for some medicinal uses that were common before modern medicine

Nightshade is still used, except they just extract the alkaloids and put them into pills. Either way its still used. Just look up scopolamine and atropine, my grandma has some scopolamine in her cabinet right now.

 

[CrypticArc]

Doctors today still use it during eye surgery to dilate pupils.

 

[Morphling]

Belladonna was used for a long time for gastrointestinal cramps, bilary spasms, motion sickness, and insomnia mostly. Average medicinal doses for powdered, dried leaf range from 0.05g-0.1g, with a maximum daily dosage of 0.6g powdered leaf equivalent to 1.8mg total alkaloids. In those dosages, adverse reactions are fairly uncommon, but higher dosages can result in acute pulmonary edema, stenosis of the GI tract, prostate adenoma, and some other really nasty things. The worst drug interactions occur with tricyclic antidepressants, amantadine, and quinidine, so definitely don't play with this plant if you're on any of those.

Some people think it's fun to take the berries recreationally, which really isn't safe. Six can be a lethal dose, and two can result in a multi-day delirium. I remember a case a few years back of a woman who took some and went on an alcohol bender. She ended up stealing a ferry and screaming that she was Captain Jack Sparrow. Must have been a hell of a trip, heh. Pretty sure she went to jail for a while and had a huge fine due to wrecking the ferry into other boats. I'm sure you can find an article about it online, it's a pretty funny read actually.

 

[bloodshed344]

Belladonna was used for a long time for gastrointestinal cramps, bilary spasms, motion sickness, and insomnia mostly. Average medicinal doses for powdered, dried leaf range from 0.05g-0.1g, with a maximum daily dosage of 0.6g powdered leaf equivalent to 1.8mg total alkaloids. In those dosages, adverse reactions are fairly uncommon, but higher dosages can result in acute pulmonary edema, stenosis of the GI tract, prostate adenoma, and some other really nasty things. The worst drug interactions occur with tricyclic antidepressants, amantadine, and quinidine, so definitely don't play with this plant if you're on any of those.

Some people think it's fun to take the berries recreationally, which really isn't safe. Six can be a lethal dose, and two can result in a multi-day delirium. I remember a case a few years back of a woman who took some and went on an alcohol bender. She ended up stealing a ferry and screaming that she was Captain Jack Sparrow. Must have been a hell of a trip, heh. Pretty sure she went to jail for a while and had a huge fine due to wrecking the ferry into other boats. I'm sure you can find an article about it online, it's a pretty funny read actually.

Either way still sounds as if you could responsibly trip on it and have a very spiritual experience. I've heard of multiple +4s with belladonna.

 

[The Lone Deranger]

Some realy intresting posts on here, Has answered a few things i was half wondering about myself.

But not that i want to try this myself, but is allways good to learn about things that you know of, but not actually much about etc ..

 

[Deinonychus]

Some people think it's fun to take the berries recreationally, which really isn't safe. Six can be a lethal dose, and two can result in a multi-day delirium. I remember a case a few years back of a woman who took some and went on an alcohol bender. She ended up stealing a ferry and screaming that she was Captain Jack Sparrow. Must have been a hell of a trip, heh. Pretty sure she went to jail for a while and had a huge fine due to wrecking the ferry into other boats. I'm sure you can find an article about it online, it's a pretty funny read actually.

A quick google for 'belladonna ferry' finds some weird stuff, but also found the target I sought:

http://www.heavy.com/news/2012/09/lady-steals-ferry-jack-sparrow-deadly-nightshade-belladonna/

Check out the mugshot. The mugshot alone would discourage me from having anything to do with this stuff.

Plants containing atropine-type deleriants like belladonna and datura are one category of drugs that I will never, ever, in a million years willingly consume. I know some people claim to enjoy these things at low doses, and whenever a thread pops up about belladonna or datura there will typically be twenty posts that indicate using the stuff is an awful, horrible idea, and then a twenty-first that suggests people not be so hard on the idea of taking such a drug.

Since I haven't ever used the stuff and I intend for it to stay that way I cannot definitively comment, but there is an excess of experience reports on the subject and I have yet to find one that is anything but regretful / warns strongly against such folly. As such I will take the prudent position and suggest you stay far away. Ultimately it is your life to do with as you wish, but do understand that when I say 'your life' I mean that literally, as it is easy to overdose and you can potentially die, to say nothing of the risk of injury or serious legal problems that comes with the territory.

 

[bloodshed344]

A quick google for 'belladonna ferry' finds some weird stuff, but also found the target I sought:

http://www.heavy.com/news/2012/09/lady-steals-ferry-jack-sparrow-deadly-nightshade-belladonna/

Check out the mugshot. The mugshot alone would discourage me from having anything to do with this stuff.

Plants containing atropine-type deleriants like belladonna and datura are one category of drugs that I will never, ever, in a million years willingly consume. I know some people claim to enjoy these things at low doses, and whenever a thread pops up about belladonna or datura there will typically be twenty posts that indicate using the stuff is an awful, horrible idea, and then a twenty-first that suggests people not be so hard on the idea of taking such a drug.

Since I haven't ever used the stuff and I intend for it to stay that way I cannot definitively comment, but there is an excess of experience reports on the subject and I have yet to find one that is anything but regretful / warns strongly against such folly. As such I will take the prudent position and suggest you stay far away. Ultimately it is your life to do with as you wish, but do understand that when I say 'your life' I mean that literally, as it is easy to overdose and you can potentially die, to say nothing of the risk of injury or serious legal problems that comes with the territory.

Well that's a bit biased. I've read more than one firsthand account of people that have had high dose trips and loved it.

 

[Deinonychus]

Well that's a bit biased. I've read more than one firsthand account of people that have had high dose trips and loved it.

I don't think that's biased at all. I've read the reports for these types of plants on erowid several times. Granted I haven't re-read them in the last few years but I don't recall a single positive experience, nor do I know of any positive experiences here on Bluelight.

I was pretty specific with the caveat that I haven't done belladonna or datura, and so I couldn't definitively say from firsthand experience how negative or positive it could be. There's a great preponderance of evidence that the vast majority of people not only fail to enjoy deleriants in any way, but further wish they could take it back due to one variety or another of trouble they got into / harm they caused themselves or somebody else.

I'd happily read any positive reports you know of if you could kindly direct me there, or suggest a google search etc. I believe that if one or two reports that are positive indeed exist (I'm *not* calling you a liar, I'm just speaking in hypothetical terms here since I have yet to see such reports in person) they would still fail to outweigh the overwhelmingly larger number of negative reports. I'm totally open to reexamining the evidence though, and I'd be interested to read any positive reports simply because I haven't read any before.

I apologize if that post came across as biased. I think I weighed the evidence fairly, and I specifically put in caveats about a lack of firsthand experience, and a form of 'YMMV', to preempt the idea that there was bias there. I don't dispute that I have a negative view of deleriants and will warn people away from them, but considering how many people have had seriously bad experiences do you really think such an opinion is unwise? I guess I see it as heeding all due caution, and caution would be advised with these plants I think, to a much greater degree than most other types of drugs.