Good narcotics, or bad?

[Ganoderma]

well short term is quite obvious and noticeable. long term seems mentioned, but not proven that i have seen.

a good book about it (not very scientific but a wordy read) is the serpent and the Rainbow. it talks about "zombi poison" in Haiti and goes into daturas.

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by Ganoderma

Wade davis wrote a book about daturas being used to make zombis. before dismissing it they were talking about the plant causing death like symptoms and later on, years later, being found again. my point here was it made them completely messed up mentally, completely.

Though I can’t attest to the accuracy of reports of people being made into “zombies” with datura or other drugs or techniques, I’m of the impression that some such reports are accurate. Subjects/victims of such zombie-making procedures apparently undergo a period in which their respiration and circulation is so reduced that they suffer permanent brain damage due to lack of oxygen sufficient to severely impair their cognitive and motor function, but no so severe that they die. So the condition is actually an injury, not a neuropharmacological reaction to the drug used. In principle, such a condition could be induced by any technique that duplicated the physiological context of the injury, such as smothering the subject to the point of unconsciousness for a long period, yet allowing them enough air to prevent heart or other fatal organ failure.

Needless to say, this is terribly bad medicine!

Brain damage from drug overdoses pose a serious risk to public health, although the likelihood of seriously damaging the brain without killing the person is presumably lower than with an intentional procedure like the dreadful voodoo mentioned above.

A class of illicit “drugs” that have a high risk of causing brain damage are inhalants, such as butane. These substances typically have no true neuropharacological action, but rather block the lungs’ oxygen exchange membranes, starving the brain of oxygen. Abuse of inhalants is terribly dangerous, especially because they are easy to obtain, and have legitimate uses in lighters and similar tools, as solvents, etc. A tragic consequence, IMHO, of many government and public health agencies loss of credibility due to their promotion and publication of inaccurate information about low-risk illicit drugs, is that accurate warnings about the recreational abuse of very dangerous substances, such as inhalants, may be ignored by young, poorly educated people, because they have discovered that other government and agency warnings are essentially lies.

[Ganoderma]

Originally Posted by CraigD

A class of illicit “drugs” that have a high risk of causing brain damage are inhalants, such as butane. These substances typically have no true neuropharacological action, but rather block the lungs’ oxygen exchange membranes, starving the brain of oxygen. Abuse of inhalants is terribly dangerous, especially because they are easy to obtain, and have legitimate uses in lighters and similar tools, as solvents, etc. A tragic consequence, IMHO, of many government and public health agencies loss of credibility due to their promotion and publication of inaccurate information about low-risk illicit drugs, is that accurate warnings about the recreational abuse of very dangerous substances, such as inhalants, may be ignored by young, poorly educated people, because they have discovered that other government and agency warnings are essentially lies.

Those are some very good points, never thought about it that way. i agree, seeing people come into labs that are gas huffers or the like are usually in pretty bad shape....perhaps as bad as meth addicts.

about the zombification. i guess it really depends on ones definition of death and zombie. but you are right, zombie is usually not dead, just seriously slowed down (according to that book). in those scenarios it could be other things that cause the brain damage like said. oxygen deprevation is most likely (from being buried alive...). i am curious though with drugs like daturas and mdma that can raise your temperature...how can that affect your noggin? short or long term?

[orbsycli]

Doesn't the body raise it's temper naturally to fight bacteria, and viruses? And isn't that called a fever?

I'd be surprised if this had some negative affect on the brain, and am patiently waiting for a reply.

[Ganoderma]

i am no doctor but i believe that is why a fever can be so dangerous. a temp of 105-106 is getting very bad. I had 106 when i was a kid and i was in the hospital for 3 days. the doctors took it VERY serious. That said i cannot say for sure. I THINK, not sure, that this is one of the dangers with mdma as well. I have seen people go to hospital when using mdma due to over heating and likely dehydration.

[C1ay]

Food for thought:

If not for the opium poppy and cannabis, why else would humans have evolved with opioid and cannabinoid receptors in the brain?

[orbsycli]

So are the natural opiates manufactured in the brain a coincidence or were they inspired?

[jungjedi]

i thought shrooms would be more toxix then on the graph..and datura is just plain deadly as well as meth.im still undescided now as to how much drugs a mind can take given that persons psycological state

[orbsycli]

Originally Posted by jungjedi

i thought shrooms would be more toxix then on the graph..and datura is just plain deadly as well as meth.im still undescided now as to how much drugs a mind can take given that persons psycological state

Well....

The human body can take a lot of abuse. If a person has the will to live, they will live longer than a person who has given up and does not want to live.
Some people smoke cigarettes every day, and yet,
just a tiny bit of pure nicotine can kill no problem.

[Ganoderma]

mushrooms, as in psilocybe, are not very toxic at all. they are dangerous in a sense that people can harm themselves while on them though.

Amanitas on the other hand are deadly toxic.

Just cause the body can "take" it doesn't make me to anxious to try it. the body can store a lot of DDT as well, but i dont go showering in it to get rid of squitos.