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The deadly household plant that teens are using to get high and kills hundreds each year
Thursday, March 12, 2020 IST
The deadly household plant that teens are using to get high and kills hundreds each year

Datura can make users hallucinate for up to 48 hours
The deadly plant is found growing in the wild across the world
Hundreds of people are killed - and thousands hospitalized - by Datura poisoning every year

 
 

It's called 'the Devil's Weed,' but unlike bath salts and synthetic marijuana, the latest unorthodox deadly toxin people are using to get high is about as common as crabgrass, and could be growing in your backyard.
 
Datura Stramonium, also known as 'Jimson Weed,' is a wild plant that grows across the U.S. It also can make a person hallucinate for several days - and even die.
 
'When it comes on, you start feeling weird and stumbly and your vision kind of decreases a little bit,' a Datura user named 'Mad Mike' says in a Youtube video.
 
'Then you'll start hearing a lot of stuff like music coming out of the walls. I've seen, like, hobby horses and weird things on the side of the road. Like sparkly horse-unicorn type of things. Like, transparent unicorns with sparkles all around them -- all kinds of weird stuff.'
 
Another user described his unpleasant experience with the drug, saying he hallucinated for two days and by the end had concerns that he was going blind.
 
“It was just really, really intense — seeing people that weren’t there, talking to people that weren’t there,” the unidentified user told CBS' Philadelphia affiliate.
 
But the flowery plant also is deadly, and kills hundreds of people a year, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers. Thousands of others, the group says, are treated for Datura poisoning each year.
 
Experts say use of the drug is becoming more and more popular -- especially amongst teens -- and its popularity is being fueled by the Internet.
 
 
“My fear is that more and more people are going to die from taking this,” drug counselor John Corbett told CBS Philadelphia.

 
 

Datura can be smoked, snorted, or eaten -- some users ingest the plants tiny black seeds found within the flower of the common plant.
 
Side-effects of Datura use include severe anxiety, heart palpitations, vomiting and the inability to urinate. These side-effects last anywhere from 24 to 48 hours, although some users claim their hallucinations lasted nearly two weeks.
 
Datura has been used both medicinally and spiritually for centuries. Native Americans used the plant to 'commune with deities through visions.' In Ethiopia, students use the plant to 'open the mind' to be more receptive to learning.
 
Despite its spiritual uses, Datura is a poisonous plant that can have deadly side-effects. In Pennsylvania, the plant is on the state's Noxious Weed List, which means it's illegal to sell, transport, or plant it. In New Jersey, it's also illegal to sell, transport, or plant the toxic flower.
 

 
 
 
 
 

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  Thought of the Day

"Inspiration Exists But It Has To Find You Working."
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Shibu Chandran
2 hours ago

Serving political interests in another person's illness is the lowest form of human value. A 70+ y old lady has cancer.

November 28, 2016 05:00 IST
Shibu Chandran
2 hours ago

Serving political interests in another person's illness is the lowest form of human value. A 70+ y old lady has cancer.

November 28, 2016 05:00 IST
Shibu Chandran
2 hours ago

Serving political interests in another person's illness is the lowest form of human value. A 70+ y old lady has cancer.

November 28, 2016 05:00 IST
Shibu Chandran
2 hours ago

Serving political interests in another person's illness is the lowest form of human value. A 70+ y old lady has cancer.

November 28, 2016 05:00 IST


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