(incidentally, for those who commented otherwise, clean heroin is not toxic to humans).

LOL

This is a really interesting thread for me, especially as I am about to launch my book on natural plant hallucinogens.

All through the writing of it I have felt a great responsibility not to glamourize them, nor encourage people to experiment with them. I do though feel that responsible experimentation and exploration with them can really evolve our scientific thinking on cognition and psychology, and that if used responsibly then they can be of great benefit to mankind.
Did you know that morphine is made endogenously by human’s Simon? It was a point of conjecture for a long time, but the evidence is now pretty solid. Quite interesting that we would share an endogenous biosynthetic pathway for an alkaloid like morphine with a plant. The role endogenous morphine might play in our bodies has yet to be clarified AFAIK.

Are there any countries in the world where UK “A” classified drugs are legal ?

The UK in Victorian times…

see the opium wars we have even been to war for it.

Yep ive done it a few times..

one old mate died from it last week..15 years on the stuff,bad batch or somet so they say.

I shoplifted a packet of frazzles and a snickers (marathon) as a kid.

psychoactive plants

Datura is something I hold huge respect to.

wwww.erowid.com and http://www.lycaeum.com are great reads on a sunday afternoon.

Haven’t read the whole thread but having had to walk a friend around his parents garden to keep him ‘moving’ while waiting an an amulance I’d say don’t do it. But then he was loving it…

Quirrel

I have smoked Datura, and also ingested it as an admixture of ayahuasca. I think it is generally regarded as the worlds strongest hallucinogen. I have also obviously tried many different “teacher plants” including chacruna, huambisa, chullachaqui, chirisanango, huyra caspi, ajo sacha, pucha pari, marosa, tobacco, and pinar colorado amongst others.

Gary

Yes, I stay away from pharmacology in my book as that is not my area of expertise. But there is also the work looking at the endogenous possibilities of DMT too.

I have smoked Datura, and also ingested it as an admixture of ayahuasca. I think it is generally regarded as the worlds strongest hallucinogen.

It’s classed as a delerient, rather than a hallucinogen. DMT I believe is the most powerful natural halucinogen.

Saying that though, nowt like a bit of Penis Envy to get you spangled.

my sister took her life taking all her prescribed morphine and a bottle of wine. The coroner said she would of gone peacefully!

I take great comfort in that!

Never done Heroin, but nearly flatlined once on Ketamine…I was scared!

Datura is very dangerous. I know about its ritual use in India. I know of 4 people who have lost their marbles due to misuse.

I’m well aware that it’s possible to maintain a smack habit much in the way that some people do the gardening.

But I wouldn’t say that reflects my experience with users who are admitted to hospital… At one point, iirc, Bristol was one of the cheapest places in the country for it – and the BRI was heaving with the living dead, to say nothing of the shootings and stabbings that accompanied the dealers’ turf wars. I saw some of the saddest things I’ve ever seen in my life – not least desperate teenagers on the game, staring ruin in the face.

“The junk merchant doesn’t sell his product to the consumer, he sells the consumer to his product. He does not improve and simplify his merchandise. He degrades and simplifies the client.”

— William S. Burroughs

Tang

You are right there and I forgot to add the bit about it being so dangerous. I have taken it under guidance and in a way that does not have those risks, but then you could argue that you never can knowingly reduce the risks to 0. I have of course heard and read of plenty of horror stories too and would never take it in that hardcore way.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5JeBlXjHQ8[/video]

That 0.1mg of heroine has undoubtedly been handled by violent criminals. I don’t recall any instances where Smirnoff has murdered people to keep its supply lines open or to silence their competition. I don’t have kids but if I did I would rather they grew up in a world full of off licence owners than drug dealers.

What annoys about the ‘lets all take a more measured approach to drugs’ line is that the people spouting such crap forget that the drugs they buy are ultimately tainted with the blood of countless people.

I’m coming late to this, obviously, but you may wish to consider the fact that for a big chunk of the 90s when alcohol smuggling was a really, really big deal in the UK, it was, obviously enough, mostly in the hands of organised crime groups. Equally, you may also wish to consider that the UK sources a significant proportion of its alcohol from Russia, where the alcohol industry is heavily criminalised and plugged into the political-military-industrial complex, which itself feeds into the global illegal drugs trade by keeping it supplied with arms, money laundering and law destabilisation solutions.

The global drugs supply and distribution is, absolutely, filled with deeply evil people and then money and corruption/trafficking/violence systems that it sustains lead to unimaginable misery, death and exploitation. That’s why it’s so important to take it out of the hands of criminals. The current approach has failed miserably in achieving that – in fact, it has encouraged them to consolidate control.

There was a question about where drugs which are classified Class A in the UK are legal. Coca leaf is Class A in the UK and is legal in Peru, Bolivia and Venezuela: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca (tbf, the endorsement by Chavez probably wasn’t much of a help). Peyote is legal in Canada. “Mushrooms” are legal in the Netherlands (although ISTR there was a move to ban their sale a couple of years ago). (All info according to wikipedia).