Psychedelic Abstracts
Search Results for: Solanaceae
4 Youths Poisoned by Jimson Weed Tea
Stacy Wong, Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times 14-May-93
ORANGE -- Three teen-agers lost consciousness and another suffered spasms Thursday morning after they tried to get high by drinking a tea made with jimson weed, a poisonous plant, police said.
The youths, ages 15 to 17, were taken to hospitals and are expected to recover. One remains in intensive care.
Poison control officials said several dozen Southern California teen-agers become ill each year after smoking, drinking or eating parts of the jimson weed, a member of the poisonous nightshade family. Although no fatalities have been recorded, ingesting the plant can cause seizures and severe nerve and muscle damage.
"We have not had any patients die from it, but the potential is there," said Kathy Karlheim, assistant director of the Regional Poison Center at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange.
Helen Burke, whose 17-year-old son, Travis, is in intensive care after drinking the tea, warned other parents to get rid of the plant if it grows near their homes or if they see their children bring it home.
Burke said the four teen-agers apparently brewed a pot of the jimson weed tea at her house sometime after midnight.
HEISER JR,CB:
The Ethnobotany of the Neotropical Solanaceae.
Advances in Economic Botany Ethnobotany in the Neotropics G T Prance & J A Kallunki(eds) New York Botanical Garden Bronx Ny 1 : 48-52 (1984) English
From: morgan_j@summer.chem.su.oz.au
Newsgroups: alt.psychoactives
Subject: Re: Datura Stramonium
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1993 00:33:17 GMT
Organization: School of Chemistry, University of Sydney
The following was clipped from:
'The Sydney Morning Herald', 13/4/93
EXPERTS TRUMPET DANGERS OF SHRUB
Brisbane: Chewing the leaves of the ornamental shrub known as Angel's Trumpet to get a cheap "high" was a dangerous pastime that could kill, authorities warned yesterday.
In the latest incident, four young Brisbane men were recovering in hospital after an Angel's Trumpet party on Saturday night that left them unconscious and in intensive care.
Professor John Pearn, a consultant to the Queensland Poisons Information Centre, said Angel's Trumpet - or datura - was extremely dangerous. Its toxins made the heart race until the person died of heart failure, he said.
The deputy director of Princess Alexandra Hospital's emergency department, Dr Peter Thomas, said the whole plant - roots, stems, leaves and pollen - were toxic. "People get a high but it affects the brain," he ssaid.
The became delirious, violent and aggressive before lapsing into a coma. Dr Thomas said the plant also caused stomach cramps, high temperatures, heart irregularities and disturbed vision.
"Its like playing with a loaded revolver", said Sergeant Neil Clowes of Wynnum Police, whose officers went to a local park on Saturday night after reports that men were "acting strangely".
Angel's Trumpet is a tall shrub with coarse foliage which owes its ornamental value to its white 20 cm long trumpet shaped flowers. In garden books it is listed as Datura arborea but has recently been reclassified as species Brugmansia.
One authoritative volume stresses that revision of the name be noted so the plant is not bought by mistake.
Ms Sue Hawkins, a director of the leading Brisbane nursery group Hawkins Garden Centres, said:"We don't stock it and I don't think any nursery in Brisbane would either because its dangerous properties are well known."
Sergeant Clowes said Saturday night's Angel's Trumpets party in Wynnum was the second in the bayside suburb in recent weeks.
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