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Teens Turn Legal Plant Into Dangerous Drug
wlky ^
| 11-14-03
Posted on 11/14/2003 9:45:37 AM PST by steppenwolffe
Police: Parents Should Look Out For 'Angel Trumpet.'
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Television station KMBC uncovered a new drug craze that could turn deadly.
The drug, which is ostensibly legal, is made from a plant available at many nurseries. When distilled, toxins in the plant's leaves can cause hallucinations that last for hours or days.
Last month, someone twice stole the plant -- called the Angel Trumpet, Datura or Jimsonweed -- from Johnson County Community College's botanical department. The plant has become such a hot commodity, local nurseries are getting calls from teens who ask how much the plant costs and how they can get one, the station reported.
Jesse Rollwagon, a narcotics detective with the Overland (Kan.) Park Police Department, first took notice of the plant a few months ago.
"Basically, this is just a poison," he said. "It cooks your brains sometimes."
The plant is not smoked, but instead brewed into a tea that can have disastrous results.
Bobby Wainscott, a nurse at the Mid-America Poison Control Center, recently took a call from someone who had taken Angel Trumpet.
"By the time they got him to the hospital an hour later, he was already hallucinating," Wainscott said.
And the hallucinations can be nightmarish and last for hours or sometimes days, the station reported. Those who take the drug are often left seriously ill, combative and uncontrollable. A German teenager who was reportedly high on the drug recently mutilated himself by cutting off his penis and his tongue.
Wainscott said the poison center has taken about 20 calls about Angel Trumpet in the last few months.
Police believe curious kids have been doing research on the Internet and taking it without considering the dangers.
"Word of mouth gets around, gossip gets around. Unfortunately, they don't tell them 'Here's the danger here, here's the danger there,'" Rollwagon said.
Police warned parents to keep an eye out for the new -- and potentially deadly -- drug.
TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: datura; jimsonweed; wod
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To: All
Forgot to mention also that this stuff will dialate your eyes beyond belief, I'm talking unable to read newsprint for a week or so. But at least it forces you indoors durring daylight hours.
To: Billthedrill
"Used to read about hard-up hippies smoking Jimson weed now and then way back when...fact is, Mother Nature will kill the stupid. It's her job."!!!BWAHAAAAA!!!
Nicely put, Bill.
*Darwin*.
...it's a beautiful thing. :o)
22
posted on
11/14/2003 10:03:57 AM PST
by
Landru
To: steppenwolffe
A German teenager who was reportedly high on the drug recently mutilated himself by cutting off his penis and his tongue.And promptly issued a statement, "You listen. I only going to write this once. I will not have sex with those women, Misses and Mrs.
Seriously, there are good plants, and there are bad plants. This is a very, very bad plant. Do not allow it it to enter your body in any form or fashion.
23
posted on
11/14/2003 10:04:00 AM PST
by
auboy
(If frogs had wings, it would be raining warts.)
To: steppenwolffe
"Basically, this is just a poison," he said. "It cooks your brains sometimes."
Good. Then distribute it free of charge. It will improve the nation's gene pool.
24
posted on
11/14/2003 10:04:36 AM PST
by
ZULU
To: Slicksadick
As I remember from botany class also causes kidney and liver damage. The regular old Jimson weed with the purple flowers does the same thing. Don't know why anyone would willingly ingest this stuff.
25
posted on
11/14/2003 10:05:13 AM PST
by
from occupied ga
(Your government is your most dangerous enemy, and Bush is no conservative)
To: bk1000
I like to smoke crawdads
26
posted on
11/14/2003 10:06:07 AM PST
by
al baby
(Ice cream does not have bones)
To: bk1000
I like to smoke crawdads
27
posted on
11/14/2003 10:06:14 AM PST
by
al baby
(Ice cream does not have bones)
To: Billthedrill
Angel's trumpet is a very close relative of Jimson weed. Flowers look virtually the same, too.
Neither one gives pleasant hallucinations so why anyone would want a buzz off of it I cannot fathom.
28
posted on
11/14/2003 10:08:39 AM PST
by
piasa
(Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
To: steppenwolffe
" called the Angel Trumpet, Datura or Jimsonweed"This may sound like I'm nitpicking, but this is $h!tty reporting. Which is it "Angle Trumpet", which is a Datura or Jimsonweed which is a totally different plant that is causing the problem?
Jimsonweed is also called Nightshade, (Solanum dulcamara called Bitter Nightshade and Solanum nigrum called Black Nightshade), is a weed that is probably natural occurring in Missouri. Knuckleheads of all generations have tried getting high on that stuff. My grandpa told me how when he was a teen he saw some of his friends consume some of that stuff after they saw cattle eat it and act crazy. He said it can kill.
To: Billthedrill; Landru; JohnHuang2
"Used to read about hard-up hippies smoking Jimson weed now and then way back when...fact is, Mother Nature will kill the stupid. It's her job." That's "Quote of the day" material, imo.
To: auboy
Seriously, there are good plants, and there are bad plants. Plants aren't good or bad any more than rocks or electric drills or guns are good or bad. It's the uses that people make of them that are good or bad.
31
posted on
11/14/2003 10:09:27 AM PST
by
from occupied ga
(Your government is your most dangerous enemy, and Bush is no conservative)
To: from occupied ga
Don't know why anyone would willingly ingest this stuff.
Primarily used by teens who have no concept of mortality yet. It does have a natural ability to turn people away though. In its raw state, its one of the foulest smelling plants around, imagine 2 week old dirty gym socks.
To: Slicksadick
In its raw state, its one of the foulest smelling plants aroundUsed to grow in the pasture - even the sheep wouldn't eat it, and it's hard to imagine a dumber animal than a sheep.
33
posted on
11/14/2003 10:12:29 AM PST
by
from occupied ga
(Your government is your most dangerous enemy, and Bush is no conservative)
To: from occupied ga
I guess flunky teenagers qualify as dumber than sheep. LOL
To: from occupied ga
I did have a bad car once. It was bad, bad, bad.:-)
35
posted on
11/14/2003 10:14:15 AM PST
by
auboy
(If frogs had wings, it would be raining warts.)
To: piasa
Neither one gives pleasant hallucinations so why anyone would want a buzz off of it I cannot fathom. I can't explain the guy in Germany, but these latest idiots were from Missouri -- they may have heard that all the hallucinations would be bad, but they ARE from the "show me" state. Now they know.
36
posted on
11/14/2003 10:15:22 AM PST
by
ClearCase_guy
(France delenda est)
To: steppenwolffe
Didn't Oliver Sacks have a story about Jimson weed in one of his books? An amateur gardener wanted to make a tomato plant that wasn't chilling-sensitive, so he grafted a tomato onto a Jimson weed rootstock. It worked, sort of -- the plant did fine at low temperatures but the tomatoes did strange things to the gardener's mind.
To: auboy
Although, it was perfectly fine, if you just wanted to look at it and weren't trying to go somewhere.
38
posted on
11/14/2003 10:16:28 AM PST
by
auboy
(If frogs had wings, it would be raining warts.)
To: steppenwolffe
A German teenager who was reportedly high on the drug recently mutilated himself by cutting off his penis and his tongueDarwin award.
To: al baby
Hmm smoked crawdads?? Interesting, I love em boiled, wonder what they taste like smoked
40
posted on
11/14/2003 10:17:24 AM PST
by
commish
(Freedom Tastes Sweetest to Those Who Have Fought to Preserve It)
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