Plants, your Highness

Mother Nature gives and nurtures, also pleasures and provides us with a difficulty in separating the real with the apparent. So can be said when we delve into the topic of plants which can get us high naturally

Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa)

Kratom is a leafy green substance which is basically like a coffee plant. It has been used for its medicinal values for over centuries. This leaf, found in the South Pacific region, has a quality of being both a stimulant and a depressant because it contains a chemical combination of mitragynine, mitraphylline and 7-hydroxymitragynine inducing this unique effect.

Salvia (Salvia Divinorum)

Made from the Salvia divinorum plant, this hallucinogen drug is usually dismissed owing to its legal status. However, ‘salvinorin-A’ is a powerful hallucinogen which is not like any other party enhancer but more like sending you to a quest for the meaning of life. Its traditional methods of usage include it being boiling it in tea or chewing on its leaves.

Nutmeg

A very common food enhancer, nutmeg or ground nutmeg contains a chemical called ‘myristicin’ which is a type of monoamine oxidase inhibitor. It is used by doctors as a medication for depression. ‘Myristicin’ has psychoactive properties. It will not affect one when sprinkled on their morning coffee, but a right dose of 12 teaspoons or more will have you high, though it is very tough to swallow.

Betel Nut (Areca catechu)

Following nicotine, alcohol and caffeine, it is the fourth most common psychoactive drug in the world, especially in the East. The betel nut growing on areca palm when chewed induces a sense of mild euphoria with the release of a number of addictive alkaloids. It leaves the user with stained teeth and lips, and its health hazards have become increasingly alarming.

Cannabis (Cannabis sativa)

Cannabis is the most widespread plants found all over the world with psychoactive properties that give a mild euphoria, alter vision and judgement by their active chemical of tetrahydrocannabinol. They are smoked as joints but can also be used in food and beverages. Smoking marijuana can cause visual hallucinations, anxiety, depression and paranoid reactions which last for 4-6 hours.

Coca (Erythroxylum coca)

Coca is a shrub found in the tropical regions of Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia. For centuries it was chewed on to decrease hunger and thirst and to give pleasure for workers under strenuous conditions. The leaves can also be crushed to form a white powder which can be smoked, injected or consumed in alternative ways. Repeated use of this habit-forming drug leads to irritability, sleep disorders, reduced hunger, convulsions, chronic fatigue and mental confusion invoking paranoid delusions and hallucinations, being a major issue of drug abuse.

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum)

The distinct large leaves of the tobacco plant are a source of nicotine used in cigarettes, cigars and snuffs. In short puffs, it acts as a stimulant but with deeper puffs, it has a tranquillizing effect. In large doses, it is toxic and causes nausea, headache, vomiting and in more severe cases it causes convulsions, paralysis and even leads to death.

Morning Glory seeds (Ipomoea violacea)

It is a plant growing in most gardens with lysergic acid amide (LSA). There are four kinds of Morning Glory flowers but it is the vine plant that has heart-shaped leaves and small black seeds which have the capability to get you stoned. It is a natural, non-synthetic version of LSD. Roughly 100 seeds taken together can trip you for about 6-10 hours. 16th-century Spanish colonizers were particularly fascinated with these seeds.

Even though we’ve prepped you with a list of natural plants which can act as drugs, we’re in no way encouraging you to destroy your sanity and end up on the verge of not being able to distinguish the virtual world from reality – that’s your own discretion.