Artist Creates Self-Portraits on Different Drugs

[Old Grafton]

excerpt from Wikipedia entry..... those wild an crrraaazzy guys......


"In the United States the plant is called jimson weed, or more rarely Jamestown weed; it got this name from the town of Jamestown, Virginia, where British soldiers consumed it while attempting to suppress Bacon's Rebellion. They spent eleven days in altered mental states:

The James-Town Weed (which resembles the Thorny Apple of Peru, and I take to be the plant so call'd) is supposed to be one of the greatest coolers in the world. This being an early plant, was gather'd very young for a boil'd salad, by some of the soldiers sent thither to quell the rebellion of Bacon (1676); and some of them ate plentifully of it, the effect of which was a very pleasant comedy, for they turned natural fools upon it for several days: one would blow up a feather in the air; another would dart straws at it with much fury; and another, stark naked, was sitting up in a corner like a monkey, grinning and making mows [grimaces] at them; a fourth would fondly kiss and paw his companions, and sneer in their faces with a countenance more antic than any in a Dutch droll.

In this frantic condition they were confined, lest they should, in their folly, destroy themselves — though it was observed that all their actions were full of innocence and good nature. Indeed, they were not very cleanly; for they would have wallowed in their own excrements, if they had not been prevented. A thousand such simple tricks they played, and after eleven days returned themselves again, not remembering anything that had passed.

– The History and Present State of Virginia, 1705[31]"

[Aesop]

"An artist is the only thing you can say you is that nobody can say you ain't" -- Charles M. Russell.

And I learned recently that Jimson weed was psychoactive and the padres at the California missions considered the natives in what is now the Inland Empire to be useless because of their addiction to Jimson weed. Which makes me wonder if it's still growing in the area and on any Schedule of the DEA, is anyone using?

Jimson Weed, as the name suggests, grows wild all over SoCal.

However, the tropane alkaloids which are responsible for both the medicinal and hallucinogenic properties are fatally toxic in only slightly higher amounts than the medicinal dosage, and careless use often results in hospitalizations and deaths.

It's a member of the Nightshade family, and will kill people deader than canned tuna.

The pharmacology of most of what grows wild in SoCal hills is such that unless you know exactly what it is, assume it's deadly, and you'll do fine.

[Windy Wilson]

I have to say I was expecting this thread to be about something similar to those signs "Your name on a grain of rice."