Sacred Datura

💀 WARNING 💀

All species of Datura are DEADLY POISON.
Toxicity levels can vary widely from plant to plant.
It is impossible to determine a safe dosage outside of a laboratory.
Even if it doesn't kill you, you can suffer permanent mental and physical damage.

This Web site is INFORMATIONAL ONLY and does not suggest or endorse ingesting Datura.


Datura Links

Archaeology Southwest: Sacred Datura

Datura poisoning in a family: Case series and literature review (NIH)

The Death Scent Project Poisoned Garden: Datura

Erowid's Datura Vault

The Narcotic Plant Datura in Aboriginal American Culture


Herald Scholarly Open Access is a known predatory open-access publisher, meaning they charge the authors money to post their papers. They claim their papers are peer-reviewed, but who knows, right? The title of this specific journal, Journal of Alternative Complementary & Integrative Medicine, is bullshit; there is only one kind of medicine, and that is evidence-based medicine.

The "paper" itself is problematic. It consists of 4 brief anecdotal "Case Reports". As we should all know and remind ourselves constantly, the plural of anecdote is not data. All four subjects are devotees of Carlos Castaneda, and as the paper's authors mention Castaneda in the first sentence, there is an inherent bias that renders this paper useless. And I'm not sure what Castaneda had to do with the Chumash, maybe I'm unaware, but it still sounds sketch. And making a distinction between "recreational" and "sacred intent", as if sacred usage somehow renders the plant less dangerous, is downright irresponsible.

Nevertheless, I am including this link because I think it is of interest, but please heed the warning at the top of this page.

The Sacred Use of Datura Wrightii: Four Case Reports