If I were you, i would stay far, far away from datura.

I understand if you're curious. We all are, that's why were here. It may sound interesting but it honestly doesn't seem to be worth it.

1. Its toxic and it can kill you.
2. Even if it doesn't kill you, it will make you feel physically terrible for a looong time.
3. It's mental effects are insidious and you will probably not even be aware that you are experiencing anything out of the ordinary. You might be having perfectly normal interactions, they just won't be the same interactions that are occurring in real life.
4. You will have little or no control over what you're doing because you won't know what you're actually doing, and yes you'll be up and about getting into all sorts of shenanigans. Maybe talking to a wall, or walking into traffic. Maybe smoking imaginary cigarettes, or attacking a stranger in a park, and ending up in handcuffs. There's no way to guess what kind of "fun" you'll get up to.
5. It can last several days, making the concept of a useful trip sitter almost impossible and offering the added benefit of putting you in a position where you go to sleep and wake up totally out of your mind, more than once.
6. Nothing profound, fascinating, or even particularly interesting happens from your perspective. You don't really get anything out of it.

To be fair, I've never tried it myself. I was interested in it and I did the research. Based on that research, I decided that there was not a chance in hell that I would try the stuff. NOPE!

Don't just take my word for it. Do some research, you'll see all the same warnings I just gave you. A VERY high percentage of the datura trip reports I've read have ended in the hospital or a police station. It's bad stuff, for real. No, really though. Stay away from it.

Er, thanks. I see that other people might read these threads and get the wrong idea. Your warnings are valid. Fortunately I am a real grown up who definitively understands these warnings.

Principally, I really like the flowers. They have a special allure.

Tropane alkaloids are used medicinally in safe dosages, for instance as the motion sickness prophylactic par excellence (i.e. scopolamine).

Similarly, this antinauseant property can be put to good use when other sources of nausea come into play. I would never advise trying to get high from tropane alkaloids (although cocaine could be said to be useful in the right circumstances, too ) but I'll make my own decisions about their utility as plant medicines when used in the right context.

Now, anyone fancy a diatribe against LSD? I hear teenagers use it to get high and some of them jump out of windows...

I don't think anyone is trying to get high of the datura in this thread. Your warnings are appreciated, but I have done my research when it comes to these plants and alkaloids and know all about the dangers that can come from them.

My interest in this plant lies in the medicinal values of the tropane alks. I know caution must be taken, but they are known for their anti nausea effects as mentioned above, which can come very useful at times. All of the horror stories you hear about them is from uninformed people taking way to much, or they get drugged by someone. Most cases the people were trying to get high, which is always going to end badly with this plant.

You know what? you're both right. My rant was unnecessary in this context.

I'm sorry. I've been away from this site for a while and I've been spending a lot of time on Reddit. Between the overall negativity of that place and the scary lack of understanding or respect for any substances in the DMT subreddit, I guess I jumped to some conclusions.

Carry on.

Yeah, reddit is not the place to have intelligent discussions with people who have done their research. It's mostly people who have no idea what they are doing or talking about. I have seen so many people suggest some very dangerous things on those forums. Plus the level of anger and negativity in people's posts over there is outragous.

I refrain from using that forum as much as possible.

^Reading this, I'm sending you both a big hug (I recently drank 3 teaspoons of raw cacao )

There is a pretty awesome book called, "The Flying Witches of Veracruz" where datura use within the context of sorcery/brujeria is discussed. A really interesting read a favorite of mine. I used to find the plants all the time, and collected some but never did anything with it. I would like to make a "flying ointment" with it one day to just try putting a dot or 2 on the skin...

Either way the dangers are there but no reason to be so hysterical about it

Datura metel looks like the plants you see below as they are Datura metel.

Datura inoxia on the other hand is your nice single white with a low growing habit in comparison to Datura metel.

1. Many powerful medicines can kill if one simply gets the dosage and or route wrong. Datura can and has been used as a medicinal plant as well as a plant used in initiation ceremonies across many different cultures.

2. Datura can kill you as can many medicines. Datura can also be used to heal and many cultures do use Datura for healing.

3. You don't play with medicines you have no understanding of just as one would not take 100 grams of acetaminophen in under an hour if one was wise.