getting high on scorpion venom

[moorhsum]

Is there any possibility in this folks?

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011107/o...nkies_dc_1.html

[waterdragon]

this will create a problem for the authorities when they try to ban an insect.

"pssst, wanna buy some arachnid"

[Adrian]

Hi,

I saw scorpions on JLF's catalouge once and wondered the same thing.

I think they are traditionally used in some healing ceremonies in S.America,maybe as an add-mixture to ayahuasca brews.

A friends father was bitten by a copperhead once, sought no medical attention and "tripped" out a little for about six hours, felt fine the next morning.

Adrian

Is it a good idea to be telling people this, being summer and all?

Delete at will!

[minotaur]

I read a report somewhere of cobra venom possibly being psychoactive. (he goes and finds the book ...)

Apparently the crystalised venom was smoked, sometimes with cannabis, by Indian holy men. In the 'Encyclopaedia of Psychoactive Substances' by Richard Rudgley there is a section on animals - toads, dream fish, some insects. Some of these animal venoms are also used in traditional medicine in some parts of the world.

Sounds like something for the Crocodile man to try.

[spaced]

I wonder how this works or if indeed it works at all. From what I've read scorpion venom consists of polypeptides which are responsible for the various toxic effects - in some cases the release of catecholamines, which could have a stimulatory effect on the CNS (amongst other things eg death). Maybe smoking the dried venom would destroy the peptide structure and leave behind some constituents which are yet to be identified in the test tube. Could be worth screening the stuff for indole alkaloids, before attempting human bioassays anyway.

Of course it could be completely psychosomatic. Whilst some people seem to get high off reckless driving, others may get a similar buzz from smoking dangerous creatures.

[Veronica]

Sounds like something for the Crocodile man to try.

Steve and Terri smoke dried venom all the time?(Well if thay dont thay shore act like thay do.)

[Pablo]

'they' god dammit!

[rkundalini]

"Damn it," god damn it.

[Guest wira]

Some scorpion venoms contain serotonin, so it's not too strange to expect indoles in there. Sure, polypeptides are the main known toxic constituents in the scorpion venoms that have been studied, but venoms are complex things we still know very little about.

And with cobra venom you should be pretty damn careful! The kind of saddhus who would do this are rather different folk than most of us, I would say, when it comes to ingesting highly toxic substances

I doubt the scorpion effects are any 'placebo' - some of the people who smoke this stuff were described as sometimes accidentally falling into open graves! [well, it's a potential hazard when you take drugs in a cemetary!].

[woof woof woof]

Seen a man once (on tv) that ate live scorpions.... every day and had become immune to their stings... this man lives in El Salvador.(Central America)....

He was also the world record holder of live scorpion eating.

[This message has been edited by brian (edited 09 December 2001).]

[blog]

Saw a doco on ABC the other night showing lemurs rubbing millipedes all over their body then biting/licking/sucking it, and continuing the cycle for quite a long time. Before long it was drooling and looked rather stoned.

The narrator suggested the behaviour may be due to the animal stimulating the release of toxins inorder to cover it's body with the juice, which she theorised might act as a insect repellent, or more likely it was stimulating the release the toxic secretion by rubbing the millipede on it's body, then licking and sucking it to get fucked of it's face on the venom.

So that's something else to try :-)

[gomaos]

Here's more:

In Thailand they soak large centipedes in mekong whiskey, and then drink the tincture.

It's supposed to be aphrodisiac, but also rather toxic.

I was never game enough to try.

[Guest Psilo_smylin]

smylin's love tips..

 

Originally posted by blog:

.....all over their body then biting/licking/sucking it.... B]

So those lemurs were listening

Which reminds me of a book called 'plants of love' , suggests slapping your genitals with (a herring...sorry) stinging nettles.

Apparently stimulates blood flow (I had an itch .

[theobromos]

wira, have you still got that link for Sadobotany?

[Guest Nozzle Boy]

Did you know, if you drop a little bit of ethanol on a scorpion, it will stab the spot where you dropped the ethanol on so furiously, that it will poison/mangle itself, and die. Cool eh ! I haven't personally experienced such cruelty, but read it on a website somewhere. Who's willing enough to get their eye and hand close enough to make sure the ethanol drops onto it ? I suppose long range, you'd eventually hit the bugger.

[Guest wira]

No theo, 'fraid I don't!