Ontario police warn of jimson weed dangers
Date: Oct. 25, 1999
Time: 1:56 pm
Police in London, Ont. recently asked gardeners to destroy seed pods on any jimson weed plants on their properties. The move came after at least 5 local teenagers ingested seeds in pursuit of a cheap, legal high. For all the teens, the trips ended in hospital wards. One 14-year-old spent a night in intensive care, drifting in and out of consciousness and hallucinating; it took half-a-dozen staff members to restrain him.
The nearby communities of Brampton, Midland, Waterloo and Hamilton have experienced similar problems in the past 2 years, and many poisonings have also been reported in Quebec. A year ago, the US National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information reported that jimson weed poisonings were on the increase among teens; they often occurred in clusters following media reports about the problem.
Detective Constable Steve Cochrane of London Police Department said the plant is not covered by Canada's Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, but ought to be. "It's very dangerous. There's a sense of abuse, an element of danger," he said. London Police intend to lay charges if sellers misrepresent the seeds as another drug.
Jimson weed (also known as Datura stramonium, devil's apple, fireweed, madapple, stinkweed and stinkwort) is both a potent hallucinogen and highly toxic. In some cases it causes death.
According to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, symptoms of jimson weed poisoning may include dry mucous membranes, thirst, difficulty swallowing and speaking, blurred vision and photophobia, followed by hyperthermia, confusion, agitation, combative behaviour, hallucinations, seizures and coma. As one cliché-loving nursing supervisor told the Salt Lake Tribune last year: "They are red as a beet, dry as a bone, blind as a bat and mad as a hatter."
All parts of the plant are poisonous; one student hospitalized last month in London reported ingesting just 1 seed.
Recreational users may ingest seeds or prepare jimson-based tea or cigarettes. The plant is also used in folk medicine to make topical salves and poultices. Some teens learn how to use the plant through Web sites and newsgroups. However, newsgroups accessed by CMAJ described it as a bad trip. "The high lasts about 36-48 hours," said one. "It will allow you to do very stupid and dangerous things."
-- David Helwig, London, Ont.
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