'Mad honey' that can stop your heart is being sold online
39 points by samizdis 4 days ago | 20 comments
nkrisc 24 minutes ago
They mention the toxin comes from the rhododendron flower. I remember camping in North Carolina once and one of the people I was with warned against burning anything from the rhododendron in the area, as supposedly the smoke would give you the runs.
replyI mostly thought they were joking, and I have no idea what specific type of rhododendron would be there (if any), but maybe there’s a glimmer of merit to it? Or maybe they were thinking of a different plant?
This was somewhere in the Blue Ridge Mountains, if I remember correctly.
john_strinlai 7 minutes ago
i believe ingestion is the primary concern, but the smoke can also lead to symptoms, yes.
replyAngryData 21 minutes ago
If you buy psychoactive honey/drugs online, it is on you to find out what it is and what kind of dosage you should take.
replyDylan16807 7 minutes ago
It's on you to figure out the dosage you can take, and it should be on the producer to label the dosage they're selling.
replyForgeties79 19 minutes ago
Yes but also we need to deal with the reality of the world, which is 1) not everyone is going to and 2) they don’t deserve to die because of it.
replysokoloff 12 minutes ago
I agree they don’t “deserve” to die, but someone comfortable with that level of risk management is quite hard to fully protect from themselves.
replyForgeties79 3 minutes ago
Most OD’s and such with drugs happens when someone trusts someone. They don’t just pick them up off the ground and go town. It’s basically the whole idea behind food safety.
replydaedrdev 35 minutes ago
I imagine the native also built up tolerance over generations, not just knowledge as the article contends . Dying from a specific action is quite the evolutionary motivator
replyculi 29 minutes ago
As with many psychoactive plants and foods, the adaptation here isn't so much a genetic/physiological tolerance as it is an often in-depth body of knowledge/practices for how to utilize the drug/medicine safely. Look at the notorious Datura for example which can cause you to go into a delirious state for over 2 days. The amount of preparation, processing, and knowledge that goes into administering it safely is lost on modern day kids who simply read an Erowid experience about a powerful psychoactive plant that likely grows locally.
replyLoughla 3 minutes ago
Datura is fucking dangerous. Deliriants are no joke in general. That one in particular is really dangerous because it grows absolutely anywhere and is very easy to identify.
replySource; chemistry was my favorite class in high school and college because it helped me understand how to extract what I wanted from plants like jimsonweed and Mimosa trees.
Also no one should do that.
mock-possum 8 minutes ago
Metta Beshay, my new favorite drug explainer, has a neat video on the subject: https://youtu.be/5X3dCBQYdek
replymeindnoch 24 minutes ago
A lot of things sold online can stop your heart.
replyBang2Bay 23 minutes ago
Name a few. I want to be an informed person.
replySupermancho 16 minutes ago
* Sibutramine (weight loss medication)
reply* Suldenafil or tadalafil (ED medication)
* SARMS (steroids in general)
* Caffeine powder (another game of guess the dosage)
Retro_Dev 2 minutes ago
Caffeine is especially interesting, as it is commonly consumed and there are incidents where people are hospitalized because they accidentally ate too much - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8824417/ (referencing the 6000 mg here)
reply
https://youtu.be/wDOvmhqvIA8