Parents warned of jimson weed poisoning after local students are hospitalized
Earlier today, Fayetteville school officials began phoning information to parents of students in grades 6-12 warning of the dangers of jimson weed after five students ingested the poisonous plant during the school day yesterday.
Three students were hospitalized and kept overnight, two of which were in intensive care, said Public Information Officer Alan Wilbourn. “Fortunately, they are improving today,” he added.
The plant, which is usually in bloom in early November, is found along roadsides and fields and is sometimes consumed by teenagers seeking a hallucinogenic high.
According to information found on the National Institutes of Health website, poisoning occurs when someone sucks the juice or eats the seeds from this plant. Other names for the plant include Angel’s Trumpet, Devil’s Weed, Thorn Apple, Jamestown Weed, Stinkweed and Moonflower. Symptoms include blurred vision, dilated pupils, dry mouth, nausea, vomiting, fever, coma and in some cases, death.
From the release:
Please talk with your student about this plant and the very real dangers it presents. More information on jimson weed is available online. Teachers and staff members at our schools will be extra vigilant during the next few days to make certain our schools are safe places for students.
[Jimson weed photo by oschene via Flickr and Creative Commons 2.0.]
Comments
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By brandon kittler on November 3rd, 2009
Sad, and very preventable by good drug education. Scopalamine and atropine are extremely dangerous, and most people that know about the toxicity and effects it produces – a delerious state nothing like that of common psychedelic drugs – wouldn’t dare ingest it.
But because of our draconian drug laws, people will do ridiculous things for a “legal high”, and the youth will tend to suffer the most.
Now because of the talk and what happened, and the spotty info they probably got, there will likely be more trying it.
Stay away from anticholinergic drugs, people. Please
By Tany Albers on November 3rd, 2009
Looks like “No Child Left Behind” is really working well…
By Mike Clark on November 4th, 2009
@ Brandon: “Stay away from anticholinergic drugs, people. Please”
Scopolamine dosed properly is an excellent cold medicine, atropine could save your life if your heart stopped, and there’s a commercially available extract of belladonna that’s used for abdominal cramps. I could go on…
My point is, I don’t want anyone to think anticholinergics are inherently unsafe. Most people will be prescribed one for some reason or another at some point in their lives.
But Brandon is right; using them outside of a physician’s orders, especially at “recreational” doses, is very dangerous.
By Angel Lust on November 4th, 2009
So better education and more lenient drug laws would have prevented this? What makes you think they didn’t just choose to risk the poisonous effects to get that “high”?
My opinion, but I’m glad there are barriers for our youth to free use of hallucinogens. This clearly wasn’t a little buzz they were aiming for. Unless they are really that stupid and then all the education wouldn’t have mattered anyway.
Stupid is, as stupid does and likely continue to do so.
By brandon kittler on November 4th, 2009
@Mike I should have been more clear, I meant that for people taking unknown doses for “fun”. Atropine is also an antidote for a certain nerve gas.
@Angel Lust, yes I think proper education would have likely prevented this. It’s not a hallucinogen in the classic sense, it’s a deleriant. When you hear about folks trying to fly off a building, this category of drug is often the culprit.
When did I say that kids needed access to hallucinogens? I don’t think that they should at all. But when the gov lies about/grossly exaggerates the dangers of things like cannabis and MDMA, and kids fund out they are lies… they stop believing what the gov/authority says about any of it. I think real education might have stopped them from taking it, or at the least, pushed them to try something less dangerous. Harm reduction.
By brandon kittler on November 4th, 2009
But yes, Angel Lust, there will probably always be the folks that huff toluene from glues an tetrafluoroethane from computer duster spray and the like. I still think we should try to help prevent what damage we can.
By robertocampana on November 4th, 2009
Yes, better education and more lenient drug laws would have, in all likelihood, prevented this. How many people do you imagine go blind from drinking dodgy, illegal liquor nowadays versus how many did during prohibition? Why risk it with some questionable hooch from a still when you can go to the liquor store for something that is regulated and monitored for quality.
I do not believe that teenagers should have access to alcohol or hallucinogens, but as you stated, stupid is as stupid does and will likely continue to do. Many teenagers want to drink and get high, and probably always will. But if honest, non-hysterical education about drugs and alcohol were combined with a saner approach to the legal status of non-lethal drugs such as pot and hallucinogens, then I think fewer kids would opt to try something as stupidly dangerous as jimson weed.
By Mike Clark on November 4th, 2009
@Brandon: I knew you knew they aren’t all bad, but I had to rush to their defense anyway, lest I wind up counseling some hysterical parent whose kid got prescribed an anticholinergic cold medicine. The horror!
Your other points are very well-said.
By Angel Lust on November 6th, 2009
Nice generization. Now be specific.
So what is the sane approach to non-lethal hallucinogens?
And what would you like teens to know about MDMA?
By Brandon Kittler on November 7th, 2009
@Angel Lust – I’d like teens to know the facts about MDMA, basically. IMO, nobody should be taking drugs with a huge effect on the serotonergic or dopaminergic systems of the brain until well into their twenties, if they choose to take them at all. I don’t think a developing brain is something that should be subjected to the kind of “re-wiring” that comes from habitual use of such things. And while, yes, most have the sense not to use it habitually, some do, and we do not really have solid data on the long term effects since widespread use only really began in the early to mid eighties.
But to more directly answer your question, I wish the government had not been basing their anti-MDMA campaign around the research of Dr. George Ricaurte (who was gov funded). I’m not sure if you are just anti-drug and looking for an argument, are being facetious to see what I’ll say, or are just truly ignorant of what the drugs do and are looking for information. You remember those campaigns from the ’90s with all the pictures people were showing with “holes” in the brains of MDMA users? And how there was all this propaganda put out around that?
What those images were of was serotonin transporter density in brain tissue. Not actual holes in the brain, mind you, but I guess holes in the brain is a scarier way to put it if you don’t mind lying. What the images really where showing by color variation was a way to visualize damage to serotonergic neurons. Ricaurte put out several papers detailing how this was modeled in animals and was indicative of permanent brain damage in humans. Unfortunately, he neglected to mention that he was too much of a tool to actually check what chemicals he used for all this research, and it turns out he was giving the animals methamphetamine instead of MDMA.
Since you seem to care about the topic, I assume you know that a typical dose of MDMA in a non-tolerant individual is about 120mg, and methamphetamine around 20mg or so. That is a 500% increase in per-dose potency by weight for methamphetamine. When Ricaurte gave his monkeys the drugs, he gave them MDMA size doses of methamphetamine for their body weight (which were of course raised to bring out complications). Its well known that methamphetamine is one of the more toxic amphetamine compounds. He gave them orders of magnitude more than any human would take of the wrong compound. OF COURSE they suffered serotonin neuron toxicity!
He has since retracted these studies.
Yes, there is the chance with MDMA that in the later stages of its action that it might cause serotonin transporters to pump alpha-methyldopamine up into serotonergic cells where is doesn’t belong and cause oxidative damage. In fact I don’t doubt this happens at all (tho there are preventative measures as well).
I am prepared to debate this more or less endlessly, providing case studies, peer-reviewed research, modern toxicological data, and data from my efforts in harm reduction programs, and testimony from experts in the medical field that back my points if you really want to get into it, especially regarding MDMA. BUT – If you do, I expect you to do the same for your points of view if you want to continue the discussion.
As far as non-lethal hallucinogens, if you are asking for my personal opinion, I think they should be regulated the way I think cannabis should be… like alcohol, perhaps. Though I would really prefer for there to be a permit required to buy, which would require taking a series of classes on safety… somewhat like the way gun permits are handled (and guns can kill others… these drugs cannot).
Tho, whether people realize it or not, there are plant hallucinogens hallucinogens all around us. I see Brugmansia trees in some of the city parks, plants of the Damania genus (jimson weed is a species in this genus) are common landscaping plants. I just wish that kids could be taught that these are not recreational drugs. Its not that we are telling them that they arent and lying about it… they really just are not safe to be taken. Like Mike says the constituent chemicals have therapeutic value, but that is a totally different issue than eating plant matter with unknown amounts of these things. I honestly don’t think most people doing this understand the level of seriousness here – and I’m not talking out of my ass, I’ve talked to a lot that have done this. None will be repeating it.
In short I’m not advocating drug use to anyone, and most certainly not teens. I just think that if they knew all the facts, perhaps they wouldn’t think everything the gov says about drugs isn’t true once they find out a lot of what they are saying are lies, and then think its all ok, or that well,… if pot is bad, hey, they didn’t say anything about datura, lets eat that (which is so much worse for you I can’t put it into words)… and I also worry about that whole subset that thinks… well, its a plant and not a synthetic drug, so it must be safer. These are all crazy lines of thought.
I don’t want to appear insensitive, though. I really do feel for the people and their families affected. I think its tragic, and that we as a society have failed them. I’d be happy to talk to anyone affected or even just curious about the dangers of that sort of stuff if it would make them feel better.
In any case, Angel Lust, I’m tired, just back from a funeral, generally feel awful, so if that is rambling and/or doesn’t make sense I’ll clarify for you later. Hope that answers your question.
peace
By Brandon Kittler on November 7th, 2009
@Angel Lust – one last comment before I knock out for the night – if I sound insulting to you personally or anything I don’t mean to me. Its just that your comment “Unless they are really that stupid and then all the education wouldn’t have mattered anyway” kind of bothered me.
Why?
Because in my experience in harm reduction work, its usually not stupidity that is the issue… its ignorance. Ignorance is merely a lack of knowledge of a subject, and is correctable by teaching and being understanding of a persons needs. If you explain to someone how huffing organic solvents destroys lipids in the brain causing what might be permanent damage, patiently, in an non-condescending way, and they still do it… yeah, they are probably stupid. I get you there. But I couldn’t tell you how many people I’ve set straight on bad drug info that might have ended up like these kids (or that did, didn’t understand the medical consequences and would have went back).
I am a firm believe that knowledge is power, and we shouldn’t be leaving folks in the dark when it comes to the power to save their lives.
By Angel Lust on November 7th, 2009
@Brandon – excellent argument and agree on all policy points.
Education works for the most part. Frequency of regular use of alcohol, mj, and nicotine (generally) are dropping compared to 15 years ago. Unfortunately recreational use of prescribed medications is inreasing. Theory is that access is increasing and perceived danger is decreasing. A further argument for education.
I guess my comments were coming from the frustration working with that population of teenagers who aren’t responding to education of any kind.
My guess is that the problems these teens and their families have are not limited to this incident.
By wesley on November 7th, 2009
the kids should of just bought some pot or lsd, it’s not like it’s hard to find in fayetteville…
By brandon kittler on November 7th, 2009
Yes, the misguided belief amongst teens that prescription medication is a safer alternative to illicit drugs is very alarming to me. There are a lot of unique challenges to curbing the problem as well, which doesn’t help matters.
Aside from educating parents on the general topic (and I have doubts about how effective that is in this case), I can’t think of any real way to address the situation.
Re: the families/kids problems, I bet you are right.
By Michelle on November 17th, 2009
We live in Iowa. That’s where our son and his friend decided to try some jimson weed on Friday, Nov. 6th. He was released from the hospital ten days ago, on Nov. 8th. He and his friend were in the hospital for two days. He barely remembers Monday. Friday night, all day Saturday and all day Sunday are gone from his memory almost completely. He was tied down in five-point restraints to a chair. They’d had him tied to the bed but he broke out of those. Twice. The hospital staff finally had to call the police to help. They brought a special chair to strap him down in. It took five police officers to get him down and hold him down to restrain him. 5 police versus one seventeen year old boy. Our son tried to punch a nurse, tried to rip out his catheter because he thought they were trying to cut his privates open, and vomited after he passed out cold. The doctor told us that based on when he threw up and when he was brought in to the hospital and how much of this he had ingested he would have died if he hadn’t thrown up. Luckily his friend hadn’t had as much and wasn’t in danger of dying. Our son is normally respectful of other people, such as nurses, doctors and police. None of his behavior during the time he was under the influence was ‘normal’ for him. The drug tests done on both boys came up negative, they aren’t drug addicts. They were curious and made a stupid choice. Thank god it didn’t cost my son his life.