The war on herbal highs and herbs

national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis

Saturday December 06, 2008 11:59

by S.C. - Deep Route Gardening

An overview of the recent raids on Irish "Head Shops", and the current controversy surrounding legal alternatives to street drugs.

On the sixth of November the Gardai raided our shops, The Funky Skunk on Lavitt's Quay in Cork and Deep Route Gardening in Limerick. This was part of a country wide campaign on 22 shops to find anything that might be illegal and was specifically targeted at the detection of two hallucinogenic plant-based products, one, LSA, which is contained in some seeds such as Hawaiian Baby Woodrose and Morning Glory and the other, Mescaline which is found in some cacti such as San Pedro and Peyote.

They took away all the Hawaiian Baby Woodrose from our Cork shop and a selection of herbs from our Limerick shop although they left the Hawaiian Baby Woodrose seeds alone in Limerick as if they didn't know exactly what they were looking for. This is not the first time that they have taken away completely legal things and they have never returned anything to us that they have taken away before. However, this was the first nationwide campaign and it reflects the growing fear from parents and politicians over what head shops sell.

With Magic Mushrooms a loophole in legislation meant that unprocessed or untreated samples could be sold legally over the counter. They were very popular amongst some until an accidental death caused them to be banned entirely. Then there was Ephedra or Ma Huang , a herb that was used for weight loss and was also used as a herbal high. It was banned because of its possible side-effects. St John's Wort, Ginseng, Comfrey and Ginko have also been banned in Ireland for similar reasons. St John's Wort which was used for depression by many people then became a controlled drug because of possible side-effects, such as fatigue and photosensitivity, and the possibility of the herb interacting with prescribed medicines. Kava-kava had been identified as causing liver problems. Ginko and Ginseng have been identified with some other health problems.

Although it seems these herbs cause medical problems, many believe that these problems have been exaggerated and compared to some mainstream medicines they are relativity safe. Many direct deaths are caused by prescription drugs such as the group of tranquillizers called benzodiazepines which includes Valium and many medicines also have side-effects too numerous to mention. However herbs that don't make big money for big businesses are an easy target for control.

To use herbs as medicine or for recreational use requires the user to be responsible. We believe that the herbal highs that we sell are a great alternative to illegal drugs because the money goes through legitimate taxpaying businesses, rather than criminals. Our smoking mixes, Smoke and Spice are a great smoke without the paranoid and mental disabling side-effects of Cannabis while our party pills are a much safer alternative to illegal ecstasy tablets.

How can anything natural be illegal when we can grow it in our garden? Surely we have this right and the right to use things responsibly. More knowledge is also needed about herbs and natural highs in order to use them correctly. The government’s policy of banning everything will effect everyone and who knows when it will stop. Only by stating our case and working together can we have a hope of turning the tide.

We have heard that BZP might be banned in March. It is derived from the pepper plant and it is the main ingredient in many herbal high pills. It has being compared to illegal drugs in strength and dangers but the comparison is unjustified and the law makers don't seem to realize the role that these herbal highs have for people as alternatives to illegal drugs nor do they respect peoples rights to use natural substances.

Herbal highs are just going to increase in popularity and there are many that aren't being sold yet. As one thing gets banned there will be another to take its place and hopefully we will be left with the most safe and effective herbal highs possible. And maybe a fair opinion on them too.

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Comments (7 of 7)

crocodile tears.

by Randall, Limerick.

Sat Dec 06, 2008 22:23

We have heard that BZP might be banned in March. It is derived from the pepper plant and it is the main ingredient in many herbal high pills. It has being compared to illegal drugs in strength and dangers but the comparison is unjustified and the law makers don't seem to realize the role that these herbal highs have for people as alternatives to illegal drugs nor do they respect peoples rights to use natural substances.

The comparison is unjustified? Another 'Headshop' not too far from your Limerick shop was selling, nay, actively PUSHING BZP to a woman who was just about back on her feet after brain trauma. Now she is a wreck.
Another headshop, near that one, is flogging these 'party pills' out the door to beat the band, and they have no concern for how dependent the punters are.
Don't give me any of this 'responsibility' nonsense. People already addicted to stuff, or too young to know better, need someone to look out for them, not to

You go ahead and try get your stuff back if the cops took it back from you. But don't expect much sympathy about your BZP stash one way or the other. It's not St. John's Wort, it's not anything useful. It's a dangerous stimulant being sold over the counter without supervision or control.

Change your brain chemistry.

Sat Dec 06, 2008 22:27

Laugh. Smile, talk. All those things will change a person's brain chemistry in a postive way, with no reported ill effects.
Paying someone for pills to do it for you, is removing your own ability to control how you feel. It's the opposite of the responsibility being preached by the author.

A Passing Comment

by Mr Man

Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:30

Don't get me wrong, I have taken BZP myself before and quite liked it. But to say there are no ill effects is just plain wrong. Even the most cursory investigation shows evidence for the toxicity of it and I know two neuroscientists in Ireland, one of whom is a professor who believe it to be MORE damaging than MDMA.

It took me 2 seconds to find the following info;

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19031377?ordinalpos=...ocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18821145?ordinalpos=...ocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18608458?ordinalpos=...ocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18021425?ordinalpos=...ocSum

Responsibility is in our hands, its just how we use them!

by Sean Collard - Funky Skunk

Wed Feb 18, 2009 12:20

Regarding your comments:
You have fair points and I won't deny them but my point is that for a lot of people, these products are a safer alternative than illegal options that they might use if our products were not on sale. But that does not make them right ether I agree.
However there is a need in humans (however much you say there isn't) to get elevated and they want to have fun. There is a world of safe herbs out there that have been used for thousands of years by people and these herbs could be used as totally safe alternatives to illegal drugs and even the current herbal highs that are been sold.
As things are banned, this will lead us to safer and better herbal highs and they will really be herbal highs.
We are working on this at the present.

e heads herald the end of bzp

by delb1983 - myself

Fri Apr 03, 2009 16:46

users of ecstasy will be breathing a collective sigh of relief on hearing the recent news on bzp.
the drug has widely been sold as ecstasy on the black market and has created a near drought of mdma based pills, although mimicing the mdma effect, mdma it is not. the experience is markedly different in many ways, much less enjoyable and far more disorientating, anyone expecting a typically mdma feeling will be sorely disapointed if not extremely panicked. this is my experience of the drug anyway, but if anyone is in any doubt about the general consensus among ecstasy users you only have to look at sites such as pillreports.com, where contributors share their horror stories of their encounters with the dreaded demon that is bzp. one thing that we must accredit to bzp is the soar in pill-testing kits which enable users to distinguish between mdma and non mdma pills, and more importantly to screen for more dangerous adulderants such as ketamine and pma. to this end we must thank the creators of bzp as in turn it has created a very vigilant e population, whose fear of bzp might very well save their lives, by proxy.

All food

by squirty

Sun Apr 05, 2009 20:14

It may be of intereste for People to investivate 'Cocex Alimentariuos' which is coming onto effect in December 31 of this year and will have profound effects on every aspect of our lives as it will control everything that is grown on the Planet including Herbs and all Foods. It will be controlled via the UN. in an effort to 'save' Humanity from Nature and it's horribly fungi and dredded nasties like .......dirty clay and all that stuff.

Oh! My immune system is already needing some Artificial Pharma.stuff to save me.

Caption: Video Id: VmrF9KjlGsc Type: Youtube Video
Embedded video Youtube Video

Codex

Sun Apr 05, 2009 20:15

That should be Codex. I had a few pints and a hot Jamacian Rum or two.

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The war on herbal highs and herbs

Comments (7 of 7)