Abie Hofmann

Albert Hofmann, the father of the mind-altering drug LSD, died. Guess how old was he? 60? 70? 80? No, he was 102 years old. Makes you think.

How Rolling Stone Chronicled How America Lost the War Against Drugs

Required reading for all investigative journalists. And how Ben Wallace-Well brought it all up after four months of reporting.

Kalumpunay Update

I wrote earlier about the kalumpunay or angel's trumpet, an almost ubiquitous plant in the Cordillera, and its hallucinogenic effect; with the experiences of three bright boys in Sagada. Lucky they got out of it alive because a drug extracted from the kalumpunay is now considered the most dangerous drug in the world. Colombia is now the center of this drug called scopolamine. It is not yet a media phenomenon but in Colombia, there are about 50,000 reproted cases of scopolamine drugging. Scopolamine is a is a colorless, tasteless, odorless drug, and also known as hyoscine and is classified as a tropane alkaloid. The drug is reportedly used by criminals on making victims so zombie-like that they were made to help these criminals rob their own houses or empty their ATMs. Women became sex slaves after being induced into scopolamine. But then this drug is soemtimes applied on a woman's breast and when a man licks it, it's bye-bye. The weird fact is that after you wake up from the effects of the drug, you don't know what happened. Unfortunately this is not an effect of this drug or this:

Kalumpunay

I was surprised about this new Diesel ad because of the pink flowers above the model. Those are angel's trumpet. Kalumpunay more popularly known as angel's trumpet is an ubiquitous plant in the Cordillera. Only a few knew that it is a very powerful drug. The chemical active substances are scopolamine and hyoscyamine. The dried sheets and blooms are smoked or taken orally as tea. A half-hour after ingestion it comes to visions and illusions, which can change into hallucinations. These hallucinogenic effects can persist, depending upon dose, between 3 hours and 3 days. Overdosing can lead to symptoms of intoxication (swallowing difficulties, hoarseness, dryness of the mucous membranes, urine barrier, heart lawn) up to deaths by heartbeat disturbances and ventricular fibrillations. Three famous boys in Sagada ingested kalumpunay tea and were in coma for three days. One of them, a journalist, told me that he dreamt he was running oh so slowly throughout that time. Another was found on their roof. But these three are lucky because they came out well. I know some who didn't cross back.