Common Name: Inebriating Mint
Latin: Lagochilus Inebriens
Indigenous to: Turkistan
Traditional use: Herbal Tea
Legal Status (USA): Unscheduled, Legal at this time
Active Constituents: lagochiline (diterpene alkaloid)
Toxicity Risk: Some risk if you are hypotensive, or prone to dangerous blood clots.
Long-term risk: UNKNOWN
I don’t recommend the use of this or any substance, including such deadly drugs as alcohol and tobacco, which have killed thousands, if not millions.
Introduction:
I ordered some of this stuff and made a tea of it, which is the traditional use. As an aside, this is a traditional herbal tea used by shepherds and farmers (common folks) In Turkistan. I don’t think it’s much stronger than valerian or kava kava, if at all. The effects are different from kava kava and valerian, but for the purpose of comparison, I wanted to let you know that in my VERY LIMITED experience, this plant is pretty mild in terms of its mind-altering effects when compared such plants as salvia divinorum or morning glory, for example. It doesn’t seem to have strong hallucinogenic properties. Daniel Siebert says it can cause 'subtle perceptual changes. I didn’t use it for this purpose, and was asleep before the onset of any such effects.
It is somewhat inebriating, but it’s not like alcohol. Instead, it’s more of a really mild sedative, with a mild, but noticeable body buzz. It has been described by some as similar to having a couple of beers, but without the disorientation and mental impairment. I think the comment about mental impairment is really subjective, and should be taken as such. However, when I tried this herbal tea, I did feel as if I were more mentally ‘clear,’ if that makes sense.
Effects on sleep and dreaming:
This mint is clearly a sedative, but it’s not a narcotic. That is to say, it helps you sleep naturally, and it doesn’t make you feel anesthetized. Moreover, I didn’t have any after-effects the next day.
I put about 3 spoonfuls of the plant matter into a ‘swiss gold’ brand steeping mesh and microwaved some water for 2 minutes. I let it steep for about 5 minutes. I added some table sugar and drank it. It’s bitter. It’s not nearly as bad as Calea in flavor, but after I while I just couldn’t drink anymore. In fact, even with my stomach of steel, I almost vomited that last gulp I tried to get down. After chasing it with some peach tea, I rinsed out my cup and went to bed.
Taking the advise of some other post on this forum, I didn’t use the restroom before going to sleep. Instead, I just ‘held it.’ About half way through the night I had to get up for that reason, and when I did, the inebriating effects of the tea were still upon me. I am guessing this was about 3-4 hours later. I can’t say how strong the effects were at that point relative to onset, because I had been asleep.
Parenthetically, let me just say that it’s not uncommon for me to get up during the night, and it has little to no effect on my dreaming. However, in this instance, this is where things got interesting. I went back to bed, and before I got the blanket pulled back up all the way I was asleep and dreaming. Seriously, it seemed that fast. It was a very clear dream, and I realized that I was dreaming almost immediately. The thing that was very impressive was the continuity. The dream didn’t shift the way dreams normally do. Instead, it was almost as if time were going very slowly. I dreamed I was in an apothecary buying herbs. It was so real, it’s hard to describe it.
I won’t bore you with the details of the dream because they aren’t important. Soon after I realized I was dreaming, the dream ‘shorted out’ and became dark and ‘staticy.’ I then became aware of my body in the bed, and was hit with a surge of what can best be described as liquid electricity - the stuff that preceeds those realy wild dreams that some call OOBE’s.
This time, though, it was different. The vibrations lasted a lot longer, and My hands and feet started to move on their own. Flexing themselves. I had no control over it, and didn’t fight for control. Instead I just tried to control my breathing and ‘break out’ into an awesome LD. The vibrations lasted and lasted. They became more weak, and I decided to try to just relax and allow them to grow, and it started working, but then my wife touched my hair with her hand, totally grounding me, and ending the vibrations.
Conclusion:
I’m going to try it again. I have the feeling that with a little tweaking, I might be on to something here. The plant is a mint, and has the normal beneficial constituents, as well as the diterpene alkaloid(s) that is present in the form of lagochiline.
Notes:
Salvinorin A, C are both diterpene alkaloids. ‘A’ is definitely oneirogenic on at least some level. More thought and study is required, but understanding how the different diterpene alkaloids act on the CNS might help explain a lot of things. This is fascinating stuff to me, even if I’m not being 100% scientific with these initial experiments.
REMEMBER: Think before you drink - or smoke - ANYTHING. This is not an endorsement or recommendation that anyone drink tea made from this plant. It’s simply my thoughts after having done so.
