The Morning Glory
Nowadays, herbal highs are among the most popular of the types of legal highs. Herbal highs are extracts and essences derived from psychedelic plants or entheogens – plants whose psychoactive substances alter perception and sensation. Today’s herbal highs have their roots mostly in shamanic tradition and culture where they were once used for medicinal concoctions and for ceremonies that evoke the spirit. One interesting plant that was used by the ancient Aztecs and Mazatecs for their rituals was the Morning Glory.
The Morning Glory is a climbing plant whose black or brown seeds contain LSA (Lysergic Acid Amide), a naturally occurring tryptamine that is a psychoactive substance very similar to LSD. This substance induces calmness, happy feelings and mild but pleasurable visual hallucinations.
About 15 varieties of seeds of the Morning Glory are available to potential users. The two most popular types are called Heavenly Blues and Pearly Gates due to their high LSA content. The usual dosage needed for the trip of a minimum of four hours and a maximum of 14 hours range from 100 to 300 seeds. This quantity will produce effects similar to those triggered by 300 microgrammes of LSD.
The most common preparation method is grinding the seeds and brewing them into tea. Another common method of ingestion is by chewing them. The chewing helps spread the psychoactive chemicals of the seed even before swallowing.
The flowers of the Morning Glory are very attractive and bloom only in the morning, hence the name Morning Glory. It however remains a rule not to consume the flowers, as they will induce psychedelic trips for relatively longer periods of time.