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Comment by c420 | Hacker News Reader

I'd liken it to the salvia experience.

I'd respectfully disagree. For the first part, datura is an anticholinergic neurotoxin, a deliriant. Salvia is a kappa-opioid dissociative, without any known toxicities. The important thing to keep in mind with salvia is minimalism. It has no tolerance to speak of, so nothing is lost by starting small, well smaller than you know will give noticeable effect. Then build up from there. (An effect of salvia overdose is 'automatic action', where your body moves on impulse without the intervention of your waking mind)

Though toxicity seems the main difference, comment above is talking about experience and not molecular mechanisms of action.

In a similar vein, if someone would ask a distinguished professor of neuroscience to provide a full description of the exact brain molecular state that "generates" an exact salvia experience (including any communicative content), s/he would fail.

> Though toxicity seems the main difference, comment above is talking about experience and not molecular mechanisms of action.

As someone who has done both, in similar settings, I'd still disagree with this. Datura was devilish like none other and probably one of the few psychedelics I'd never do again.

Datura being anticholinergic degrades the effect of acetylcholine, which is one of the components of (regular) attention. So no wonder it seems scary. But would you have the same experience after, for example, 10 days of continuous mindfulness/focusing meditation? Or after 30 days?

Having used both, salvia is something I’ve gone back to multiple times and find value in. If you treat salvia with respect, it’s useful.

Datura taught me a valuable lesson exactly once, about hubris.

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