DOSE:

oral

Sceletium tortuosum

BODY WEIGHT:

200 lb

I consumed five grams of Sceletium tortuosum powdered material over seven days, during which I found the plant to provide effective mood elevation, and even periods of elation and euphoria. I remember in particular riding my bike home after a four hour chemistry lab, having taken the Sceleium an hour previous as encapsulated material, and feeling as though I could conquer the world. Since with depression comes lack of both self-confidence and motivation, and since these were temporarily of no concern to me, I concluded that the joy I was experiencing was merely the lifting of an underlying depression from my normal state. I immediately hailed the drug as being one chemical step closer to Huxley’s Soma, or as I see it, a drug whose frequent use could create bliss as an everyday state. Unlike the Soma of BNW, I could function normally under its influence. In fact, my social character and clarity of thought both seemed much improved during the duration of the drug’s effect.

However, any casual observer could immediately identify this attitude toward a chemical as the formation of an unhealthy dependence. My own casual observer played this role. Somewhere in my mind I asked, “Why not feel this good?” My response, that there was no reason, was probably aided by my misperception of Sceletium as safe, and as a mild sort of social “performance enhancing” herb to be used frequently. I began to develop a true sense for the implications of my attitude for Sceletium after the powder ran out. The following two weeks I was haunted with the desire to take more. I cursed myself for not buying the most for the cheapest. I realized that if the drug was perhaps an opiate, and I felt the same way after discontinuing its use, that I would say that I was experiencing [at least psychological] addiction. Like with opiates, Sceletium may tease the mind with a sense of euphoria even long after the discontinuation of its use.

Exp Year: 2003	ExpID: 23208
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: May 4, 2006	Views: 22,062
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Sceletium tortuosum (179) : Alone (16), Addiction & Habituation (10)