Mind-Altering Trips

Take a trip, without breaking the law...

Bolivia: Coca leaves, legal in some countries of South America before actually being processed into cocaine or crack cocaine. When held against the side of the cheek (similar to chewing tobacco), gives a mild high, mouth-numbing, and sense of well-being. Used frequently to alleviate altitude sickness.

Fiji: Traditional kava, a root ground into a powder, is strained through a sock and creates a waxy, pinkish-gray tea. It's potent effects create lucid dreams; its liquid numbs and coats the inside of your mouth and throat.

Mexico: Temezcal, or "sweat lodges", is an ancient Mesoamerican ritual where participants lie on the ground of an adobe hut around a fire. Here, a shaman creates a steam with medicinal herbs like aloe, sage, and chamomile. Expect complete bliss from a one-to-three hour ritual, where the temperature can range from 90-120 degrees Farenheit.

Amsterdam: Marijuana, legal to purchase and smoke/ingest in Amsterdam's coffee shops.

British Virgin Islands: Magic Mushrooms, hallucinations and laughter seem to happen after these unpleasant tasting mushrooms are eaten. Body highs, introspection, intense emotions, and a distortion of time come with the bad taste.


India: Bhang, marijuana buds and leaves are ground into a green paste and cooked with clarified butter, spices, and milk and then added to traditional drinks or pastries.

Paris: Absinthe, banned in France for nearly 100 years until 2001, adds a higher buzz than other alcohol.

Vietman: Cobra wine, a glass of super-potent rice moonshine, served with the still beating heart of a cobra (yes, a poisonous snake.)

Mexico: Peyote, a very intense psychotropic, can involve 15-hour hallucinations and some vomiting. Many say its like "an encounter with God and can bring you to a place of total harmony with yourself and the world around you."

Brazil: Ayahuasca, tea brewed from the vine of the ayahuasca plant and the leaves of the chacruna (a shrub from the coffee family), is known to cure emotional ailments. The tea contains dimethyltryptamine (DMT) will give you emotional highs similar to Ecstasy, lasting from 2 to 5 hours.

**I am in no way promoting drug usage of any sort. I am writing about these drugs based solely on research...wikipedia & MSNBC of course :)
NOTE: DO NOT TRY THESE AT HOME, THEY ARE NOT LEGAL IN THE UNITED STATES!!!