The Abuse of Morning Glory Seeds

Plants and seeds may be purchase legally almost anywhere. Flower seeds are available in garden centers. Regardless of age, anyone may walk in and purchase garden seeds. People are at liberty to do whatever they want with such seeds. There are seeds and leaves that are highly potent, however, and some have hallucinogenic properties.

Morning Glory Seeds

• Colorful morning glory flower in full bloom.

  There are no Federal Drug Agency restrictions on morning glory seeds in the United States. That loophole creates drug abuse possibilities---especially among young teens seeking drug thrills.

  According to the website ebasedprevention.org, the brown seeds of several varieties of morning glory contain a natural tryptamine called lysergic acid amide, or LSA. The article asserts that LSA is similar to LSD, the hallucinogenic drug popular in the 1960s.

A Dangerous Psychedelic Experience

• Morning glory leaves are used to make tea.

  According to the website, LSA acts as a psychedelic or hallucinogen to users. The article adds that LSA creates alteration of the mind, even though it is regarded as only 5 percent to 10 percent as dangerous as LSD.

  The website notes that use of the seeds produce an LSD-like experience lasting about six to 10 hours when the seeds are taken orally. Alkaloids containing plant-based nitrogen are also extracted from the seeds for ingestion, according to the website, which adds that a tea concoction is used by others, who grind the seeds for that purpose.

Teens, Morning Glory Recipes, and the Internet

• In Canada, the website mapinc.org says, teens are following decades-old recipes to make teas and other hallucinogenic cocktails. The article says that two species of morning glory, "Heavenly Blue" and "Pearly Gates," are favorites for cocktail-makers.

  Vendors of morning glory seeds in Canada are limiting their sales of the seeds to teens, according to the website. The article reports that teens are fearless in telling shopkeepers what they plan to do with the seeds.

  The website reports that morning glory flower seed recipes have sprouted on the Internet, adding that sites and discussion groups on the Internet detail how to mix ground-up seeds with alcohol or with over-the-counter motion-sickness drugs.

Morning Glory Seeds: An Age-Old Drug of Abuse

• The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs says morning glory seeds' current use for hallucinogenic effect is only several years old. However, the article asserts there is evidence that use of the seeds as hallucinogens may be traced back hundreds of years to a time when they were used extensively by Mexican Indians.

  The bureau states that the danger of all hallucinogens, including morning glory seeds, is that the effects on the mind and body are not fully known to medical science.

Type of Hallucinogenic Morning Glory Seeds

• The bureau describes the hallucinogenic morning glory seeds as triangular in shape and thus differing from the round and non-hallucinogenic morning glory seeds. The article states that the seeds may be prepared as a tea and extractions are then made to obtain the desired hallucinogenic effect. Users also chew the seeds, according to the website. Vomiting, dizziness and diarrhea may accompany the use of the seeds, according to the bureau.

Nongovernmental Deterrent Effect

• Seed producers are doing their part to discourage the abuse of morning glory seeds. According to ebasedprevention.org, some commercial seed producers have resorted to treating morning glory seeds with a chemical that will not wash off. The article states that this chemical causes vomiting, nausea and abdominal pain. The seeds are also sometimes treated with methyl mercury to prevent spoilage, the article says.

  The website has criticized the deterrent efforts, asserting that the chemicals that are intended to be a deterrent are poisonous and can cause damage to the liver, brain and nervous system.