textfiles/drugs/ALT.DRUGS/galanga.txt

Kaempferia galanga is used as an hallucinogen in New Guinea.  Throughout the
range of this species, the highly aromatic rhizome is valued as a spice to
flavor rice, and also in folk  medicine as an expectorant and carminative.
A tea of the leaves is employed for sore throat, swellings, rheumatism,
and eye infections.  In Malaysia, the plant was added to the arrow poison
prepared from Antians toxicaria.
This short-stemmed herb has flat-spreading, green, round leaves measuring
3-6 in. (8-15 cm) across.  The white flowers (with a purple spot on the lip),
which are fugacious, appear singly in the center of the plant and attain
approximately 1 in. (2 1/2 cm) in breadth.
Beyond the high content of essential oil in the rhizome, little is known of the
chemistry of the plant.  Hallucinogenic activity might possibly be due to
constituents of the essential oils.


another place said this:

common names:
Galanga
Maraba

There are vague reports that Galanga is employed as an hallucinogen in New
Guinea.

The highly aromatic rhizome is valued locally as a condiment, a tea from the
leaves is employed in folk medicine.

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>I've bought powdered galanga (or galangal) at oriental markets and
>"fancy gourmet imports" shops, and used it as a spice.  It tastes
>something like ginger, very nice.

Yes well after reading the thread on Friday, I went straight to my local
asian shop and asked for "Tom Yum" curry, the little asian chappy said
"Orrr Yaaaa, we have, we have" and promptly lead me to a shelf with various
Tom Yum products. After peering at them for a while, I could not find any curry.
So I set about reading through the ingrediants on the packets. Sure enough all
of them contained "Galanga", so I began to ponder which of them had it in the
highest concentration, when all of a sudden I noticed that the little asian
chappy had been watching me reading all the contents on the packets.
He came over to me and said.
"You wan Galanga, righh?"
"Yaaas Yaaas", I said, and followed his scurrying pace down to the back of the
shop where he revealed a shelf full of the stuff.
There was at least seven different brands, all of them offering either powdered
or chopped roots. Some of them where only sliced into 5mil thick round slices.
(Obviously designed for major consumption I thought!)
Anyway, I grabbed a big bag of powder (for 67 cents) and took it up to the
cash register. The asian chappy chuckled and said:
"Have a goo Evenin - heh heh heh"

When I got Home I promptly made up some rice and put a heaped tablespoon of the
stuff into it. It is highly aromatic, but its taste is quite mild even at the
"heaped tablespoon" level.

I started to feel light headed almost straight away! At first I thought It was
a sort of stonedness, but there seems to be a suttle difference. The best way
I can describe it is that it gives your eyes a sort of "Trippa-Vision" similar
to the effects of LSD a day after you have taken it. But the effects on the
mind are harder to define. "Liteheaded" is about the closest word for describing
it. It seems to shut down distractive thought, as does MJ, but there is a lack
of the mellow feeling which is associated with MJ. There is more of a harshness
to it, and of course, it is nowhere near the intensity!

A few days later, I doubled, then trippled the dosage. But The circumstances
underwhich It was taken made close analysis difficult. Suffice to say that there
seemed to be a distinct tolerence built up when taken on successive days.

Anyway by the look of how much is left in the packet, there will definitly be
more experimentation on my part.

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After reading the postings of experiences concerning Galanga, I went down to
the local asian grocery, and asked the clerk about the root. I got a 
similar response to other people's stories... The clerk grinned, laughed,
and led me to the Galanga. They did not have powdered galanga, just the
root, so I bought two oz. and ground it myself, using a coffee grinder.

I mixed about 1/4 cup in a cup of OJ and downed it. I noticed very little
effect, but I seemed a little anxious and irritable. It was so slight that
I almost suspect it was a placebo effect. However, starting about an
hour later and lasting nearly a day, I was wired. I felt very vibrant 
and energetic. Sort of like a large dose of caffine without the shakes
and negative effects.

Kinda fun, I guess. I hesitate to think of it as a "drug". I guess I re 
cannot be certain whether or not the exerience was truely
attributable to the galanga or not, but I plan to try it on a regular
basis.

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Newsgroups: alt.drugs

> I eat galanga all the time.  I was first introduced to it when I started
> getting into Thai cooking.  Galanga (also called "Laos") is used 
> extensively as a spice throughout Tropical Asia.
> 
> Forget the dried or powdered stuff, get fresh!  It is available in Asian
> grocerys all over Dallas, so it can't be that hard to come by.  It looks
> much like ginger with a translucent skin.  It costs around 2.50 to 6.00 
> dollars a pound, and that goes a LONG way - it's potent!
> 
> I often make a spicy chicken soup, and through in about 10 slices of the
> fresh stuff (the receipe calls for 5).  It's DEFINITELY psychoactive!  I
> experience quite a buzz within 10 minutes of finishing a bowl.  I agree,
> it's somewhat like marijuana - but I really like it.  I make the soup 
> often for friends and all have experienced the buzz - some quite
>intensely.

Excellent, thanks for the tip. I had some last night in my rice, but I
didn't use quite enough for the effects to be noticable. For me it takes 
about two heaped tablespoons to get the effect. (into a cup of rice)
Unfortunately any more than this and it gets too strong to eat!

> If anyone's interested, I post the receipe (apart from the psychoactive 
> properties it's quite delicious!)

Yes do that! I'm sure there would be heaps of interested parties,
including
myself <-;

> One final note:  I have found other interesting things in Asian  grocery
> stores, like betel nuts (including FRESH frozen ones at one store), 
> assorted inhalents, and bizzare bottled herb & vitamin drinks.

Inhalents?? interesting, I have noticed all the herb drinks but never
thought much about them. Ever tried any?

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Well, the inhalents are not as exciting.  They're all pungent smelling 
concoctions based on volatile oils like camphor or eucalyptus.

Like I said, I'll post the galanga soup reciepe as soon as I get a chance 
to dig it up.  There's also a file on galanga at ftp.hmc.edu.

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Newsgroups: alt.drugs

UKP 1.60 per pound). Got home and chopped up about 2oz of the stuff (after
peeling) and wanting to keep an empty stomach (just in case :) simply fried it
gently in oil before eating it. I rapidly came to regret this decision - it
tastes more than anything like pine sap with quite a woody texture. Yuk.
  About half an hour after finally forcing it down I had to catch a bus.
Standing by a main road in the dark I realised that the headlights were
building up strange trails - the "morning after tripping" comparison seemed a
good one. Felt quite mellow - like a voice whispering "Go on, relax..." but
not forcing it. Faint but definite physical tingles - plus, galanga's
comparable in heat to fresh ginger, and my stomach may well have felt strange
due to that.
  Some two and a half hours in things were getting better. All physical
symptoms had subsided and I could get "acid lights" to come on by staring at
something for four or five seconds, with comparable distortions to, say half
an average trip (maybe 50-60ug). My resistance to dope was very high, as when
tripping, and I felt myself in a good mood, smiling bemusedly at people rather
than talk to them.
  I was still "up" nearly six hours after dropping and a goodish amount of
dope. Eight fingers of scotch later this didn't seem to be a problem any more;
I staggered off to bed feeling rather pissed and got to sleep fairly easily
(c.1.30 am). Trails were pretty good last night; they've now faded. I'm tired
(5.5 hours sleep) and slightly disoriented (and not inclined to work much) but
otherwise ok.

Summary: All the above for about 60 cents, so one can hardly complain. I
intend to try it with acid - the dope resistance could get irritating if one
wished to get stoned. Galanga more lived up to my (fairly low) expectations. 

Hope that helps.