175 lines
8.5 KiB
Plaintext
175 lines
8.5 KiB
Plaintext
Kaempferia galanga is used as an hallucinogen in New Guinea. Throughout the
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range of this species, the highly aromatic rhizome is valued as a spice to
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flavor rice, and also in folk medicine as an expectorant and carminative.
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A tea of the leaves is employed for sore throat, swellings, rheumatism,
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and eye infections. In Malaysia, the plant was added to the arrow poison
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prepared from Antians toxicaria.
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This short-stemmed herb has flat-spreading, green, round leaves measuring
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3-6 in. (8-15 cm) across. The white flowers (with a purple spot on the lip),
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which are fugacious, appear singly in the center of the plant and attain
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approximately 1 in. (2 1/2 cm) in breadth.
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Beyond the high content of essential oil in the rhizome, little is known of the
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chemistry of the plant. Hallucinogenic activity might possibly be due to
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constituents of the essential oils.
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another place said this:
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common names:
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Galanga
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Maraba
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There are vague reports that Galanga is employed as an hallucinogen in New
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Guinea.
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The highly aromatic rhizome is valued locally as a condiment, a tea from the
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leaves is employed in folk medicine.
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>I've bought powdered galanga (or galangal) at oriental markets and
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>"fancy gourmet imports" shops, and used it as a spice. It tastes
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>something like ginger, very nice.
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Yes well after reading the thread on Friday, I went straight to my local
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asian shop and asked for "Tom Yum" curry, the little asian chappy said
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"Orrr Yaaaa, we have, we have" and promptly lead me to a shelf with various
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Tom Yum products. After peering at them for a while, I could not find any curry.
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So I set about reading through the ingrediants on the packets. Sure enough all
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of them contained "Galanga", so I began to ponder which of them had it in the
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highest concentration, when all of a sudden I noticed that the little asian
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chappy had been watching me reading all the contents on the packets.
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He came over to me and said.
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"You wan Galanga, righh?"
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"Yaaas Yaaas", I said, and followed his scurrying pace down to the back of the
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shop where he revealed a shelf full of the stuff.
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There was at least seven different brands, all of them offering either powdered
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or chopped roots. Some of them where only sliced into 5mil thick round slices.
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(Obviously designed for major consumption I thought!)
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Anyway, I grabbed a big bag of powder (for 67 cents) and took it up to the
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cash register. The asian chappy chuckled and said:
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"Have a goo Evenin - heh heh heh"
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When I got Home I promptly made up some rice and put a heaped tablespoon of the
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stuff into it. It is highly aromatic, but its taste is quite mild even at the
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"heaped tablespoon" level.
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I started to feel light headed almost straight away! At first I thought It was
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a sort of stonedness, but there seems to be a suttle difference. The best way
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I can describe it is that it gives your eyes a sort of "Trippa-Vision" similar
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to the effects of LSD a day after you have taken it. But the effects on the
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mind are harder to define. "Liteheaded" is about the closest word for describing
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it. It seems to shut down distractive thought, as does MJ, but there is a lack
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of the mellow feeling which is associated with MJ. There is more of a harshness
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to it, and of course, it is nowhere near the intensity!
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A few days later, I doubled, then trippled the dosage. But The circumstances
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underwhich It was taken made close analysis difficult. Suffice to say that there
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seemed to be a distinct tolerence built up when taken on successive days.
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Anyway by the look of how much is left in the packet, there will definitly be
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more experimentation on my part.
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===========================================================================
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After reading the postings of experiences concerning Galanga, I went down to
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the local asian grocery, and asked the clerk about the root. I got a
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similar response to other people's stories... The clerk grinned, laughed,
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and led me to the Galanga. They did not have powdered galanga, just the
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root, so I bought two oz. and ground it myself, using a coffee grinder.
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I mixed about 1/4 cup in a cup of OJ and downed it. I noticed very little
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effect, but I seemed a little anxious and irritable. It was so slight that
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I almost suspect it was a placebo effect. However, starting about an
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hour later and lasting nearly a day, I was wired. I felt very vibrant
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and energetic. Sort of like a large dose of caffine without the shakes
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and negative effects.
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Kinda fun, I guess. I hesitate to think of it as a "drug". I guess I re
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cannot be certain whether or not the exerience was truely
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attributable to the galanga or not, but I plan to try it on a regular
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basis.
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=============================================================================
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Newsgroups: alt.drugs
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> I eat galanga all the time. I was first introduced to it when I started
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> getting into Thai cooking. Galanga (also called "Laos") is used
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> extensively as a spice throughout Tropical Asia.
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>
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> Forget the dried or powdered stuff, get fresh! It is available in Asian
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> grocerys all over Dallas, so it can't be that hard to come by. It looks
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> much like ginger with a translucent skin. It costs around 2.50 to 6.00
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> dollars a pound, and that goes a LONG way - it's potent!
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>
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> I often make a spicy chicken soup, and through in about 10 slices of the
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> fresh stuff (the receipe calls for 5). It's DEFINITELY psychoactive! I
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> experience quite a buzz within 10 minutes of finishing a bowl. I agree,
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> it's somewhat like marijuana - but I really like it. I make the soup
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> often for friends and all have experienced the buzz - some quite
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>intensely.
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Excellent, thanks for the tip. I had some last night in my rice, but I
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didn't use quite enough for the effects to be noticable. For me it takes
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about two heaped tablespoons to get the effect. (into a cup of rice)
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Unfortunately any more than this and it gets too strong to eat!
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> If anyone's interested, I post the receipe (apart from the psychoactive
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> properties it's quite delicious!)
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Yes do that! I'm sure there would be heaps of interested parties,
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including
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myself <-;
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> One final note: I have found other interesting things in Asian grocery
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> stores, like betel nuts (including FRESH frozen ones at one store),
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> assorted inhalents, and bizzare bottled herb & vitamin drinks.
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Inhalents?? interesting, I have noticed all the herb drinks but never
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thought much about them. Ever tried any?
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-----------------------------------------------
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Well, the inhalents are not as exciting. They're all pungent smelling
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concoctions based on volatile oils like camphor or eucalyptus.
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Like I said, I'll post the galanga soup reciepe as soon as I get a chance
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to dig it up. There's also a file on galanga at ftp.hmc.edu.
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=============================================================================
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Newsgroups: alt.drugs
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UKP 1.60 per pound). Got home and chopped up about 2oz of the stuff (after
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peeling) and wanting to keep an empty stomach (just in case :) simply fried it
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gently in oil before eating it. I rapidly came to regret this decision - it
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tastes more than anything like pine sap with quite a woody texture. Yuk.
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About half an hour after finally forcing it down I had to catch a bus.
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Standing by a main road in the dark I realised that the headlights were
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building up strange trails - the "morning after tripping" comparison seemed a
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good one. Felt quite mellow - like a voice whispering "Go on, relax..." but
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not forcing it. Faint but definite physical tingles - plus, galanga's
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comparable in heat to fresh ginger, and my stomach may well have felt strange
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due to that.
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Some two and a half hours in things were getting better. All physical
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symptoms had subsided and I could get "acid lights" to come on by staring at
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something for four or five seconds, with comparable distortions to, say half
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an average trip (maybe 50-60ug). My resistance to dope was very high, as when
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tripping, and I felt myself in a good mood, smiling bemusedly at people rather
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than talk to them.
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I was still "up" nearly six hours after dropping and a goodish amount of
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dope. Eight fingers of scotch later this didn't seem to be a problem any more;
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I staggered off to bed feeling rather pissed and got to sleep fairly easily
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(c.1.30 am). Trails were pretty good last night; they've now faded. I'm tired
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(5.5 hours sleep) and slightly disoriented (and not inclined to work much) but
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otherwise ok.
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Summary: All the above for about 60 cents, so one can hardly complain. I
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intend to try it with acid - the dope resistance could get irritating if one
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wished to get stoned. Galanga more lived up to my (fairly low) expectations.
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Hope that helps.
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