DOSE:	7 g	oral	Lotus/Lily - Nymphaea nouchali var caerulea	(tea)
	300 ml	oral	Alcohol
	0.5 g	smoked	Lotus/Lily - Nymphaea nouchali var caerulea	(dried)
	75 mg	oral	Pharms - Venlafaxine	(daily)

BODY WEIGHT:

165 lb

Blue Lotus Tea w/Sake

Background and Thesis:

I am a recovering heavy beer drinker. Over the last decade, it’s not been unusual for me to drink 10-20 beers 4-6 nights per week for months on end – all the while throwing in other chemicals to boot (weed and adderall being the most conspicuous). I am currently on an SNRI (venlafaxine, 75mg daily) and am three weeks into a detox (on my own, at home) from a month of binge drinking; with vegetarianism, acupuncture, yoga, herbs, and a mindful approach, I am reaching a high level of wellness. Overall, drug-wise, I have a taste for mushrooms, salvia, and beer, although not necessarily in combination. I’m not a high school kid looking for a legal high, and I’m not a light-weight who’s bound to be impressed by any minor psychic augmentation. I feel I am a good test subject for this substance in that I have known extremes, and have in fact developed a taste for them, but I am capable of moderation and am currently sensitized and sound in mind and body.

Experience:

I took 7g of dried blue lotus and simmered it in 3 cups of water for 15 minutes on a gas burner. I strained it a few times through a mesh filter and drank it with stevia. It tasted wonderful, although the smell while simmering had a strange earthiness and pungency that accumulated in the kitchen and made me anxious for fear that this was but a prelude to a lifetime of associating that smell with a horrible night of intoxication gone awry. Alas, this was not to be the case.

Within 5 minutes of the first sip, I was feeling effects, and these increased steadily for 15 minutes. I settled into a state of warm sedation. I lay in bed for 5 minutes and felt distinctly buzzed in the manner described by others: light opiate calm with a spaciness reminiscent of cannabis. It was very, very pleasant, and, while distinct, it was not truly remarkable – certainly not psychedelic, and definitely not intense.

I proceeded to get up and prepare a cinematic environment in my living room to watch a film, and while moving about, remembering to feed my cats, getting distracted by small messes I’d forgot to attend to (to appease roommates), and generally bustling about, I began to feel nauseated. Too much motion was definitely a bad thing. I settled down, finished the later 1/5 of my tea, and began to sip leisurely at some quality sake. Over the next couple of hours, while watching a film, I sipped sake (300ml) and smoked a .5g bowl of lotus. This allowed me to maintain a warm, hypnotic state for the duration, yet I was never overcome with sleepiness.

Afterward:

Surprisingly, I experienced some difficulty sleeping. I awoke after appx. 2 hours of sleep and felt jittery and restless. Knowing that the prime psychoactive component of lotus is an anti-spasmodic, I wondered if the slight nervous twitchiness I was feeling was a recoil effect. I eventually fell asleep, slept deeply, and experienced vast, vivid, narrative dreams. However, I notice that it is much more difficult to remember the dreams than usual. I am always able to remember my dreams at will upon waking and throughout the day, no matter how complex they are; however, with lotus, I really haven’t the faintest idea what I dreamt about. Perhaps it will come to me later. I only know that, upon waking, I was amazed at how dense and strange the dreams were, and for a moment I held some idea of what they were about.

The afternoon after waking, as I write this, I feel relaxed but with a slightly depressed mood: nothing strong tea can’t overcome, but more listless than I would’ve been without the lotus.

Conclusion:

All in all, a successful evening. The lotus is a great leisurely alternative to booze and weed. For someone like me who feels the need to put something in their body, this is a really nice alternative to more harmful and potentially addictive substances. The main complaint is that lotus seems to lack a distinctly identifiable signature. The lotus buzz is somewhat generic and vague, albeit unmistakably effective. I can’t imagine getting too awful excited about it in the upcoming days and weeks, but I’ll certainly repeat the experience when I am looking for a comfortably relaxed and solitary evening.

Exp Year: 2009	ExpID: 82026
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 29
Published: Feb 26, 2017	Views: 4,116
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Lotus/Lily - Nymphaea nouchali var caerulea (105) : Alone (16), Combinations (3)