While our gardens may be brimming with beautiful flowers and herbs, some plants come with hidden dangers. Even though they’re perfectly legal to grow, these plants can have powerful effects on our bodies and minds.
Datura

Datura is a poisonous plant with psychoactive properties. While it can induce intense hallucinations, it also poses significant health risks, including delirium, psychosis, and lasting psychological issues. Consuming datura seeds can lead to 12 to 72 hours of nightmarish hallucinations that may persist for months or even years. Despite its dangers, datura is legal to grow, buy, and distribute in many places, partly due to its traditional ceremonial uses.
Areca Nut

The areca nut, a seed from the areca palm, is found in Southeast Asia, parts of Africa, and tropical regions. When chewed, it releases alkaloids and tannins that give a mild psychoactive effect, boosting focus and senses—kind of like drinking a few cups of coffee. It inhibits GABA, a neurotransmitter that calms the central nervous system and gives a euphoric high. But, despite being legal in the US, it has serious health risks. Its long-term use can lead to oral cancer, addiction, digestive problems, and heart issues.
Kava

Kava, a natural herb from the Pacific Islands, has been used in traditional medicine for its powerful relaxing properties and pain relief. However, kava carries significant risks, particularly for people taking medication for depression, anxiety, or other medical conditions. Combining kava with alcohol or anxiety medications can cause severe side effects, like liver toxicity and cognitive impairment.
Wild Lettuce

Wild lettuce, or opium lettuce, is a psychoactive plant that produces a milky liquid called lactucarium. This substance contains compounds like lactucin and lactucopicrin, which can induce sedation and euphoria. However, wild lettuce can be dangerous, even in moderate amounts. Its consumption may cause dizziness, anxiety, insomnia, nausea, and other severe side effects like breathing and heart problems. It can also interact dangerously with sedative medications.
Ceremonial Tobacco

Ceremonial tobacco is a potent plant with a long history of cultural and medicinal use. While legal to grow for personal use, its exceptionally high nicotine content makes it a dangerous substance if misused. Excessive exposure can lead to severe health problems, including nicotine poisoning, which can lead to dizziness, nausea, rapid heart rate, and even respiratory failure in extreme cases.
Mandrake

Mandrake is famous for its human-shaped root and potent psychoactive alkaloids. Its magical reputation has made it a popular fixture in fiction, but don’t let that fool you—mandrake is seriously dangerous. Ingesting it can lead to severe consequences, including hallucinations, coma, and even death. Although it is legal to grow in the United States, you should handle mandrake with caution and avoid consuming it in any form.
Cannabis

Cannabis, which used to be an illegal substance, is now legal in many places around the world. While it has some potential medicinal benefits, using it recreationally comes with risks. THC, the primary psychoactive compound, can induce euphoria but may also trigger paranoia, hallucinations, and anxiety. Using cannabis over a long period can increase the risk of mental health issues like psychosis, schizophrenia, depression, and suicidal thoughts, especially in individuals with bipolar disorder.
Kratom

Kratom produces mild narcotic effects and is consumed in capsules or teas. It engages the body’s opioid receptors and provides mild euphoria and pain relief. Despite being legal in US, Kratom is controversial due to safety concerns. The DEA lists this plant as a Drug of Concern, citing potential adverse reactions like liver damage and psychosis. The FDA does not regulate Kratom for dosage or purity and advises against its use due to serious health risks.
Morning Glory

Although Morning Glory is visually appealing, its seeds contain a carcinogenic compound similar to LSD. While the flowers are harmless, ingesting the seeds can cause hallucinations and digestive issues. You must keep morning glory seeds out of children’s reach and avoid consuming them, even in small quantities.
Nutmeg

Nutmeg, a typical holiday spice, contains a psychoactive compound called myristicin. In large doses, nutmeg can cause hallucinations, dizziness, and general intoxication, but these effects come with severe gastrointestinal distress, including diarrhea. Cases of nutmeg intoxication report symptoms like fever, aggression, hallucinations, dizziness, dry mouth, confusion, vomiting, and increased heart rate. The unpredictability and potential severity of these reactions make frequent use of nutmeg unadvisable despite its legality and widespread availability.
Magic Mushrooms

Magic mushrooms contain psilocybin and psilocin, compounds that cause hallucinations, altered perception of time, and profound introspection. They are the second most widely used psychedelic drug globally, after LSD. While illegal in many parts of the world, they are decriminalized in parts of Canada and several US cities and legal for medicinal use in Canada. Psilocybin mushrooms can cause distorted sights and sounds, intense emotions, and physical side effects like increased heart rate or nausea.
Sassafras

Sassafras has been used in traditional medicine for centuries, especially for treating urinary tract infections. The root bark contains safrole, an oil that can give you a pretty intense high. Some people say it feels similar to MDMA, making them feel connected and euphoric, with mild hallucinations. While sassafras is legal in its whole form worldwide, safrole is banned as a food additive because it’s been found to be cancerous.