It should be a simple enough concept, if you want to get high then buy marijuana seeds. However, some people will go to any lengths in search for that perfect high. Here’s a list of five drugs crazes that never quite caught on.

Smoking Catnip

Just a mere waft of this stuff has Tiddles rolling around in near ecstasy and purring to the hilts. Smoking catnip was big with the hippies in the 1960’s; but rather than make you purr like a pussycat, the effect is supposed to be mildly calming. Side effects from smoking catnip are migraines and malaise, which is if you can first get over the extremely rough smoke. Yet catnip is not all bad, drinking catnip tea is good for menstrual pains, measles, constipation and colds. Still after a high that will have you purring in ecstasy? Well scientists have concluded that the effect of catnip on cats is nothing like the same high people get from smoking marijuana, but rather it is a dopamine based high and we can achieve the same effects from tucking into a nice bar of Dairy Milk.

Drinking Bong Water

This was once rumoured to be a great way to get high. However, this rumour is nothing but pure myth. At the most you’ll achieve a slight psychoactive buzz, but nothing like the buzz that you get from smoking marijuana. This is because THC (the part of the marijuana leaf that gets us high) is not soluble in water. So, basic chemistry lesson for you, if it takes you 5mg of marijuana to get high, then you would have to drink 1.32 gallons of bong water to reach the same effects. THC is soluble in alcohol and if you use alcohol in place of water in your bong than this can get you high, but at the same time you’ll receive very weak hits from the marijuana that you inhale as most will soaked up by the alcohol.

Banana Skins

In the 1968, with the publication of ‘The Anarchist’s Cookbook’, the concept of bananadine was highlighted. This involved buying 15lb of ripe bananas, eating the fruit and then saving the skins. The insides of the skins would be scraped out, added to water and boiled for three hours. Once the mixture had achieved a solid paste consistency it could be dried in an oven for around twenty minutes and then placed in Rizla papers and smoked. It was believed that after four cigarettes you could finally get high. All this seems such a lot of effort for what is a very paltry hit; and when you consider how much easier it is to simply buy marijuana seeds, it’s no wonder that the phase never really caught on.

Nutmeg

Nutmeg can get you high but the reason that this is largely unheard of is because the high that it gives you has been compared to a hellish case of flu. Recreational users of nutmeg report suffering from dizziness, nausea, cottonmouth, extreme paranoia, difficulty urinating and the hangover from hell in the morning. To make it even worse, nutmeg takes six hours to kick in after ingestion.

Licking Toads

The concept of licking toads to get high was highlighted in the Family Guy episode ‘Let’s go to the Hop’. In this episode, a Colombian Cartel Plane carrying psychoactive toads crashes. These toads get into the hands of teenagers and the craze of toad-licking is born. However, it you thought this strange concept was invented purely for TV-based entertainment, then you’re very wrong. In 1970’s California toad-licking was a genuine issue. But these Californian teenagers would more likely have ended up with a tongue full of warts, then anything resembling a marijuana-based buzz. You can get high from toads but to do this you need to milk them under the chin for venom and then dry this venom out for use; again a lot more effort then choosing to buy marijuana seeds.