Psychedelic drugs come in a whole range of different forms, but did you know that certain types of honey can cleanse the doors of perception? In Nepal tribes hunt a certain type of wild honey (known as “mad honey”) which has natural psychoactive properties, and how they do it is explored in the documentary above.
Getting to the honey is a mission in itself, not only are the hives situated on sheer-faced cliffs that have taken the lives of many hunters, they also have to avoid getting stung too. But the reward is the fresh hallucinogenic nectar, which is used for medicinal purposes as well as for recreational drug use.
“Mad honey” has an active ingredient in it called grayanotoxin and, as well as in Nepal along with Japan, Brazil, United States, and British Columbia, it’s also found, and cultivated, in the rhododendrons and azaleas of Turkey’s Black Sea region where it is known as “deli bal”. In this region the honey was once used in warfare as a poison, but has also been used historically as a drug.
Xenophon recounted, “All the soldiers who ate of the honeycombs lost their senses, seized with vomiting and purging, none of them being able to stand on their legs. Those who ate but a little were like men very drunk, and those who ate much like madmen, and some like dying persons. In this condition, great numbers lay on the ground, as if there had been a defeat. The next day, none of them died, but recovered their senses about the same hour as they were seized; and the third and fourth day, they go up as if they had taken a strong potion.”
Small doses bring about a hallucinogenic state and this is what the Nepalese farmers use it for.