Mild Hallucinogenics

[Shreddies]

Okay, so I was throwing ideas together while out on a walk and came up with: 'Catnip affects werewolves' and I figured that this was a thread definitely worth pursuing. But I have never had any experience with hallucinations or hallucinogenic substances, aside from a few fever dreams as a kid, and I am, as far as I know, not a cat.

So does anyone know what kind of hallucinations, or other effects, something mild like catnip would have on humans? If they were affected by it like cats, I mean.

Or if not, your best guess as to what a cat experiences while on the nip would be much appreciated.

 

[Svrtnsse]

It is my understanding that everyone experiences hallucinogenics slightly differently. If you're wondering how catnip would affect a werewolf it's entirely up to you to decide. It could be anything from the light buzz of a cigarette to a full blown Terrence McKenna experience (complete with machine elfs and dancing faberge eggs).

If you're one who tolerates electronic dance music and its steady, constant beat I would recommend this track:

It'll give you a slight hint of what it might feel like when your mind is a little bit wobbly.

 

[buyjupiter]

I've had cats that run the full spectrum of reactiveness to catnip. Some cats don't particularly care for it/are not affected by it. One cat I had got stoned off the stuff. He'd rub along the toy for a bit, then get up to eat, and then fall over asleep in an unusual spot (for him). I've had one cat that got super-aggressive on catnip and he was the reason we couldn't let the others have catnip toys for quite a while. He'd tear the toy apart, then beat up the other cats, then come over to us and use us as scratching posts/biting practice. (He wouldn't do this unless he'd just had access to the catnip toy. He was the sweetest cat normally.)

Most cats I've been around that have had reactions to catnip normally fall closer to the relaxed end of the spectrum.

One thing to keep in mind is that catnip doesn't really work on kittens. I don't know the reasons why, but kittens (in my experience) don't know what to do with it. Once they get older, however, they know exactly what catnip is. That might be something to keep in mind for your world. Catnip (or it's in world equivalent) only works for the werewolves that have been shifting for a long time. Neophyte werewolves? Doesn't work for them.

 

[Guy]

I've had a couple of experiences with prescription sleep aids (and yes, the prescriptions were made out to me by my physician). Back in 2000, the first time I'd ever used them, I'd take one then read or write until I felt it kick in, usually about 30 minutes later, and go to bed. So I was typing away on my computer, felt it kick in, and looked at my watch, and figured I'd write for five more minutes and go to bed. When I next looked at my watch about 90 minutes had passed. In that time I'd written about a paragraph. The whole time a dwarf with a white beard and wearing lamellar armor and a horned helmet sat near the escape key and told me what to write. I was encircled by creatures I can only describe as wingless anorexic pterodactyls with impish smiles on their beaks who gave constant approving nods at everything the dwarf said. At the time, his advice seemed brilliant. I finally came to enough awareness to get to bed. It wasn't until the next afternoon I got a chance to read what I'd written. It was absolute crap. It was coherent, but it was still crap. Lesson learned - take sleep aid and go straight to bed.

After that it was years before I needed prescription sleep aids again. I made the mistake of taking one on a very empty stomach. I thought since I'd be in bed five minutes later it wouldn't be a problem. This time I got to watch a foot stool walk away and drag the rug with it, but this time I knew it was a hallucination. I was also on the floor of my den and needed wife and eldest daughter to haul be to bed. Lesson learned - no matter how soon you're going to bed, never take Ambien on an empty stomach.

 

[Caged Maiden]

I'm not sure what you mean by mild hallucinations, but I'll run the full spectrum of ones I've had.

weak hallucinations can be caused by loads of things. sleepiness, weak LSD, highway hypnotism. This might include seeing "trails", where if something moves, a shadow or light shape follow it. You also might see things that you're expecting to see, things like deer at the side of the road, but then you look and they aren't there. One of the things I most see when sleepy are things shifting. Like, literally, something looked crooked for a moment (say, a dresser) but then when I look at it, it looks like it always has. Weird.

A little stronger. Okay, now we're into the realm of sleep-deprivation or a nice LSD trip. Things move. You're looking right at it and it doesn't stop wiggling, winding, crawling, approaching. It just moves and sometimes that's okay. I wouldn't call this phase scary at all. it's fun and weird but if you're in a safe place, it's just something easy to ride.

The place where it gets worse. Okay... now I want to talk about scary. I've never done this much LSD but I have deprived myself of this much sleep, so I'll talk about my friend's LSD experience and my sleep one. This is a completely altered state of reality. It's like falling through the looking-glass. Sure, you know you're still in the real world, but things exist that shouldn't. You can feel, small, and see them. I'm not sure you can really tell what's real and what isn't, if it looks convincing, you probably believe it. My friend gave himself a tattoo tripping balls like this and it was a wicked dragon on his arm. It talked to him the whole time, thanking him for bringing it into the world and calling him "master". Problem was... when he lifted his sleeve to show me the tattoo... it was a blob in the vague shape of a turtle. Completely not in reality, though you might think you are. Okay, now for sleep. Sleep deprivation is ugly. Really ugly. I once went 81 hours without sleep. At that point, the things I was seeing were disturbing, frightening, and deranged. I was terrified and the longer you go without sleep, the more afraid to sleep you are. I did it a lot in my teens, stayed up for days on end. I saw myself die and decay in the mirror, like Indians Jones and the grail scene. But it was scarier in person. 81 hours and I remember passing out on the floor. I remember the carpet rushing at my face and I didn't get up. Also, I've had high fevers, 104.7, 104.9 and I remember waking and screaming because my blankets were trying to stab me with knives. I think I was about 17.

Hope some of that helps. I know it doesn't relate all to catnip, but there are some hallucination stories and maybe other people will find them useful for other purposes.