Holiday Hallucinogens

If you hallucinated green fairies (or turkeys) after Thanksgiving dinner, you could blame the oregano or sage, both of which, like wormwood, the ingredient banned from Absinthe for 100 years, contain thujone.

It turns out, though, that neither thujone, nor any other chemical found in wormwood, actually produces psychedelic effects. Should it tell us something about our governments' wisdom in protecting us from drugs that it took them so long to figure this out, and that they never banned oregano or sage, or any of the other botanicals that contain thujone?

If Thanksgiving disappointed you, just wait for Christmas. An extra large helping of still quite legal nutmeg in your eggnog really could produce visions of sugarplums -- or much more dangerous, even lethal, toxic effects.

Marijuana remains a Schedule I controlled substance. Go figure -- or ask a DEA agent.