Is toloache a powerful plant to make your crush fall in love with you, or a powerful hallucinogenic drug and highly harmful to neurons? The functions of this ancient Mexican herb depend on the consumer and what they are looking for.
For those who seek love, according to popular belief, a few drops of toloache in food or drink is just enough for the person to be completely in love with the person who administers it. The toloache is also known as “yerba hedionda”, “fig tree from hell”, “mata del infierno”, “yerba del diablo”, although its scientific name is datura stramonium.
The widespread use of toloache is strongly related as a ritual plant, which is why it is believed to be supernatural.
A toloache tea is said to make any infatuation possible; although according to biologists, the toloache has toxic effects that could trigger serious situations if given in large amounts. Toloache is also used as an alternative medicine due to its analgesic, anti-inflammatory and psychotropic activity.
Fernando Yaomitl, guardian of the hummingbirds temazcal, asks not to take lightly the toxicity of the plant because the consequences of not being used properly could be fatal. Although he also clarifies that toloache has several benefits that are used in alternative medicine.
“I have known of people who have died from the consumption of toloache, or people who survived but say it is a very dangerous plant, those people are never the same again, it is a plant that should not be taken to the light. Its use is very delicate due to the toxicity it has if it touches your skin and it should be stored very carefully. Although it can be used as an analgesic, anti-inflammatory, for skin infections, for hemorrhoids, and have clear therapeutic benefits, as ancient medicine. This plant is also known as ‘the lily of the devil’, ‘the fright of the wolf’.
“If it is not consumed in microdoses, the damage can be fatal, it can cause death, you have delusions, anguish, lack of concentration, incoherent thoughts, because it is a psychotropic seed, it is like making a short circuit to our nervous system. “
On whether the toloache helps in love life, the shaman responds: “It is not that it has a magical power, what happens is that when you start giving toloache to people, usually in food or drinks, it begins to affect the nervous system and begins to lose the reasoning faculty, they begin to lose the notion of reality, they begin to be more docile, then if you took toloache you begin to feel like this, and the people who are closest to you because they will be able to influence you, control you and manipulate you. “
Dose of self love
In Fernando Yaomitl’s experience, people who seek to solve their love problems through this type of potions are people who are unsure of themselves, so the only alternative to not to put our health at risk, he says, but turn to self-love.
According to research carried out by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, there are 12 different types of toloache in the world and all of them originate from Mexico.
Due to its fame, the plant is available to anyone and is the king of herbal products. Toloache is available easily in most mercados in Mexico.
For $55 pesos you can buy a dropper of approximately 50 milliliters so that it can be administered in the food of the person you want to fall in love with; The so-called herbalists indicate different doses, some say that six drops in food, others say that only two, and some others are completely unaware of the subject and simply say “instructions come in the box”, but concentrated toloache does not contain medical indication or warning; Even so, it is the best-selling herbal product to get the love attention from your crush.
“Look, I do not know if it works, but people ask for it a lot, I do not know what it is made of, nor do I know how much should be taken, I only know that it is added to food, many people say that it does work,” says one of the merchants of herbs and esoteric products.
However, this same bottle of concentrated toloache is sold on the Internet for up to $549 pesos, in online stores, it is ensured that the potion is highly effective, and even offers the method of financing your purchase for 12 months without interest.
For the chemist from the Autonomous University of Querétaro, Francisco Javier Luna, a regulation for the sale of toloache is urgent in the state and in the country, as he insists on the serious consequences of not administering it correctly.
“This plant has effects on the nervous system, the person will have tachycardia, increase in temperature, their breathing will change and they will have drowsiness, they may have delusions and hallucinations, it is a very bitter plant, it has an unpleasant taste and it does not smell good either. It has anesthetic and that is why it is used in natural medicine, sometimes it is included in very small doses for colic or stomach spasms. It can have long-term effects on cognitive ability due to the abuse of this plant, it can induce a coma. “
Family secrets
Although the use of toloache to make someone fall in love is part of the popular culture of Mexico, and the subject often comes up in mocking and picaresque conversations, the reality is that it is also a taboo subject.
Aurora has heard since she was a child that her uncle Javier was “entoloachacha”, but no one tells exactly what happened.
“That is a story that my grandmother has told for many years, that her brother Javier was entwined by his girlfriend. She says that she was angry because they had ended the relationship, and then she prepared a cake with toloache so that he would fall in love with her again. They say that she made him a cake every year and with the passage of time they say that my uncle went crazy. I have asked more about that, but they don’t tell me much, it is something they don’t like to talk about,” says the 25-year-old years.
