Painkiller from wild lettuce!
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There are already a couple threads on it...
The short version... It's basically a mild sleep aid. The army experimented with it prior to ww2, trying to find a replacement for morphine. It's not, 2 french scientists ran the tests if I remember correctly. They scrapped the program, not an effective pain reliever.
It takes 3 days to get concentrate. It stinks to heaven so don't cook it in your house!! Best cooked outside in a pot you don't mind throwing away.
There are already a couple threads on it...
The short version... It's basically a mild sleep aid. The army experimented with it prior to ww2, trying to find a replacement for morphine. It's not, 2 french scientists ran the tests if I remember correctly. They scrapped the program, not an effective pain reliever.
It takes 3 days to get concentrate. It stinks to heaven so don't cook it in your house!! Best cooked outside in a pot you don't mind throwing away.
The French couldn't brew meth with a chemistry set and a pharmaceutical-grade recipe. LOL
PU.
Wild lettuce has been written about since the 1500’s. But!!!! Those early writers were in Europe!!! Different species grow here in the US. Well into the 1800’s, references would occasionally appear in our medical texts. The ‘copy and paste’ of that era. The texts have vague references to ‘morphine like’ for symptoms broad and general. During the snake oil era it was claimed to have morphine.
Big picture, there’s 13 different species just in the us and canada. They grow in a wide range of habitats. That means their chemical make up is all over the map. I’ve seen claims on the internet for 30yrs. So which species are the internet experts using? Where was it growing? Most importantly, when do they harvest it? There is a short window, when it's chemical constituents peak.
I trust the folks who have experience working with it for decades. It has place in herbal medicine, a very small place. It’s very symptom specific and not widely used. In fact i only know 2 herbalists who bother with it. It’s only mentioned in one of the many serious herbal medicine books I own. That book gives a 3 page (tiny print) history of ‘lettuce medicine’ from the year 1564 to 1997 with quotes from the original works.
In 1633 Thomas Johnson wrote in the second edition of "Herb-All" that it “procures sleepe, asswages paine, moves the courses of women”. Sounds like Midol to me!
As a sleep aid? I’m not going to bother with it. ZzzQuil works better and doesn’t stink up my house.
Big picture, there’s 13 different species just in the us and canada. They grow in a wide range of habitats. That means their chemical make up is all over the map. I’ve seen claims on the internet for 30yrs. So which species are the internet experts using? Where was it growing? Most importantly, when do they harvest it? There is a short window, when it's chemical constituents peak.
I trust the folks who have experience working with it for decades. It has place in herbal medicine, a very small place. It’s very symptom specific and not widely used. In fact i only know 2 herbalists who bother with it. It’s only mentioned in one of the many serious herbal medicine books I own. That book gives a 3 page (tiny print) history of ‘lettuce medicine’ from the year 1564 to 1997 with quotes from the original works.
In 1633 Thomas Johnson wrote in the second edition of "Herb-All" that it “procures sleepe, asswages paine, moves the courses of women”. Sounds like Midol to me!
As a sleep aid? I’m not going to bother with it. ZzzQuil works better and doesn’t stink up my house.
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I'm wondering about bugle weed now, it has sedative properties as well.
