Over the years I’ve been asked numerous questions about which substances will get people high. To reduce some harm I though I’d list the biggest myths I’ve come across below. If you know of others, post a comment below and I’ll update the list.

The myths

1. Banana skins have a hallucinogenic effect

The most details description of this myth I’ve come across involves boiling up banana peels until they have a consistency of paste, then spreading that paste onto cookie sheets for further cooking in the oven. This allegedly creates a fine black powder that can be smoked.

I’m yet to meet a person who has gotten any effect from this and even a cursory review of online discussion sites will show it up for the myth it is.

2. There’s flavoured versions of Crystal Meth

We’ve covered this one previously – there seems to be endless questions about crystal meth that tastes like strawberry pop rocks, chocolate, peanut butter, cola, cherry, grape and orange.

Essentially, any colourations are due to impurities and there’s been no documented cases to date of such substances being flavoured to increase desirability. And anyway, to use an analogy, strawberry flavoured dog excrement will still taste like dog excrement – flavouring never fully disguises what’s underneath.

3. I can get high from peanut shells

I’ve seen this one float around the internet a bit: shell some raw peanuts, grind up the shells and smoke them. Zero reports of this doing anything other than making an interesting smell.

4. Yeast extracts / spreads as hallucinogenic agent

I’ve had direct exposure to this myth as far back as the early 1990’s. Apparently ‘some people’ were creating grazes or deeper lacerations and then rubbing an iconic Australian yeast extract into the area to get high. The result? A lovely infection and nothing else from everything I’ve seen.