Anticholinergic delirium following Datura stramonium ingestion: Implications for the Internet age

Recreational use of Datura to deliberately induce an anticholinergic delirium is not uncommon. We present a case of Datura intoxication in a young adult who learned about the recreational use of Datura on the Internet and subsequently purchased Datura stramonium seeds from an online vendor. Using the Google search engine, we conducted searches for "Datura," "jimson weed" and "Datura seeds" and reviewed the first 200 search results for each search term. We found 16 websites recommending the recreational use of Datura, 12 vendors selling seeds of genus Datura and one website that both promoted the recreational use of Datura and also sold Datura stramonium leaves. The promotion of recreational use of Datura on the Internet represents a danger to public health and the ability to purchase Datura seeds from Internet vendors may increase the prevalence of Datura abuse.