How feasible is suicide by hemlock poisoning?

[egAbwkOofXrX]

Certain compounds seem difficult to access, and what could be easier than going outside and gathering some plants? Poison hemlock is all around me where I live, and I know it's highly toxic and potentially fatal. I want to know how feasible it is to ctb via hemlock poisoning. Something sort of poetic about it on top of the ease of access. I read that roots and seeds are the most toxic, but leaves will also work. I see some sources say 8 leaves can be lethal? What if I pull roots and consume those? Thanks

 

[hankly]

Messaggged

 

[Forveleth]

Not very. You have no idea how much of the poison is present in any given plant. You could need 10 leaves or 100 and you would nerd to quantify it somehow using chemistry. Or, you have to be willing to yolo it and rusk getting sick instead of dying.

 

[bgr]

I actually don't believe it takes much. It's shits down your respiratory system, there is no antidote. If you're saved, it means seals in the hospital ventilated. I've looked into it. Personally I would make a decoction, take a bunch of sedatives, and inject. Years ago as a teen, I purchased what were marketed as poison hemlock seeds off eBay. I took them and I felt anxious, fast pulse… generally unwell but the next day I was fine. So upsetting. Thought I could go out old school.

 

[ChinUp]

Where can I find a deadly poison?

 

[EmptyBottle]

I wonder how this will work with a double dose of crushed sleeping pills a little while before the hemlock (eg taken hemlock when the sleeping pills seem to be working yet the user is still partially awake)

PS: I'm not going to do this, just curious (in the unlikely even I CTB, my preferred method is modified NN)

PS: page 478 of the 5 last acts (2015 version), says that poison is a roulette wheel due to the variations in plants and difficulties identifying them, tho the sleeping pills might not need to be crushed to speed up unconsciousness due to hemlock taking a few hours to work

 

[Linda]

It's very feasible, provided you can find some hemlock, Conium maculatum. Don't rely on English names of plants, as they are often misleading. Only the Latin names are precise, which is why scientists use them. Conium maculatum belongs to a large group of species many of which look confusingly similar to the untrained eye, and unless you are already certain that you can recognise it you would need to do a little botanical study.

 

[cemeteryismyhome]

I've wondered about this too. Seems to me like it could be easy to find or grow the plants, and easy to die from it. When I've looked for information on it, I find lots of articles saying "warning! danger! this plant is everywhere and very deadly!". Perfect! But somehow there's always a catch. I need to look further into this.

 

[Linda]

I've wondered about this too. Seems to me like it could be easy to find or grow the plants, and easy to die from it. When I've looked for information on it, I find lots of articles saying "warning! danger! this plant is everywhere and very deadly!". Perfect! But somehow there's always a catch. I need to look further into this.

It's not "everywhere". It has definite habitat preferences. Also, there are many related species that look confusingly similar but which are not poisonous. If you want to be sure that you have some hemlock, you need to do at least a little botanical study.

 

[quietwoods]

There's also European hemlock vs American hemlock, which can be difficult to tell apart in the field. Supposedly both can be found in NA, but all the information I found is conflicting.

American has much worse symptoms than European, which is what the Romans and Greeks used to take to commit suicide.

It definitely seems feasible to me, but ingesting poisonous plants can be very unreliable.

Checkout the 'Yew Attempt' thread

 

[EmptyBottle]

There's also European hemlock vs American hemlock, which can be difficult to tell apart in the field. Supposedly both can be found in NA, but all the information I found is conflicting.

American has much worse symptoms than European, which is what the Romans and Greeks used to take to commit suicide.

It definitely seems to feasible to me, but ingesting poisonous plants can be very unreliable.

Checkout the 'Yew Attempt' thread

ahhh, thanks. tho I'll never know for certain if sleeping pills before hemlock will prevent pain being noticed, can only guess it might (asked for curiousity, not for CTB, BTW)

 

[stoiccactus]

Before you ctb with hemlock you have to read Plato's Apology - the speech that Socrates gives before he drinks the poison hemlock.

The Internet Classics Archive | Apology by Plato

Apology by Plato, part of the Internet Classics Archive

classics.mit.edu

 

[quietwoods]

ahhh, thanks. tho I'll never know for certain if sleeping pills before hemlock will prevent pain being noticed, can only guess it might (asked for curiousity, not for CTB, BTW)

Probably, but tough to know what's meant by sleeping pills. Can be everything from melatonin to hardcore opioids :)

Herbs like hemlock tend to be slower acting. You could definitely be put to sleep before noticing symptoms, but my concern would be waking up in the middle of severe symptoms.

Idk mostly conjecture at this point.

 

[Kali_Yuga13]

There's also European hemlock vs American hemlock, which can be difficult to tell apart in the field. Supposedly both can be found in NA, but all the information I found is conflicting.

American has much worse symptoms than European, which is what the Romans and Greeks used to take to commit suicide.

It definitely seems feasible to me, but ingesting poisonous plants can be very unreliable.

Checkout the 'Yew Attempt' thread

Water Hemlock (the American version) has a history of use for suicide amongst American Indians. From what I've read it's pretty with rough seizures and convulsions for around two hours but ultimately it gets the job done.

 

[EmptyBottle]

Probably, but tough to know what's meant by sleeping pills. Can be everything from melatonin to hardcore opioids :)

Herbs like hemlock tend to be slower acting. You could definitely be put to sleep before noticing symptoms, but my concern would be waking up in the middle of severe symptoms.

Idk mostly conjecture at this point.

I was assuming 2-3x normal sleeping pill dose to provide longer 'sleep'