What's new

Is Kava a Legal High? | New Blog Post at The Kava Society

Status
Not open for further replies.

Triple A

Newbie
What I meant in the second paragraph was that kava does not affect our ability to think clearly and to be in control of our minds and bodies. This fact alone makes it different to what people tend to think about "legal highs". You are of course right when you talk about alcohol, etc. Some things are not commonly seen as "drugs" even though they are in fact not very different to hard drugs. Yes, the public perception of psychoactive substances is ignorant. However, it is what it is and if we do not want the narcophobia to affect the legal status of kava, we must insist that kava is not what people normally classify as "legal highs", IMO. It will affect your mind and body, but it will not make you high, , mentally impaired, addicted or experiencing weird and unpredictable things.
Sorry, but this bolded part just is not true at all. Kava makes me feel euphoria just like alcohol, marijuana, and even oral opiates do. Sometimes if I drink enough I will stumble around just trying to stand up and walk. If that's not being "high" then I don't know what is. Kava can also cause me to be too "open" with others, or ramble needlessly as I sometimes would find myself cringing at my krunked emails or krunked yelp reviews. Not as bad as doing said things drunk of course, but I am certainly impaired to some degree when compared to my sober self. I am also sure that nobody here would advocate driving while krunk. Because if it wasn't mentally impairing that should be an okay thing to do. I've browsed this forum a lot and can't help but notice a lot of people in the kava community like to put kava on a untouchable pedastal and like to pretend that it's anything but a drug. Almost nobody is drinking kava for anything but the high, erm I mean its affect on the body and mind. Kava is certainly way safer than other drugs, and I know we want to create a favorable image of kava but denying that it's a high is being a little bit delusional.
 

TheKavaSociety

New Zealand
Kava Vendor
Sorry, but this bolded part just is not true at all. Kava makes me feel euphoria just like alcohol, m********, and even oral opiates do. Sometimes if I drink enough I will stumble around just trying to stand up and walk. If that's not being "high" then I don't know what is. Kava can also cause me to be too "open" with others, or ramble needlessly as I sometimes would find myself cringing at my krunked emails or krunked yelp reviews. Not as bad as doing said things drunk of course, but I am certainly impaired to some degree when compared to my sober self. I am also sure that nobody here would advocate driving while krunk. Because if it wasn't mentally impairing that should be an okay thing to do. I've browsed this forum a lot and can't help but notice a lot of people in the kava community like to put kava on a untouchable pedastal and like to pretend that it's anything but a drug. Almost nobody is drinking kava for anything but the high, erm I mean its affect on the body and mind. Kava is certainly way safer than other drugs, and I know we want to create a favorable image of kava but denying that it's a high is being a little bit delusional.

Well, I cannot possibly argue with your own experiences, but according to a number of studies kava increases cognitive performance and improves intellectual performance. As such, it differs qualitatively from both many other recreational drugs and certain medicines used for treating anxiety and/or depression. For a review of the relevant literature I recommend: https://www.crcpress.com/Kava-From-Ethnology-to-Pharmacology/Singh/9780415323277 (you can also search through the preview version in google books). These are some of the quoted journal articles: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8515824 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15181652 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23259514

Obviously kava does have psychoactive effects. Nobody is denying it. And yes, these can be stronger than that of standard doses of caffeine. However, my point was that unlike many psychoactive substances kava does not necessarily dull perception or clear thinking, at least according the studies I am familiar with and my own experiences.

At the same time, it is clear to me that consumption of higher amounts of kava may cause drowsiness and motor skills. And that is why some researchers do not recommend operating heavy machinery after taking significant amounts of kava. Note that this is different to claiming that kava affects one's perception of the outside world or clear mental functioning.

I never think that I do or say things after kava that I wouldn't do or say without it. It never makes me a person I am not. Interestingly, this is often confirmed by people who come to our big kava sessions and who do not drink kava. They are amazed by the fact that all the heavy kava drinkers seem absolutely sober and mentally alert. A friend of mine who doesn't drink kava (or alcohol) says she likes coming to our sessions way more than joining other friends at a pub as it's terrible to be the only non-drinking person among a group of booze drinkers and it's quite normal to be surrounded by those drinking kava.
 

wormwood

Kava Enthusiast
Sorry, but this bolded part just is not true at all. Kava makes me feel euphoria just like alcohol, m********, and even oral opiates do. Sometimes if I drink enough I will stumble around just trying to stand up and walk. If that's not being "high" then I don't know what is. Kava can also cause me to be too "open" with others, or ramble needlessly as I sometimes would find myself cringing at my krunked emails or krunked yelp reviews. Not as bad as doing said things drunk of course, but I am certainly impaired to some degree when compared to my sober self. I am also sure that nobody here would advocate driving while krunk. Because if it wasn't mentally impairing that should be an okay thing to do. I've browsed this forum a lot and can't help but notice a lot of people in the kava community like to put kava on a untouchable pedastal and like to pretend that it's anything but a drug. Almost nobody is drinking kava for anything but the high, erm I mean its affect on the body and mind. Kava is certainly way safer than other drugs, and I know we want to create a favorable image of kava but denying that it's a high is being a little bit delusional.
It doesn't intoxicate me on that level at all. Not even close to alcohol or opiates. It gives you a certain euphoria for sure. I think people are just hesitant to use the word "high" because it has a negative connotation attached to it. A kava "high" is much less harmful than any other high, but when we use the word high, it may give people the impression that "high is high" regardless of whether its kava, pot, opium, or whatever.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top