During a SHTF situation, pain could become an annoyance for some, but unbearable for others. If doctors are scarce and medicine becomes even scarcer, this one little weed, found all over North America and similar to morphine, could be a saving grace.
Lactuca Virosa is the scientific term for the morphine-like plant, and many people have used it in place of addictive prescription pain medication, like opioids. The plant is called “wild lettuce,” and it’s fairly abundant. Known as a weed to most, it gets plucked from lawns and tossed in compost piles, but it’s important to know what it can do, and how safe it actually is.
Wild lettuce is a leafy and tall plant, with small yellow buds, and could be growing right outside your door. More commonly found in North America and England, it’s a cousin to the lettuce we typically see at the grocery store. It’s also referred to as bitter lettuce, or more appropriately for the purpose discussed here, opium lettuce.
There is actually no opium in the plant, according to WebMD. But wild lettuce gets its nickname “opium lettuce” from the pain relieving and sedative effects of a white substance produced in the stems and leaves of the plant.
Ask A Prepper detailed the historical uses of wild lettuce:
Back in the 19th century, wild lettuce was already being used by some as a substitute to opium. But, it was in the 70’s that it started to gain significant popularity by those wanting a more natural remedy. Individuals were starting to use it for both pain relief, as well as recreational purpose.
In the earlier days, people using wild lettuce prepared it a couple different ways. One way was to cook the plant in a pan of water and sugar mix, until it reduced to a thick syrup-like consistency. While this was an effective form, it was quite bitter even with the sugar added. The most common form however, was drying the stem and leaves to use as an herbal tea.
The tea remains popular today. But, it’s also being dried for smoking, or vaporizing. If you don’t care to grow it yourself, it can also be purchased as a dried herb, extract, or resin substance.
Wild lettuce’s uses don’t just stop at easing the pain. It can be used to help with insomnia, anxiety, and depression.
Watch out for allergies too. Wild lettuce may cause an allergic reaction in people who are sensitive to the Asteraceae/Compositae family. Members of this family include ragweed, chrysanthemums, marigolds, daisies, and many others. If you have allergies, be sure to check with your healthcare provider before taking wild lettuce.
*This is for informational purposes only and not intended to be medical advice. Consult a doctor if you have questions regarding your health.
OMG! Get rid of the stupid ass “poll” “Would Michelle make a good president”!!!! We have seen more than enough of that tranny for the last EIGHT YEARS!!!
Off Topic…..Has anyone seen on Accuweather where Electric companies are preparing for the Solar storm. It will cover 14 states.
I’ve seen concerns the solar eclipse may cause problems by shutting solar generation down for a while when it is being expected to be a part of the main supply, possibly causing a cascading overload effect on remaining generation sources.
Yeah, its supposed to be a mock drill is all……..
But back to the topic. It sounds like it could be worthwhile giving a try in a grid down situation. There’s all kinds of remedies to ease a malaise growing right under our feet. You just gotta know what to look for is all.
PO’d Patriot, there’s something similar to that been growing on the BOL property. I’ll ask the cousin about it. I’m headed back there this weekend for 2 weeks, WOOHOO!
You can’t say “weed” in Colorado without getting taxed.
You can buy the seeds online from several places. Also scrape the back of willow bark and eat or make tea for pain relief. We give our dog willow bark, it seems to help.
Contains Salicylic acid which is actually more effective than its commercially produced version as aspirin.
The fresh shoots are most effective, just chew them.
Don’t know if they can be harvested and stored for use in the winter or not.
Why not mix with vodka or grain alcohol for winter stability ? Remove from container, let alcohol evaporate and leave active components behind. Grain would work better since it has lower water concentration and may actually remove latex moisture too. You could refrigerate as well for more stability.
IMHO
The socalled “Black Sky Event” was supposed to cover all possibilities, from manmade to natural. Every time you hear about global warming or solar flare, imhblo, they are speaking in euphemisms, because anything under the sun is a potential excuse, warranting emergency powers.
DMONIC, AMEN to that one! We’ve all had more than our fill of the apes.
Better than the clueless mron traitor in there now.
Tosh, uh, would you have been happier with Hillary? You sound like a libturd.
lol clueless is right
It’s more like hopium! It does nothing unless you are susceptible to the placebo effect.
I tried that stuff once back in the 70’s, didn’t do anything notable for me.
he is a man!
check the hand, male vs. female ……….
@DMONIC, Lol I’ve been thinking that for the last Week!!
How come marijuana smells like a skunks ass? It never did in the old days. Not a smoker.
If it smells bad it is probably because some scumbag piece of filth ignorant cannabis grower was using toxic chemicals on a weed that grows very well organically.
Might be called “tracer”…easy to smell in any situation.
Have you smelled it lately? If someone smokes it in their car and doesn’t air out their jacket, it just reeks. This is all weed. Not just a small batch someone had. We call it skunk weed, now. They claim it smells because it’s stronger than old time weed.
I’ve heard other people say the same thing.
One person I am aware of believes it started around the same time HPS lighting became popular amongst cannabis growers, as well as the myriad of myths found online concerning growing cannabis.
This person says happy plants don’t stink.
I’m ready to burn some…smoke up Johnny’
Type in “medicinal uses” in the search bar at http://www.offthegridnews.com
A number of common plants and their uses will come up.
Plantain – Medicinal Properties and Herbal Use
It is a common weed that can be used to treat snake bites, bee stings, spider bites, pain relief (earache, toothache) and even severe blood poisoning.
http://www.altnature.com/gallery/plantain.htm
30 Most Popular Herbs for Natural Medicine by Tess Pennington
http://readynutrition.com/resources/30-most-popular-herbs-for-natural-medicine_06092011/
Wooly Lamb’s Ear – Medicinal and Edible
A Natural Antibacterial Bandage
“Wooly Lamb’s Ear, botanical name Stachys byzantina, has been used for centuries as a wound dressing on battlefields. Not only do the soft, fuzzy leaves absorb blood and help it to clot more quickly, they also contain antibacterial, antiseptic, and anti-inflammatory properties. All of these factors make this plant a really great alternative to store-bought bandages.”
Other Medicinal Uses:
-Wooly Lamb’s Ear actually has many medicinal uses. You can heat a few bruised leaves in a pot of simmering water, and use the cooled infusion as an eyewash to treat pinkeye and sties.
-Drink a tea made from young, dried Wooly Lamb’s Ear leaves to help with fevers, diarrhea, sore mouth and throat, internal bleeding, and weaknesses of the liver and heart. (~Wikipedia)
-You can bruise the leaves so that the juices are released, and put them on bee stings or other insect bites to help reduce the swelling. The same effect can be seen when used for treating hemorrhoids, or for postpartum recovery.
Still More Uses:
-Being soft and super absorbent, Lamb’s Ear leaves can be used as menstrual pads
-Used in place of cotton balls.
-It can be used as toilet paper.
-It’s also edible. The young, tender leaves can be eaten fresh in a salad or steamed as greens.
http://theprepperproject.com/grow-antibacterial-bandages/
I knew about the external uses but not the others. So glad I have bunches of it in my yard. And, yes, the leaves really are soft and nice to touch.
I grow this plant for medicinal purposes. Did try some just to get an idea of what to expect. Made a pretty strong tea and it did indeed make me a bit stoned. Not horribly so, but for a short time I was feeling no pain. Several sources I read stated that if you are used to true opioids, it will not do much for you, so not much use for stoners, but decent as a painkiller.
In my area Native Americans used prickly pear cactus as dressing for gunshot wounds supposedly it has healing properties like aloe Vera and pain receiving qualities, they also made willow bark tea for the same ailments as we use asprin for. Atleast this is what my Comanche great grandma told me.
Jtx, good info. Lore.
If any of you are interested in medical plants, I posted on my blog some research I’ve been doing over the course of a few years.
https://gentlywoken.wordpress.com/2017/05/13/first-blog-post/
The “weed” looks familiar, agree that knowledge of plants and their effects would be great to know. It would not surprise me that most human ailments have a natural plant that provides relief. That makes good sense. I see where big pharma is upset that statin drug sales are way down because people have wised up to the danger of those drugs pushed to lower cholesterol. Look at the miracle of cannabis treating many conditions more effectively than pharma drugs. Even in the face of the facts revealed the existing system continues to deny any medical use of cannabis is legit. Here is the chance to put the legal poison pill pushers out of business, put the increasing police state in its place as serving the people and greatly curtail the polluting of our home planet. It is a win win situation for the people against growing tyranny.
senator cory booker has a bill that will right the catastrophic wrong of Cannabis prohibition. nature has so many cures and helpful herbs and edibles. big pHARMa is terrified about the truth finally coming out and all are fighting tooth and nail to continue the war on amerikans. support cory and write all of your elected scum their time is up. criminal Nixon is responsible due to his political and racists attitude when he rejected the shafer report that stated Cannabis should NOT be listed on any schedule of restricted drugs. enough of the lies.
madtxn… Nixon did screw up everything, revenge for losing to JFK in 1960. “I’m not a crook”, uh yeah you were. How many more lives were lost in Vietnam? Eisenhowers warning about the MIC fell on deaf ears.
A good identifier for Wild Lettuce is to look on the underside of the leaf. It will have a row of spines down the middle rib line. The flower stem can easily grow 4 feet high. I grow Wild lettuce among other herbs in my back yard & the method I use to harvest this plant when collecting for an alternate pain substitute is different then what was mentioned in article. You have to have patience & a lot of plants. When the plant has matured, you collect the flower stem shown in photo . It’s that milky substance you see coming from the hollow stem that you want to collect. Which I assume is why there’s a photo showing the milk from this plant. I find the best way is to use like a cookie sheet, slice the stem with a razor blade down the middle. Now use a credit card or similar to scrap the milk from each half. Do this on the cookie sheet. Once you have collected enough , spread it out into a thin layer that will hold its shape. Too thick it will just spread out anyways, but you want it to dry out with an even thickness. When it turns a dark brown/black colour, cut it into 1/2 inch squares. But, hold to the trying a new herb rule. 1sr rub on lips & ur tongue, wait 1/2 hour or so, if no tingling, numb, burning sensation, try a little piece like 1/4 inch square, suck on it for 5-10 seconds, wait another 4 hours, no reaction as stated, or signs of stomach upset, dizzy, now swallow that piece, after another 4 hours, no fever or signs of being sick or anything hing earlier I mentioned. Can increase the amount but wait a full 24 hours before increasing dosage, then increase one square at a time so can keep track of dose & effect, & of coarse any negative reactions. How well does it work, well if there was nothing else to take , take this with a willow leaf & stem tincture or tea. It would be better then just taking nothing. Like mentioned for placebo, the mind is funny right. But, the medical ingredients to ease pain is definitely in Wild lettuce. All lettuce, but store bought brands have been genetically altered to remove these ingredients. Same as willow, like an aspirin. What I’m saying is, it’s about mindset, you have attitude it’s not going to work or it’s crap, well the mind is a funny thing, you will most likely have a negative result. Take with a positive attitude, & most likely will have a good result once dose is discovered. But, like anything to much is obviously bad, that’s why I like to tell people to prepare it this way as can prepare nearly identical each time & cut into 1/2 inch squares can control dose. Just make sure it’s Wild lettuce , flip the leaf & look for the spines, thorns whatever u want to call them. It’s a good identifier. There are a lot of look a likes, right down to the common dandelion .
Wiggy
Thanks for the information. When I saw the first picture, that is what I thought… Dandelion.
Something to add to the list of things to try. 🙂
Thanks again.
Oh for cripes sake,grow some poppies(which ids legal)and nick/milk them at right time(not so legal but so what),now,you have opium,a great pain medicine and something to smoke if you choose to go down rabbit holes!
I’ve never seen the proper seeds available. where do you get them?
Dried Burdock leaves as bandages for burns, the roots for food and blood cleanse.
Dandelion, so many uses. I use it in place of lettuce for sandwiches and dries leaves to add to teas.
If you live near a lake or swamp, lucky you. There are several species to eat, drink and smoke. Look up Smokeable Herbs. Some, such as wormwood can be mixed with tobacco to relieve headaches. There are others to treat bronchitis, respiratory, dysentery and other survival issues used by the Natives, (yes smoking to cure something. Who knew?).
I’ve read that plagues were cured by natural tobacco/herbs, (those who did not suffer were smokers). Note: this does not mean tobacco that is tainted/altered by commercial production.
Three things:
1) Be absolutely certain of the plant, (get a book and study).
2) Be absolutely certain that the soil/water where the plant grows is not polluted/toxic. i.e. Don’t eat dandelions from the lawn that you treated with chemicals. I don’t use chems anyway, but the neighbor’s do.
3) Mind dosing limits and drug interactions for medicinal herbs.
Finally. It’s nice to see a useful article that has nothing to do with mushroom clouds, EMP and a stammering North Korean, for a change.
Remember there is ether in starting fluid . You can put someone totally unconscious to remove object?
Post collapse.
Welcome to Sierra Dave’s Pain Reducing Emporium! Lie back in our comfy beds and medicate your unhappiness away! 🙂
Brilliant article! I have had a terrible time with my yard since that plant is everywhere! Got up this morning and they were all gone! Neighbors have been acting strangely. Now I can reseed it with grass. Thanks!
Tried it years ago – it’s crap.
Oh buddy I got some wild lettuce!
WHy not just grow poppies? They are much prettier and rather simple to grow. A good mix of Turkish white (bred for morphine) and Tasmanian blue (bred for codeine) crossed for a few years then blended with hens and chicks makes a very fine pain pain relief blend.