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Discover Magazine has its doubts: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/science-sushi/2013/12/30/stoned-dolphins-give-puff-puff-pass-whole-new-meaning/ http://blog

Discover Magazine has its doubts: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/science-sushi/2013/12/30/stoned-dolphins-give-puff-puff-pass-whole-new-meaning/ http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/science-sushi/2013/12/30/s... Tetrodotoxin (TTX) doesn't make sense as a narcotic: > Tetrodotoxin simply doesn’t make sense as a drug (and let’s be honest—if it did, humans would be snorting it off bathroom counters already). In very, very, very low doses, tetrodotoxin causes numbness, tingling, and the slight lightheadedness that fugu, the Japanese preparation of raw pufferfish flesh, is known for. I guess it’s possible to see how one might relate these mild effects to the “high” feeling that comes from THC, the main ingredient in marijuana*, but it’s a stretch to say the least. Every illicit drug has one thing in common: they alter minds. It’s right there in the definition of narcotic. Tetrodotoxin, however, doesn’t cross the blood-brain barrier; it doesn’t change perception or enhance sensation. People get poisoned with TTX every year, and there’s a reason you don’t hear anyone describing the experience as a ‘high’: that’s not how tetrodotoxin works.

GuiA 8y ago
It’s a good thing people are looking at it from a pharmacological perspective. However: > In very, very, very low doses, tetrodotoxin causes numbness, tingling, and the slight lightheadedness that fugu, the Japanese preparation of raw pufferfish flesh, is known for. > Tetrodotoxin, however, doesn’t cross the blood-brain barrier; it doesn’t change perception or enhance sensation How is “numbness and light headedness” not “changing perception”? And how do we know that dolphins do not experience the “numbness and light headedness” that humans do as a pleasant/euphoric/etc sensation? Seems a little light of a rebuttal. The article is also hilarious for qualifying purported dolphin use as “illicit drug use”. I knew about bird law, but not dolphin law :)
fit2rule 8y ago
Dolphins have sonar organs. Perhaps TTX effects those organs in ways we don't fully understand, and this has a mind-altering effect .. in the same way that using light-stimulus can induce altered mind states, perhaps nerve-numbing of sonar-nerves does the same. We won't know until we talk to them. We must learn how to talk to them.
manicdee 8y ago
I get “high” on chillies. The capsaicin numbs my lips and mouth, the “heat” overwhelms most other senses (even my tinnitus changes pitch) and stops me feeling a certain amount of pain. The resulting mental state is basically selective sensory deprivation. So I feel I have some understanding of what the dolphins are feeling. It really is a blissful state, especially if you happen to be bored or the world is getting you down today.

GuiA 8y ago

It’s a good thing people are looking at it from a pharmacological perspective. However: > In very, very, very low doses, tetrodotoxin causes numbness, tingling, and the slight lightheadedness that fugu, the Japanese preparation of raw pufferfish flesh, is known for. > Tetrodotoxin, however, doesn’t cross the blood-brain barrier; it doesn’t change perception or enhance sensation How is “numbness and light headedness” not “changing perception”? And how do we know that dolphins do not experience the “numbness and light headedness” that humans do as a pleasant/euphoric/etc sensation? Seems a little light of a rebuttal. The article is also hilarious for qualifying purported dolphin use as “illicit drug use”. I knew about bird law, but not dolphin law :)

fit2rule 8y ago

Dolphins have sonar organs. Perhaps TTX effects those organs in ways we don't fully understand, and this has a mind-altering effect .. in the same way that using light-stimulus can induce altered mind states, perhaps nerve-numbing of sonar-nerves does the same. We won't know until we talk to them. We must learn how to talk to them.

manicdee 8y ago

I get “high” on chillies. The capsaicin numbs my lips and mouth, the “heat” overwhelms most other senses (even my tinnitus changes pitch) and stops me feeling a certain amount of pain. The resulting mental state is basically selective sensory deprivation. So I feel I have some understanding of what the dolphins are feeling. It really is a blissful state, especially if you happen to be bored or the world is getting you down today.