Herodotus says Scythians smoked weed

Greek writer Herodotus (400 B.C.)describes the Scythians as inhaling vapors from the Hemp (marijuana) seeds burning. The Scythians were a fierce Nomadic people that lived on the Russian Steppes. Apparently the Scythians also took Anamita Muscaria, which is a hallucinogenic mushroom from the "Old World" (i.e. not North or South America). Their priests would take the mushroom and then urinate in a large bowl once they started "tripping." It seems that the active ingredient passes through the body quickly.  So then, the Scythian soldiers and other adults would drink the Priest's urine from that large bowl and start "tripping" themselves.

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William Schaeffer