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TIFU by smoking the world's 5th most potent poison (ricin) thinking it was weed.

Obligatory this happened back in 2010.

I was a socially awkward teenager. I had no plug and my botanical knowledge was close to zero.

I spotted a plant that had these large, palm-shaped leaves. To my untrained and desperate teenage eyes, it looked exactly like weed

I thought I had hit the jackpot. I didn't have to talk to anyone or spend any money.

I harvested some of the plant material, went home, and prepared to have my first trip. I managed to roll it up and started smoking it.

My Fuck Up

It wasn't weed. It was Ricinus communis aka the Castor Bean plant. Castor seeds contain ricin. Ricin is a toxin so potent that a dose the size of a few grains of salt can kill a full grown man. It has no antidote.

I only realized what I had done after my parents grilled me on why I had a toxic plant in my room. I spent the next few days in a state of absolute panic, waiting for my organs to fail.

But I turned out to be the luckiest idiot on the planet. Ricin is a protein, and proteins are deactivated by extreme heat. Since I smoked it, I deactivated most of the poison, and thankfully, I didn't try to make any brownies with it.

**TL;DR:** Mistook a castor plant for weed, tried to smoke it, and only survived because the fire I used to smoke the poison was the one thing that could neutralize it.

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