From the Mind Hacks blog: At least two people have intentionally allowed themselves to be bitten by snakes as a way to get high. No. Really. It’s in a peer-reviewed journal and everything. Mind Hacks quotes one of the case studies:

Mr. PKD, a 52-year-old married male with a history of substance use for past 34 years started taking alcohol at the age of 18 and over the years he added cannabis, benzodiazepines, and opioids over different periods of time and in varying combinations to produce the desired effects.

Two months before contacting our center, the patient learned of the intoxicating effects of snake venom through some of his friends and, as reasoned by the patient, he decided to try it in order “to experience the kick the other substances now lacked.”

With the help of the nomadic snake charmers common in India, the patient subjected himself twice to the snake bite over his left forearm over a period of 15 days. There was no local tissue injury at the site of the bite apart from the bite marks.

The patient described a feeling of dizziness and blurred vision followed by a heightened arousal and sense of well-being lasting a few hours; a more intense state of arousal than he would experience with pentazocine injections. The patient was not able to identify the snakes used but was apprehensive about the risks involved in the process.

Clearly, pot is a gateway drug that leads, inevitably, to snakes. We can only hope that schools across America will crack down on this menace and adopt a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to snakes in the classroom.

Also: Snakeheads, I know where you can find your version of a meth house…