Nine metro Denver residents — including five Jefferson County teenagers — have gotten sick from ingesting or smoking moonflowers since Sept. 8, prompting health officials to issue a warning about the toxic weed.
“Part of the problem is that people think they are natural plants that are like the herbs you buy from the health food store and that they are safe — and they’re not,” said Dr. Gayle Miller, epidemiologist with the Jefferson County Department of Health and Environment.
Symptoms appear within an hour of eating or smoking the moonflower seeds, leaves or roots or brewing them into tea, and can last up to two days. Heart rate, blood pressure and temperature can soar and “there is an utter inability to care for yourself,” said Dr. Eric Lavonas, associate director of the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center.
“You pick at imaginary bugs, bounce into walls and it causes you not to be able to urinate,” Lavonas said.
The biggest risk is a person will try to drive, walk through a plate-glass window or walk off of a deck, Lavonas said.
In rare cases, it can be fatal. Colorado’s last death believed to be linked to moonflowers was in 1974.
Since 2004, six to 12 cases of moonflower toxicity have been reported each year to the Rocky Mountain Poison Center.
The five Jeffco teens have recovered, though three spent time in the emergency room and two were hospitalized in intensive care.
All of the teens live within 3.5 miles of one another. Two are siblings, and at least two others are friends. Health officials want to understand the relationship.
“We want to reassure them that we aren’t investigating from a law enforcement standpoint,” Miller said.
Lavonas said he suspects the teens were experimenting with something they’d heard about. But, he added, they probably won’t do it again, saying, “Nobody does this stuff to have a pleasant high.”
Ann Schrader: 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com
Petals with perils
Moonflowers — Datura inoxia, part of the Solanaceae family — are potentially deadly hallucinogenic plants that can cause delirium, extreme disorientation and agitation.
