Kew Gardens 'Intoxication Season' Invites You To Explore Mind-Altering Drugs

Kew Gardens Wants You To Explore Mind-Altering Drugs
|
Open Image Modal
BlackCatPhotos via Getty Images

Kew Gardens is hosting an 'Intoxication Season' where visitors are urged to explore the world of mind-altering plants and fungi ad sample 'unusual plants'.

The Royal Botanic Gardens will host a number of activities, workshops, tours and talks to highlight just how powerful plant substances can be.

Each week will feature a different chemical including alcohol,cannabis, coffee and magic mushrooms.

Story continues after slideshow...

The Most Used Drugs In 2014 (According To The Global Drug Survey)
10. Magic Mushrooms (10.6 %)(01 of10)
Open Image Modal
Mushrooms for sale are displayed in the smartshop Innerspace in Amsterdam 18 October 2007. (MAARTJE BLIJDENSTEIN/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
9. Amphetamines (11.7 %)(02 of10)
Open Image Modal
A variety of crystal meth equipment that were confiscated as part of Operation Slab at the North Shore Policing Centre on August 19, 2010 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
8. Electronic Cigarettes (12.3 %)(03 of10)
Open Image Modal
In this photo illustration a woman holds an e-cigarette on April 2, 2014 in London, England. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
7. Cocaine (16.4 %)(04 of10)
Open Image Modal
In this Jan. 26, 2014 photo, a bag of cocaine that was found in the baggage of Liz Rabines, from Spain, sits on a scale at the anti-narcotics police station inside the Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Peru. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) (credit:AP)
6. Shisha Tobacco (18.5 %)(05 of10)
Open Image Modal
An Egyptian man smokes a water pipe, known locally as Shisha, in central Cairo on December 15, 2012. (MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
5. MDMA (23.4 %)(06 of10)
Open Image Modal
A mock 'ecstasy' lab for teaching purposes at the new National Clandestine Laboratory Training and Research Facility December 5, 2008 at the DEA Training Academy in Quantico, Virginia. (TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images) (credit:Getty)
4. Caffeinated Energy Drinks (45.9 %)(07 of10)
Open Image Modal
In this photo taken Wednesday Sept. 28, 2011, a student's can of Red Bull energy drink is seen on a table at the student union building at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H. (AP Photo/Holly Ramer) (credit:AP)
3. Cannabis (48.2 %)(08 of10)
Open Image Modal
This Feb. 1, 2011 file photo shows medical marijuana clone plants at a medical marijuana dispensary in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File) (credit:AP)
2. Tobacco (56.7 %)(09 of10)
Open Image Modal
In front of the backdrop of the barn in which the burley will be stored, a group of farm workers makes their way across a tobacco field hoeing weeds out of the rows in the early morning Monday, July 11, 2011, near Sparta, Ky. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke) (credit:AP)
1. Alcohol (90.8 %)(10 of10)
Open Image Modal
In this Dec. 5, 2011 file photo, bottles of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Whiskey, line the shelves of a liquor outlet, in Montpelier, Vt. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File) (credit:AP)

Bompas and Parr will also be hosting a 'Plant Connoisseurs’ Club', looking at "unfamiliar, yet culturally significant plants" which guests will be invited to try.

Guest speakers will include Professor David Nutt, the former government drug advisor who was dismissed in 2009 over his liberal comments on drugs.

Open Image Modal

The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew

The endeavour is similar to a permanent display at Alnwick Gardens in Northumberland. Their Poison Garden is specially licensed by the government to grow a variety of poisonous and intoxicating plants.

'Intoxication Season' is on now and will run until the 12 October. Tickets can be bough here.