on july 14, 1813, Jefferson writes to Dr. Samuel Brown: "the most elegant thing of that kind* known is a preparation of the Jamestown weed, datura stramonium, invented by the French in the time of Robespierre. every man of firmness carried it constantly in his pocket to anticipate the guillotine. it brings on the deep sleep as quietly as fatigue does the ordinary sleep, without the least struggle [...] it seems far preferable to the vivisection of the Romans, the hemlock of the Greeks, and the opium of the Turks [...] there are ills in life as desperate and intolerable, to which it would be the rational relief"
* = use of toxic plants for killing oneself
"all daturas belong to the strongest narcotic poisons"
-http://weberseeds.nl/eshop/Samen/Datura-stramonium-Gemeiner-Stechapfel::73.html
there also seems to be little difference between datura and brugmansia plants. both are commonly referred to as "angel's trumpets". and both are toxic. potentially lethal. due to the presence of following tropane alkaloids: hyoscyamine, scopolamine and atropine. the amount of these toxins, however, varies from plant to plant.
"brugmansia are woody trees or shrubs, with pendulous, not erect, flowers, that have no spines on their fruit. datura species are herbaceous bushes with erect (not pendulous) flowers, and most have spines on their fruit."
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brugmansia
following Jefferson's recommendation, the focus here will be on màntuóluó huā (曼陀罗花, datura stramonium) exclusively.
the lethal dose of the alkaloid atropine is presumed to start at 10mg
-Goodman R.A., 1995
but taken orally, you might need 100mg or more.
-HagerDIGITAL, 2008; Niess et al., 1999
the highest concentration occurs in the seeds, 100 of them are supposed to contain 6mg atropine
-Klein-Schwartz & Oderda, 1984
with 1g of seeds corresponding to approx. 110 seeds.
-http://weberseeds.nl/eshop/Samen/Datura-stramonium-Gemeiner-Stechapfel::73.html
it followes, 100mg of atropine are (ideally) contained in 1666 seeds, which (ideally) make up 15.1g
values for hyoscyamine & scopolamine aren't available/reliable. the latter, is thought to be (theoretically) lethal at somewhere between 4mg (Goodman R.A., 1995) and 14mg (Giftpflanzen – Pflanzengifte, 2008), but it has (in practice) demonstrated to be non-, or not necessarily, lethal at doses as high as 100mg.
-Corallo et al., 2009
the former (hyoscyamine) is thought to be just as toxic.
when people determine the amount of seeds needed to die, they take the atropine content as a guiding line.
and that then are the 15.1g of seeds, according to the idealistic calculation, or 15–25g of seeds, according to
the "PDR for Herbal Medicines"
after ingestion, following symptoms are to be expected: reddening of your face, dryness of the tunica mucosa, problems with swallowing, hightened pulse & enlarged pupils at doses below 1mg of atropine (0.2g of seeds). at higher doses, hyperthermia, excitation, "hallucinations" & cramps become part of the spectacle. followed by a deep state of unconsciousness. you'd then eventually die from respiratory failure (Niess et al., 1999).
the deep state of unconsciousness is then the result of scopolamine, which unlike atropine (a stimulant) is a CNS depressant.
after drinking datura stramonium tea, this is what you can expect:
"the first time I made a tea with boiling water, and seeds in a coffee filter. I used about 45 seeds [...]
the effects came on in about half an hour, with a mild stupor. basically it was difficult to walk (I felt almost drunk) and thought was somehwat impaired. this didn't last very long at all, probably about 3 hours [...] my second experience was with more seeds, perhaps 60, but this time I ran the tea through the seeds 5 times [...] I went to sleep, and had incredibly vivid dreams. I remember being in a room talking to friends of mine. It seemed proper to speak out loud (I was aware that I was speaking out loud as well as in the dream), and was overall a very pleasant experience (the dream)"
-by AA, "datura FAQ", https://www.erowid.org/plants/datura/datura_faq.shtml
with higher concentrated tea, you might experience what a 23 year old in Greece, in 1984 experienced. the emigration from the land of the living to the land of the dead.
-Michalodimitrakis & Koutselinis, "datura stramonium, a fatal poisoning" in the "Journal of Forensic Sciences" 1984 Oct
in conclusion, if you want to take a permanent break from your current life, you'd need to prepare (approx.) 5 teabags, each containing 3g (note: normally, a tea bag has 2g) of (preferably: grinded) seeds...and (let's skip the obvious) finally, let the tea(s) steep properly. and allow yourself your well-deserved tea brake.
alternatively, you could fill the (grinded) seeds into capsules, or buy one of those mandragora officinarum root extracts, containing all the aforementioned tropane alkaloids plus scopine and cuscohygrine. all summed up make up 0.4% of the roots ingredients. there is no information as to the exact individual concentration, thus, no way to calculate the lethal dose.
"because of the high content of scopolamine in the drug, poisonings lead at first to somnolence, but then also, after the intake of very high dosages, to central excitation (restlessness, hallucinations, delirium and manic episodes), followed by exhaustion and sleep"
-"PDR for herbal medicines", p.495
because scopolamine is the dominant alkaloid, in fēngqié (风茄, mandrake/mandragora officinarum), it is more suitable than any datura or brugmansia plants for use as a sleep aid, if one wishes not to die, or to die by other means while unconscious.
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