How to Get High Without Breaking the Law

If lurking in obscure corners and asking for maal while dodging legal and parental authorities isn’t your scene, it doesn’t mean you can’t get your dose of the day. Or at least not for this group of 20-somethings, who have found ways to jump the law for a heightened experience, even though some of these methods come with their own side-effects. We bring to you a series of trippy tales of stimulating substances that are still legal in India, accompanied with trippier graphics.

Glue

“I was studying at a boarding school in Kota where accessing psychedelics was difficult, so my friend suggested I try Fevibond. We squeezed two bottles into empty packets of chips and huffed with short, pacy breaths. The high, which began with a whirring blender-like sound, was too much for me to handle and made me totally lose all sense of control. It even had mild hallucinatory effects. It left behind a weird crispiness between my teeth, bad memories, and a lesson in what not to do.” — Sagar D, 22, organic farmer

Catnip

“This is available at any pet store as a dried herb that you can smoke by rolling into joints like weed or through a small pipe. Although its cool, minty taste irritates the throat, it gives you a mellow, peaceful high, almost as if in a meditative state that helps you understand the depths of your mind.” — Raj Tripathi*, 25, physiotherapist

Hawaiian Baby Woodrose seeds

“These seeds are known to contain a component called LSA. It’s acid’s baby brother. I discovered it while on a trip to Hampi last year when a fisherman, whose boat I had hired, offered me 10 seeds for ₹200. After spending the first two hours of the trip convinced I had been duped, a state of pure pleasantness gradually kicked in while we were in the midst of riding through a hilly landscape. It felt like the fields of bamboos were changing into lush forests, and I could look 20 feet deep into the surrounding mines. I fell down a rabbit hole of introspective thoughts about life and the human psyche, as if I could access every ounce of understanding connected to the world. It was like a vivid dream where images in my head superseded reality. It helped me escape all ego and boosted my confidence.” — Tanishq Bhardwaj, 21, entrepreneur

Laughing gas

“The high is more of a brief feeling of numbness and a rise in heart rate that makes you lose your mind’s hold over things for a moment, and just laugh uncontrollably. The best way to do it is by filling a balloon with the gas and then deflating it while making sure to inhale more than you exhale. It’s super easy to do anywhere, especially in India, and all you need is a whipped cream canister that is available online. Though I prefer doing it at house parties, I once even did it in a car on the way to the airport because I had run out of weed.” — Sneha Pasricha*, 23, student

Cough syrup

“I have chugged this everywhere: from class to the movies. It’s cheap and no one really stops you for carrying a Benadryl bottle around. It tastes sweet, doesn’t do much harm to your lungs or liver, and gives you this comforting woozy high with a blank state of mind.” — Aishwarya Sharma*,
21, student

Sniffing Whitener

“Back in college, my friends and I tried it to find out what the hype was all about. We filled the whitener in a black polythene bag, covered our mouths with it, and kept inhaling the petrol-like smell. Once it hit us, we tripped on cartoons like Tom & Jerry, and lost all sense of time. The next day, my friend genuinely thought the whole experience was just a weird dream.” — Neha Joshi,
26, pastry chef

*Names have been changed on request

VICE India in no way endorses the illegal usage of bhang or other narcotics. The content above is intended for educational and informational purposes only, and is not meant to propagate the use of any illegal substance. See Terms of Use for more.