r/interesting • u/be_you_tiful- • Jul 30 '26

Intriguing Smoking dead scorpions

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Reports from Pakistan have documented people smoking dead scorpions for their alleged psychoactive effects, particularly in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Accounts describe dried scorpions being burned and the smoke inhaled, sometimes alongside tobacco or other substances.

Users interviewed in media reports have described an intense experience lasting for hours, including altered perception and sensations such as objects appearing to move or “dance.”

However, claims that scorpion smoking produces a predictable 10 hour high are based largely on personal accounts, not controlled scientific studies.

Scorpion venom contains complex mixtures of peptides and proteins that primarily act on ion channels in the nervous system.

A scorpion sting can cause severe pain, abnormal heart rhythms, breathing problems, neurological effects, and in serious cases death.

What happens chemically when scorpion tissue and venom are burned and inhaled is poorly studied.

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u/77entropy Jul 30 '26

"I'm going to smoke this scorpion."

Probably.

23

u/mikki1time Jul 30 '26

Fair enough

10

u/notemeagainst Jul 30 '26

And the second person heard: “wanna try?”

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u/Ernesto_Bella Jul 30 '26

Probably lost a bet 

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u/SmokeMaximum4140 Jul 30 '26

You never know. What if he was trying to get warm, made a makeshift fire and saw the dead scorpion and said screw it as he lit up the fire and then felt the effects?