Today, there are still a number of legal alternate hallucinogenic products that contain “lettuce opium” or a lettuce derivative. They are typically smoked or heated in small bowls, so the user can inhale the vapors.
Currently, Lactuca Virosa is listed as an unscheduled drug by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which means you can legally grow, purchase, and own it without a prescription or license.
Despite wild lettuce’s powerful opiate and painkilling properties, it is also well-known for a variety of other healing benefits.
Wild Lettuce Benefits
1. Anxiety
Wild lettuce is effective for calming restlessness and reducing anxiety, especially in teenagers. Some sources say it may even help with restless legs syndrome (7).
2. A Mild Diuretic
Wild lettuce can promote and even increase urine flow, which is why it is often used for urinary tract infections and dropsy (edema), a condition in which fluid accumulates in the tissues or body cavities, causing excessive swelling (8).
3. Sleep And Insomnia
It is no wonder that wild lettuce can effectively treat insomnia. Like an opiate, it has powerful sedative properties. You can combine wild lettuce with valerian, another sedating herb to enhance its tranquilizing properties (9).
4. Ease Arthritis
The pain relieving effects of wild lettuce can also relieve muscle and joint pain caused by arthritis. Drink wild lettuce tea just before bed and it will soothe sore muscles and joints while also promoting sleep (10).
5. Heal Migraines
Wild Lettuce may reduce the frequency and severity of migraine headaches, especially if taken in tincture form (11).
6. For Coughs And Asthma
According to the HerbDoc.com, wild lettuce can be used for “Irritation of the bronchial tubes, lungs, and a cough”. Plus, it has expectorant properties that are effective for “easing bronchitis, asthma, and dry, irritating coughs by helping to loosen and expel phlegm from the respiratory tract.”
How To Use Wild Lettuce
You can buy wild lettuce as a tea, tincture or supplement. Some people also dry the plant and smoke them in a pipe, but we don’t recommend inhaling the herb.
Here’s how you can use it (12):
- For pain, the dose is 1.5 grams of opium lettuce sap infused in a tea.
- Just 0.25 grams are required if smoked in a pipe, as it is considerably more potent in this form.
- If using a supplement, take 30 to 120 milligrams before bed.
- In tincture form, use 12-24 drops daily for acute stress or anxiety.
- Take 12-24 drops every 15 minutes for 1 or 2 hours before bed for insomnia.