Police and health experts warned today that a "Harry Potter" plant which gives an instant high but which can also kill is gaining a foothold on the British countryside.
The warning came after a teenager chewed on one of the plants growing on a
roadside in Sussex.
It so intoxicated him that he stripped off all his clothes and rode naked on
his bicycle, weaving in and out of traffic as startled drivers braked and
swerved to avoid him. Police who rushed to the scene near Brighton at first feared the 18-year-old
youth had embarked on the bizarre bike ride after ingesting hallucogenic "magic
mushrooms".
But it transpired he had eaten a plant called Devil's Snare or Datura
Stramonium. The plant is depicted as a "magical trap" in the Harry Potter books
and is striking looking and incredibly dangerous - but only if eaten.
