friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

The internet: Every part of the ephedra plant contains ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and methylephidrine which cause hypertension in humans and is therefore toxic.

Also the internet: Mormons harvested ephedra and made an infusion from it because they weren’t allowed caffeine. This is called Mormon tea.

Me: makes Mormon tea from harvested ephedra fragilis stems

Also me: hypertension. Good talk. Right.

My blood pressure is 97/65

reshared this

in reply to Sarah Brown

mastodon - Link to source

FeralRobots

so caffeine's bad, but ephedrine is fine. 🤷
(I've written ephedra into worldbuilding on one of my works in progress - coffee very hard to get, what do they substitute? in-world, I imagine mostly one of a couple of native ilexes, though mostly yaupon because it thrives in American zones. But where it doesn't, like the arid west? Ephedra. Apparently it thrives in arid to semi-arid settings like those in Utah.)
in reply to FeralRobots

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DeeAnn Little

I was raised Mormon and the scriptures originally said something about "hot drinks" which was presumed to be coffee or tea and depending on which era or specific ward or branch interpreted it could apply to all caffeinated drinks. The ephedrine tea sounds like one of those things to technically follow scripture to the (interpreted) letter but not really in practice. And yeah, it can be pretty wonky and way too much of a stimulant.
This entry was edited (Tuesday, July 28, 2026, 10:13 PM)
in reply to FeralRobots

friendica (DFRN) - Link to source

Sarah Brown

@FeralRobots @DeeAnn Little Well it's a simple single reduction of the hydroxyl group. As I understand it, the catalysts are a bit explodey tho.

The same process would work with ephedrine too. Demethylate the N-methyl group and you've got dexamphetamine.

Might be easier to reduce the hydroxyl if you demethylate first. Dunno. This is probably the only social media platform where I could even write this.

@DeeAnn Little @FeralRobots
in reply to DeeAnn Little

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FeralRobots

@chillicampari in the 90s you could still get straight ephedrine tablets OTC in the US. They'd have them at the cash register in convenience stores, where they now put 5 Hour Energy & whatnot. I used to get terrible racking coughs in the winter, & that was the only thing that could open up my chest a little. (Barely affected me otherwise, IIRC. That may have changed, I'm a bit more sensitive to caffeine in my old age than I used to be.)
@DeeAnn Little
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