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Ok, I understand this sounds ludicrous but people are claiming you can get high by snorting chocolate:

Unlike alcohol, meth, cocaine, speed and even drugs like LSD and psilocyben [sic], the newest thrill, popping up in night clubs and raves around the world, is chocolate.

This is repeated elsewhere like in these YouTube videos.

We already addressed whether eating it has any effect.

Is it true?

Community
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Sklivvz
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  • In what way does my post not answer your question? – Joe Feb 16 '17 at 23:51
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    Nutmeg can make you hallucinate, so not too weird to me. –  Feb 17 '17 at 00:07
  • [A decent review of how it may work, though admits freely that it's not been studied](http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/can-you-really-get-high-snorting-chocolate/). My impression of these things is that if it worked well enough with minimal acute side-effects then we'd already be doing it for a long time now. –  Feb 17 '17 at 00:25
  • No but Jankem totally works. – dan-klasson Dec 18 '20 at 19:37

1 Answers1

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The effectiveness of cacao as a psychological elevator hasn’t been established yet, but, according to the following sources it appears there is evidence to support the assumption that snorting chocolate gets you high:

  • Exactly how effective cacao is at getting people high has not yet been established, although there are a number of reasons why it might work. For starters, it contains endorphins as well as a chemical called tyrosine, which is a precursor to dopamine. Since both endorphins and dopamine are natural neurotransmitters known to induce feelings of pleasure, it’s unsurprising that people have been reporting that snocolate helps to elevate their mood.

  • Cacao is also rich in antioxidants such as epicatechin, which increases blood flow to the brain and the muscles, giving people both a physical and an emotional kick that could help them dance for longer. Since epicatechin has also been shown to protect neurons and improve cognitive function, this is clearly a preferable option to other dance-fueling substances like cocaine and MDMA, even though cacao is unlikely to match the high generated by these drugs.

(www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/can-you-really-get-high-snorting-chocolate/)

also:

  • The chemistry behind cacao’s buzz is that it contains endorphins as well as tyrosine. Tyrosine is a precursor to dopamine, which fuels the body’s pleasure/reward system. The dopamine receptors in our brains are also the same system that opioid-related drugs, including heroin and Oxycontin, react with for their intoxicating and addictive properties.

  • Both dopamine and endorphins produce pleasure, so the reported effects of chocolate powder sniffing causing euphoria are not without merit, or science to back them up. While the practice hasn’t been scientifically researched for safety, “snocolate” as it is now being referred to certainly isn’t cocaine or heroin, and as widely accepted as chocolate is in modern culture, it isn’t likely to go away anytime soon.

(herb.co/2016/06/06/high-snorting-chocolate)

Joe
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    We might need a definition for 'high' because this doesn't seem to be describing that. A 'chocolate buzz' and a high seem to be different experiences. – Oddthinking Feb 17 '17 at 00:31
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    Also, your links are only to the domains, so they aren't terribly useful. – Oddthinking Feb 17 '17 at 00:35
  • And one of them is a link to the Daily Fail. – Mark Feb 17 '17 at 01:00
  • @Oddthinking - I didn't post the wrong links, that was done by another user. Is that the reason for the downvotes? – Joe Feb 17 '17 at 06:35
  • @Oddthinking - my answer deals with the implications of snorting chocolate and its side effects, I guess OP is asking about that. As for high effects that may be just a journalistic exaggeration and anyway it may depend on personal reactions. So, why the downvotes? – Joe Feb 17 '17 at 06:56
  • Because 1) it doesn't provide real references that we can check, and 2) it answers the question "How does eating chocolate make you feel good?" not "Does snorting chocolate make you high?" – Oddthinking Feb 17 '17 at 07:18
  • @Oddthinking - the second part of my answer clearly explains the side effects of snorting chocolate and it cites its sources. For some reason you dont want to rea that. – Joe Feb 17 '17 at 07:41
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    Ok, @Joe, I am about ready to disengage here, because we are just repeating ourselves. (1) I CAN'T read the article you are talking about, because you have not provided a link to the article. Please do so. (2) The question is "Does snorting chocolate make you high?" The section you have quoted answers "Does snorting chocolate cause harm?" – Oddthinking Feb 17 '17 at 07:53
  • @Oddthinking - ok, I can read between the lines..... – Joe Feb 17 '17 at 07:58
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    ??? There is no subtext. There is nothing to read between the lines. I have explained exactly what I mean, repeatedly. I am moving on. – Oddthinking Feb 17 '17 at 08:48
  • @Oddthinking - is my answer still off the spot after the edit? Sorry but as a new user I may be missing something about what a good "skeptical" answer is. – Joe Feb 17 '17 at 14:17
  • @Joe So you know, [your original post](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/revisions/37285/1) contained the incomplete links. The only thing I changed was formatting. [See all the formatting goodies](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/help/formatting). –  Feb 17 '17 at 16:50
  • So you can, if you want, look up that help page then format those URLs into proper clickable links. –  Feb 17 '17 at 16:51
  • @fredsbend - despite the edit the answer still appears not to answer the question. I wonder what else I should post. – Joe Feb 17 '17 at 21:06