About cardamine

[rozsdasjoe]

... I'm not talking about the cardamine itself, it's about the way they get it. It's a difference if you are inhaling it or walking over the surface of Malta, getting in touch with it over your whole body with every step you make. Besides, cardi is no cigarette, not sure who had the idea you would have to light it. I'm sure noone had the idea to set Maltas air on fire before they noticed the DNA chaging effects the first time (no, not even the corsairs, they didn't meet each other back then). And it still altered their DNA.
On a further note: as your character doesn't seem to feel the need to inhale it but instead prefers to burn it, an injection of liquid cardamine would most likely kill you.

Well, I was thinking about cardi - the actual plant itself and the usage as a drug. First of all lets define drugs as substances what alters the normal functioning of the body when released into the bloodstream. The ways of the usage can differ until the actual toxin reaches the brain and the hormon producing organs. I'll go trough the ways of it can be done, but start with imagining cardamin as a plant.

The name 'cardamin' rings a bell of anyone? I cant help myself, but there's a herb called cardamon. It has strange taste, it can be used as a spice and much, but I just simply prefer chewing it. And I cant help myself imagining cardi similar in looks and taste. For reference check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardamom.

So we have a herb with litle seed-pods, orange seeds in them and bitter smelling pollen. The actual chemical what affects the body is concentrated highly in the seeds and in the pollen. At spring the spores of cardi' fills the Maltese air - and it remains in the waters, sticks to plants, ingested by animals the whole year. When the pollen concentrated in the air (like springtime aroud a field) its realy fresh and effective, but can easyli fill the lungs of one, suffocating her. Thats why the laborers on the fields wear masks. Only the most hardended outcasts can sniff one line into the nose without coughing it out.

And there are the seeds. It would be the best for usage by ingestion, the only problem with it its entangling bitter taste and irritation in the stomach what's not comfortable even for the most veteran users. It can be used for spice - the effect remains, but you cant put too mutch in your food if you want to keep it tasty and edible. However the seeds itself are the primary exportation form of the plant.

The most common way of consumption is done by the lungs. You have two choice there - burning or vaporizing it after liquidated. The first option is well spread around common people of Malta, as it can be done with the seed itself without further processing. Its used as an incentive at temples, and its realy unlikely for me that I should roll my own cardi-cigarettes instead of buying a pack of it.

And finaly, after processing the seeds liquid cardamin can be gained. When vaporized, its easier to inhale than the smoke, and a small mechanism (refered as 'masks') can supply the user with a constant toxin amount in the bloodstream. These are the litle black stuff what you see on the outcast's face if you meet one on a station. Consider it a courtesy that not the whole air is filled with it on the installations where outsiders may dock. Ant there's also the well-known cardi-coke, but you should notice that it only contains about 1-3% liquid cardamin.

And now the hard part. Veteran users, impatients, and maltese after a period of withdrawal. They cant realy wait until the vaporizer kicks in, and rolling a cigarette is realy hard with trembling hands. So the addict either risks to damage her stomach by eating raw seeds, or risks an overdose of the liquid. It can be injected dicrectly to the bloodstream - very dangerous indeed, but small portions of it can be brought in by the thin veins near the skin's surface. Namely by dripping (slowly and carefuly) either into the eye, under the tongue, to the genitals or even into the guts.

Hope it was helpful, please if you find my thoughts not fitting into the 'offical' picture of cardi tell me, i just couldnt find any revealing stuff about the topic.

Blessed ya be!

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