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Originally Posted by WallShadow
IIRC, ergot poisoning also tends to make extremities (fingers, toes, ears, noses, and other dangle-y bits that are near and dear to our hearts) lose circulation and fall off. This is not a side-effect you'd be wanting to deal with just for any theraputic hallucinatory effects of the fungus, unless you just don't care what happens to the person you'll be freaking out.
As for cannabis leaves, they're just one side benefit of growing hemp! Hemp was grown throughout Colonial America (northwest of Lancaster, PA, is a township called "East Hempfield") for use in cordage (hemp ropes and cables were preferred for ships' rigging) and canvas (again, preferred for sails). Since the petrochemical and synthetic fiber industries are going to be long in coming back, I'd imagine that somebody, probably one of the surviving students of nature and organic farming, decided that hemp would be a good crop to bring forth.
Opium poppies may be a little more problematic; I not sure if the seed heads of normal domesticated (Eschscholzia Californica. California Poppies; Papaver Paeoniflorum; Papaver Laciniatum) poppy heads contain anywhere nearly enough sap as the Opium Poppy (Papaver Somniferum) to make a decent production run.
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Ergot is nasty stuff. While it does cause hallucinations eventually, it's because the brain is being bled. Yes it does cause the blood flow to extremeties to be blocked. During the Crimean War the Russian forces lost a sizeable percent of their cavalry horses and men due to ergot poisoning from contaminated rye. It was one of the reasons we never grew the stuff on the farm. It can affect other grasses too, but rye was the worst of the commercial grains affected. Ergot looks like rat turds in the grain. I have seen some samples where there were more ergot than rye kernals. It can and is sold to companies for pharacutical use as blood thinners and RAT POISON. You'd have to be stupid.. oh wait we are talking about dopers here right... to take it voluntarily.
As for hemp, there are TWO stains, European and Chinese (Oriental). The THC is highest in the Oriental and is the 'drug' variety. European is much lowerin THC and is the basis for 'Industrial' hemp that is making a comeback in the US. You'd have to smoke one heck of a lot of it in short order to get a mild buzz from what I've read. You still need a special permit to grow it, and the major pest of the fields are two legged idots that don't believe the signs that say it is not the type that makes you high.
Just my two cents.