When psychedelic discourse meets local narrative: Selective uptake of psychedelic meanings surrounding mad honey in Nepal

AIMS: 'Mad honey' is produced when bees collect nectar from Rhododendron species containing grayanotoxins, naturally occurring diterpenoid toxins that can produce dose-dependent intoxication. It has long been embedded in Nepalese medicinal and ritual practices but has recently become part of global psychedelic discourse. This study examined how globally circulating discourse and local narrative practices interact in shaping meanings of intoxication, using mad honey as a case. More broadly, it assessed the analytical value of distinguishing between discursive circulation and narrative uptake. DESIGN: Qualitative study combining analysis of online commercial representations with semi-structured interviews in Nepal. SETTING: Online retail shops and field sites in Kathmandu, Pokhara, Lukla and nearby communities. PARTICIPANTS: One qualitative group interview (n = 17) and 14 individual interviews with honey hunters, sellers, traditional medicine practitioners and suppliers involved in mad honey production, distribution and use. MEASUREMENTS: Qualitative coding and constant comparison were used to analyze interviews alongside discourse-analytic examination of online product texts. Analytic attention was also given to hesitation, vagueness and non-articulation in accounts of psychoactive effects. RESULTS: Online retailers consistently framed mad honey through a psychedelic register (hallucinations, shifts in consciousness, dosage scripts and safety warnings), creating commercially circulating experiential templates. In contrast, interviewees narrated mad honey primarily through medicinal, ritual, communal and dosage-based frameworks. Psychedelic meanings underwent only selective uptake: commercially useful classifications, such as potency and dosage, were incorporated into local accounts, whereas experiential narratives of altered consciousness were largely resisted or left unused. When intoxication was acknowledged, it was typically contained within familiar moral categories (e.g. abuse/misuse, comparison with alcohol) rather than elaborated as psychedelic experience. SUMMARY: The analytical value of distinguishing between discourse and narrative lies in the fact that discourse may expand the availability of meanings without necessarily transforming the narrative frameworks through which psychoactive substances are understood and used. Specifically, while globally circulating digital-commercial discourse about mad honey makes psychedelic meanings available, local narratives determine whether those meanings become culturally legitimate ways of understanding and using mad honey.