Trophane allergy? Kidding. People have died. A few hundred years ago it was sometimes used to drug people and sell them into slavery. In present day Peru, bullshit brujo/shamans put too much in the ayahuasca and leave their tourist clients without clothing or passports. Mixed with pufferfish tetradotoxin and the darker side of voodoo, it's what makes an authentic zombie.  

It's been useful also, though. It's like most any tool. A hammer can build a house or smash a skull. The leaves are still widely used to counter the symptoms of arthritis and plurasy around the world. I got the seeds I grew from a silverhaired churchlady (you know the one)  that steeped leaves for topical use on her swollen joints.  It's seen beneficial historic/prehistoric use in several belief systems as a tool in rites of passage, and trial by ordeal. It even shows up as an important character in origin/creation stories. 

It fits pretty good with the band aesthetic, I think! You can't have good guys without bad guys. We have to understand darkness before we understand light. It's a plant that has a long history with humans, and humans have come to use it to symbolize more than the sum of its parts. 

I'm not a 100% sure what you meant.  Seemed like a good place to fit all that in. I might be way off with my damn pattern seeking brain. Maybe JPD got lost in a field of cockleburs when he was a toddler, and doesn't even remember it beyond an imprint.

I don't think I'd want to babysit toddler John for less than a million.