Did you buy the shit at wal mart for cats and smoke it? that shit is probably old and stale as hell. i think you can brew it as a tea, isn't it part of the mint family?
I grow catnip all the time. neighborhood kittehs love to visit us. It can have an offensive smell if potent enough. I would take an old sock and fill it full of fresh nip, tie the end into a knot, and toss it too them....was a hoot to watch.
catnip kind of looks like weed me and my friend had the idea of buying a brand new bong, bowl, joint papers, bunch of dutches, and a pound of catnip, keeping it all in plainview in our car, and purposely get pulled over right after having another friend bake out the car. we would be coming off a t-break so we would test negative for thc, yet we would purposely be acting really high and make our eyes really red by rubbing them.