OPEN Foundation

Ethnobotany

Hallucinogenic botanicals of America: A growing need for focused drug education and research

December 22, 2005 / Ayahuasca, Cacti / Mescaline, Ethnobotany, History, Iboga / Ibogaine, Indigenous use, Other disciplines, Other subjects, Other substances, Publications, Safety, Salvia / Salvinorin A, Spirituality / By / ,

Abstract

Botanical sources for medicines in America have been known since long before the arrival of Columbus. Nevertheless, both scientists and the general public are often unaware that some of these botanical drugs are also potent intoxicants. We provide a quick overview of hallucinogenic and dissociative drugs harvested from nature or that are openly and legally cultivated in the United States. Examples of harmful outcomes reported in the media are contrasted with existing responsible ingestion by others, some of whom have the protected right to do so for traditional or sacramental religious purposes. Despite an ongoing and expensive effort to warn people of the potential harms of recreational drug use, little is known about the extent of use of these psychoactive botanicals, and the recent explosion of information available via the Internet could herald a storm of morbidity to come. Mounting more targeted research and educational efforts today may reduce later use and abuse, inform society about the special circumstances of religious use, and better prepare clinicians and other health care providers about the issues involved when people choose to indigenously source psychoactive drugs for human consumption.

Halpern, J. H., & Sewell, R. A. (2005). Hallucinogenic botanicals of America: A growing need for focused drug education and research. Life sciences, 78(5), 519-526. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2005.09.005
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Hallucinogens and dissociative agents naturally growing in the United States

May 1, 2004 / Ayahuasca, Cacti / Mescaline, DMT, Ethnobotany, Mushrooms / Psilocybin, Papers, Publications, Safety, Salvia / Salvinorin A, Toxicology / By /

Abstract

It is usually believed that drugs of abuse are smuggled into the United States or are clandestinely produced for illicit distribution. Less well known is that many hallucinogens and dissociative agents can be obtained from plants and fungi growing wild or in gardens. Some of these botanical sources can be located throughout the United States; others have a more narrow distribution. This article reviews plants containing N,N-dimethyltryptamine, reversible type A monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI), lysergic acid amide, the anticholinergic drugs atropine and scopolamine, or the diterpene salvinorin-A (Salvia divinorum). Also reviewed are mescaline-containing cacti, psilocybin/psilocin-containing mushrooms, and the Amanita muscaria and Amanita pantherina mushrooms that contain muscimol and ibotenic acid. Dangerous misidentification is most common with the mushrooms, but even a novice forager can quickly learn how to properly identify and prepare for ingestion many of these plants. Moreover, through the ever-expanding dissemination of information via the Internet, this knowledge is being obtained and acted upon by more and more individuals. This general overview includes information on the geographical range, drug content, preparation, intoxication, and the special health risks associated with some of these plants. Information is also offered on the unique issue of when bona fide religions use such plants as sacraments in the United States. In addition to the Native American Church’s (NAC) longstanding right to peyote, two religions of Brazilian origin, the Santo Daime and the Uniao do Vegetal (UDV), are seeking legal protection in the United States for their use of sacramental dimethyltryptamine-containing “ayahuasca.”

Halpern, J. H. (2004). Hallucinogens and dissociative agents naturally growing in the United States. Pharmacology & therapeutics, 102(2), 131-138. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pharmthera.2004.03.003
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Pharmacokinetics of Hoasca alkaloids in healthy humans

June 1, 1999 / Ayahuasca, DMT, Ethnobotany, Indigenous use, Papers, Psychopharmacology, Publications / By / , , , , , ,

Abstract

N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), harmine, harmaline and tetrahydroharmine (THH) are the characteristic alkaloids found in Amazonian sacraments known as hoasca, ayahuasca, and yajè. Such beverages are characterized by the presence of these three harmala alkaloids, where harmine and harmaline reversibly inhibit monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) while tetrahydroharmine weakly inhibits the uptake of serotonin. Together, both actions increase central and peripheral serotonergic activity while facilitating the psychoactivity of DMT. Though the use of such ‘teas’ has be known to western science for over 100 years, little is known of their pharmacokinetics. In this study, hoasca was prepared and administered in a ceremonial context. All four alkaloids were measured in the tea and in the plasma of 15 volunteers, subsequent to the ingestion of 2 ml hoasca/kg body weight, using gas (GC) and high pressure liquid chromatographic (HPLC) methods. Pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated and peak times of psychoactivity coincided with high alkaloid concentrations, particularly DMT which had an average Tmax of 107.5±32.5 min. While DMT parameters correlated with those of harmine, THH showed a pharmacokinetic profile relatively independent of harmine’s.

Callaway, J. C., McKenna, D. J., Grob, C. S., Brito, G. S., Raymon, L. P., Poland, R. E., … & Mash, D. C. (1999). Pharmacokinetics of Hoasca alkaloids in healthy humans. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 65(3), 243-256. 10.1016/S0378-8741(98)00168-8
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Monoamine oxidase inhibitors in South American hallucinogenic plants: tryptamine and beta-carboline constituents of ayahuasca

April 1, 1984 / Ayahuasca, DMT, Ethnobotany, Neuroscience, Other subjects, Papers, Psychopharmacology, Publications / By / , ,

Abstract

Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic beverage derived by boiling the bark of the Malpighiaceous liana Banisteriopsis caapi together with the leaves of various admixture plants, viz. Psychotria viridis, Psychotria carthagenensis, or Diplopterys cabrerana. B. caapi contains harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine while the admixtures contain N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). DMT, a potent hallucinogen, is inactive orally due to degradation by visceral monoamine oxidase (MAO). The β-carbolines, however, are highly active reversible inhibitors of MAO and may protect the DMT from deamination by MAO and render it orally active. This mechanism has been proposed to underlie the oral activity of ayahuasca but has not been experimentally confirmed. In the present study the constituents of the admixture plants and the alkaloids of eight ayahuasca samples from Peru were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed using two-dimensional thin-layer chromatography (TLC), high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS).

Several B. caapi cultivars were quantitatively compared for variations in alkaloid content. Three admixture plants used rarely in the manufacture of ayahuasca were also screened for alkaloids. A selected sample of β-carbolines were screened for activity as MAO inhibitors using an in vitro assay system, and structure/activity relationships were compared. Inhibition observed with single compounds was compared with the activity of selected samples of ayahuasca which were screened in the system and also with the activity of mixtures of β-carbolines. The levels of DMT and β-carbolines found in the ayahuasca samples examined in the present study were an order of magnitude greater than the levels reported in a previous study. Ayahuasca was found to be an extremely effective inhibitor of MAO in vitro and the degree of inhibition was directly correlated with the concentration of MAO-inhibiting β-carbolines. Inhibition experiments using mixtures of β-carbolines indicated that their effects in combination are additive, rather than synergistic or antagonistic. Implications of the results in understanding the pharmacology of ayahuasca are discussed.

McKenna, D. J., Towers, G. N., & Abbott, F. (1984). Monoamine oxidase inhibitors in South American hallucinogenic plants: tryptamine and β-carboline constituents of ayahuasca. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 10(2), 195-223. 10.1016/0378-8741(84)90003-5
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30 April - Q&A with Rick Strassman

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