Ritual use of ayahuasca within the context of the Brazilian ayahuasca churches often starts during late childhood or early adolescence. Premature access to psychoactive drugs may represent a risk factor for drug misuse. Conversely, religious affiliation seems to play a protective role in terms of substance abuse. The objective of this study was to describe patterns of drug use in a sample of...
In this essay, the author shares his personal reflections gleaned from a lifetime of research with ayahuasca, and speculates on the societal, political, planetary, and evolutionary implications of humanity's aeons-old symbiosis with this shamanic plant. The thesis is developed that at this critical historical juncture, ayahuasca has developed a strategy to broadcast its message to a wider...
A case of a 25-year-old white male who was found dead the morning after consuming herbal extracts containing beta-carbolines and hallucinogenic tryptamines is presented. No anatomic cause of death was found at autopsy. Toxicologic analysis of the heart blood identified N,N-dimethyltryptamine (0.02 mg/L), 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (1.88 mg/L), tetrahydroharmine (0.38 mg/L), harmaline...
AdiccionesDecember 15, 2004Andrea Vélez Cárdenas, Augusto Pérez Gómez8 citations
El yajé es una sustancia alucinógena, que ha sido usada desde tiempos inmemoriales en las comunidades indígenas de Sur América con fines místicos, adivinatorios y religiosos. En la actualidad, esta sustancia empieza a salir de los contextos indígenas y se filtra en el contexto urbano, en donde su consumo se reviste de un significado y características propias. En el presente estudio se analizan...
Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic beverage that is prominent in the ethnomedicine and shamanism of indigenous Amazonian tribes. Its unique pharmacology depends on the oral activity of the hallucinogen, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which results from inhibition of monoamine oxidase (MAO) by beta-carboline alkaloids. MAO is the enzyme that normally degrades DMT in the liver and gut. Ayahuasca has...
RationaleDuring binocular rivalry, two incompatible images are presented to each eye and these monocular stimuli compete for perceptual dominance, with one pattern temporarily suppressed from awareness. One variant of stimulus presentation in binocular rivalry experiments is dichoptic stimulus alternation (DSA), when stimuli are applied to the eyes in rapid reversals. There is preliminary...
Les plantes hallucinogènes sont utilisées dans les sociétés primitives depuis des siècles, mais jusqu'à maintenant leur usage se limitait à quelques individus chamanes, médecins-sorciers, etc... lors de rites religieux. Actuellement un regain d'intérêt est constaté pour les hallucinogènes naturels en rapport avec un mouvement de « retour à la nature » car la diffusion de ces substances est...
<i>Ayahuasca,</i> a South American psychotropic plant tea obtained from <i>Banisteriopsis caapi</i> and <i>Psychotria viridis</i>, combines monoamine oxidase-inhibiting β-carboline alkaloids with N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a psychedelic agent showing 5-HT<sub>2A</sub> agonist activity. In a clinical research setting, <i>ayahuasca</i> has demonstrated a combined stimulatory and psychedelic...