Hallucinogen - deliriants

What class of hallucinogens do delerients belong to?

anticholinergics, meaning they block acetylcholine in both the central and peripheral nervous system

Symptoms of general deliriant effects

stupor, confusion, and reversible identity amnesia, little control over actions, oblivious to pain, minimal or distorted recollections of the experience, disrobing, conversing with non-existent persons, and inability to recognize oneself in a mirror.

Which plant family do most deliriants come from?

Solanaceous family, many of them are agriculturally and culturally important and generally connected to central and south america

Solanaceous deliriant plant types

Those native to europe, many are poisonous, associated with paganism, devilry, and witchcraft. Ex: Henbane and belladonna

What are the active compounds of most solanaceous plant species?

Tropane alkaloids, anticholinergics

Where are solanaceous tropane alkaloids commonly found within the plant

Roots, then moved or translocated into other plant parts in various amounts

What are the 3 major tropane alkaloids

• atropine

• scopolamine (hyoscine)

• Hyoscyamine

Scopolamine in medicine

anti-spasmodic to treat motion sickness, and as a pre-operative sedative that reduces secretions, produced amnesia, and alleviates effects of anaesthetics

Atropine and hyoscyamine in medicine

sedatives and anaesthetics, and to treat parkinson’s disease

Small doses of tropane alkaloids on the body

Blurred vision, suppressed salivation, excitement, drowsiness and fatigue, sense of euphoria, amnesia, delirium, and loss of attention

Higher doses of tropane alkaloids on the body

perceptual distortions, including hallucinations that often occur in the transition between consciousness and sleep, hallucinations dream like, disturbing visual and auditory sensations, sensations of flying or visiting far away places, loss of sense of reality and sensation of pain, completely oblivious to surroundings

tropane alkaloid effects on CNS

initially depress then stimulate CNS

Henbane and Belladonna

Main european species, associated with medieval witchcraft, primary ingredient in the brews, often mixed with animal fats because the fat increases absorption of tropane alkaloids into the bloodstream.

Mandrake

One of the most important in european folklore, many superstitions and ceremonies surrounding this plant

Theophrastus and the mandrake plant

Described the digging of the mandrake root

Arabian myth about mandrake

the plant has the ability to kill unless handled with great care, need to dig around the base of the plant and then tie a dog to the root, ones the root is pulled out the plant shrieks and kills the god, the dog is sacrificed on behalf of the person harvesting the plant

Alraune puppet cult

kept human looking roots as fetishes and talismans to bring their owners good fortune, also believed it cured sterility in women due to its divine secrets. Would fashion the roots into doll looking things, those that failed to care for it had dire consequences for their actions.

Which people groups used the datura plant in history and how

Aztecs and Mayans used it as an entheogen, divination and shamanistic purposes

India and Haiti use of Datura

Intoxicant and medicinal use

Africa and datura

Use the specific datura species, jimson weed, as a hallucinogen and recreationally unfortunate due to the poisonous nature of the plant, recreational use lead people to the hospitals often as it can be life threatening

Brugmansia use in south america

Hallucinogenic use

Where is brugmansia native to and its use

Andean and amazonian South america, divination and often in ayahuasca mixtures

Where is pituri and corkwood native to?

Australia

Which peoples considered pituri to be sacred

indigenous peoples of australia, important in social structure

What tropane alkaloid is found in pituri

Small amounts of hyoscine, some of the other ones but small amounts of all of them suggests it is mildly hallucinogenic