BSCI 124 Lecture Notes

I. Definition

• A. Psychoactive: Plant compounds or "entheogen" that alter our mental, rather than our physical, state.
  B. Hallucinogens: Non-addictive substances that cause hallucinations, meaning perceiving or sensing things that have no reality; for example, perceiving objects which have no reality, or seeing or hearing or smelling or feeling things which are not present.
  • 1. Hallucinations are usually temporary.
    • a. Producing changes in perception (of time, space, or ourselves);
      b. changes in mood;
      c. changes in thought

    2. Another term used to describe these compounds is psychedelic.

  C. Most psychoactive plants are illegal to use, possess, grow or distribute. [Strongly urge a review!] Use of psychoactive plants can be dangerous to one's health. Drugs also are the cause of serious social and economic problems, especially crime. The history of federal drug policies on drug abuse is long and not entirely successful. Whether prohibition is worth the cost is strongly debated. See this site for a review of useful information.

II. History

• A. Use of hallucinogens extends back into prehistory, and for centuries has been associated with religion as well as with magic and medicine.
  B. Many indigenous peoples attributed the fantastic effects on the body and mind to a divinity or spirit residing in the plant. And so hallucinogenic plants came to be regarded as sacred, as objects of worship.
  C. Because they were reserved for special magic and/or religious rites, they came to be used only by shamans, witch doctors and medicine men.
  D. More hallucinogenic plants are known and used in the New World than in the Old World.

III. Sources of Psychoactive Plants

• A. Most angiosperms, others fungi.
  B. 60-65 species are hallucinogens; about ten are cultivated.

IV. Chemistry of Psychoactive Plants

• A. Two main groups of hallucinogenic substances found in plants:
  • 1. Nitrogenous alkaloids: Chemical structure similar to neurohormones of the human brain.
    2. Cannibinols: Lack nitrogen, active ingredient in cannabis or marijuana.

V. Uses of Psychoactive Plants

• A. Primitive peoples used them to communicate with the spirit world, so they have links to religion or magic.
  B. Used today by professionals in experimental psychiatry.

VI. Major Psychoactive Plants

• A. Peyote (Lophophora williamsii): A small gray-green cactus native to Texas and northern Mexico.
  • 1. Widely used by early Native Americans. Aztecs considered peyote a sacred plant, they worshiped it, and their religion centered around this cactus.
    2. Ever since Europeans came to the Americas they have tried to outlaw the use of peyote, both in Mexico and the United States, and a number of states passed laws aimed at suppressing peyotism, the religion centering around peyote. These laws were contested by Native Americans, and the Supreme Court found for the Indians and members of the Native American Church, which currently has about 250,000 followers among 60-70 tribes in the United States and Canada, may use peyote.
    3. Use of peyote centers on the user's ability to foresee and predict events, and that peyote brings them into communion with the spirit world. It produces intense visual hallucinations.
    4. Active compounds are mescaline and peyonine; mescaline produces visual hallucinations but intoxication begins with nausea, tremors and perspiration that last one to two hours before a dream-like state is reached.

  B. Ergot [REQUIRED READING] (Claviceps purpurea): A parasitic fungus that infects grains such as wheat, and especially rye, nearly cosmopolitan in distribution.

  • 1. The disease has alternatively been called St. Anthony's Fire or ergotism, and many have died from eating infested grain. For example in 994 AD in France 40,000 were killed, and in 1129 AD in northern France 12,000 died.
    2. 20th century epidemics in New York, Ohio and Kansas in the early decades.
    3. Fungus produces a number of alkaloids (e.g., ergotamine) with many effects:
    • a. induces abortions,
      b. a feeling of being on fire,
      c. causes gangrene resulting in loss of hands, arms and legs, and
      d. convulsions leading to death.

    4. All ergot alkaloids contain lysergic acid as their chemical nucleus.
    5. In 1938 Swiss chemist Albert Hoffmann added diethylamide to the lysergic acid and produced lysergic acid diethylamide, reporting his findings on LSD in 1943. This is the most potent hallucinogen ever discovered; it is about 10,000 times more potent than the same amount of mescaline.

    • a. General use of LSD began in the 1950s; produces vivid and strongly colored hallucinations.
      b. Popularized in the 1960s by The Beatles and their song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and by the late Timothy Leary.
      c. Found in morning glory Ipomoea corymbosa, a flowering plant; this used by the Aztecs (called "ololiuqui"), reported in the literature in 1615 with its use and effect described in 1629. Rediscovered by Hoffmann in 1960. Another species, I. violacea, known as "heavenly blue" or "pearly gate", is commonly cultivated in Mexico for its hallucinogenic effect; it has half the amount of the total alkaloids as I. corymbosa.

  C. Amanita (Amanita muscaria): A fungus (mushroom) of the Northern Hemisphere in temperate regions.

  • 1. One of the earliest used and most widespread hallucinogens; probably consumed well before recorded history.
    2. Used by rural people as a vegetable flypaper and insecticide, its common name "fly-agaric" because, if ingested by flies, they died. Siberian tribesmen used it as an inebriate as they had no other source of an alcoholic drink.
    3. About 3,500 years ago Aryan people from the north came into India and brought with them the cult of soma - the sacred plant or god/plant. There is now amply evidence that amanita is soma. Now there is evidence associating amanita to the celebration called the Eleusinian Mysteries in Greek mythology which, in the past, was attributed to ergot.
    4. Effects vary greatly from person to person. Fine line between vividly colored visual hallucinations and death.
    5. Active compound in muscarine; muscimole is five times more active than ibotenic acid, both isolates from amanita.

  D. Marijuana

  • 1. History:
    • a. Known in China 8,500 years ago, probably cultivated even earlier. Widely grown for hemp in Europe. Introduced in 1611 near Jamestown, Virginia, and from then until the Civil War it was an important cash crop, its fibers essential for the manufacture of rope and cordage.
      b. During World War I, because our supply of manila hemp was cut off, the U.S. government encouraged and subsidized the cultivation of cannabis for hemp fiber especially in the mid-Atlantic area.
      c. Used as a drug plant in India and China, largely abandoned in favor of opium by the Chinese. Assyrians used it for incense in 9^th century BC. Known to the ancient Greeks (Herodotus) for its narcotic smoke and to the Roman (Galen) who describes it being eaten in cakes.
      d. The term "hasheesh" comes from the 13^th century Asia Minor political assassins, the hashishins, who received Cannabis resin in payment of their services.
      e. Introduced into Europe after Napoleon invaded Egypt and became a drug of choice among artists and writers. Used extensively in the United States from 1918 until 1939 by the same group.
      f. The "poor-man" form of cigarette and hard liquor in U.S. by black musicians in the Deep South and by Mexican migrants in the West starting around 1900.
      g. Laws were passed in the 1920s in Montana (to prohibit use by Indians), in Colorado (to prohibit Mexicans) and in Utah (to prohibit smoking).
      h. Federal prohibitions passed in 1937 when marijuana cigarettes were widely sold (prohibition supported by tobacco growers among others); ban was relaxed during World War II with the support of the Department of Agriculture.
      i. Many persons accused of murder attempted to use marijuana intoxication as a defense, causing "reefer madness".
      j. Used by "intellectuals" into the 1960s when it was the drug of choice for the "beatniks" and then the "hippies" of the 1970s. Now the drug of choice for many college and high school students.
      

    2. Active compounds: cannabinols, specially (-1)delta(1)-3,4-trans- tetrahydrocannabinol or THC.
    3. Taxonomy of Cannabis:

    • a. Hemp: C. sativa subsp. sativa, a cultivar. Tall, erect plant with long internodes, large seeds and little THC.
      b. Marijuana: C. sativa subsp. indica, a wild plant. Short and bushy plant with short internodes, small and distinctly mottled seeds, and considerable THC.
      c. Some workers maintain C. sativa subsp. indica as a distinct species and thus not illegal under current federal law (but illegal under Maryland law!). c. Most U.S. grown marijuana is the subsp. sativa or a hybrid with subsp. indica; the latter rarely grown here.

    4. Forms of Cannabis on the street:

    • a. Marijuana ("maconha" in Brazil; "dagga" in Africa; "kif" in Morocco) - dried crushed leaves and flower tops, usually smoked. Common.
      b. Hashish ("hasheesh") - resin from recently fertilized flowers, smoked, eaten or drunk Exceedingly rare in U.S. What is called hashish is usually small, crushed fragments of female flowers, or the residue of powdered female flowers after much of the resin (true hashish) has been extracted (see charas below). Used mainly by Moslems in North Africa and Near East and, of course, by Caterpillar.
      c. Bhang - weakest, from dried plants gathered green, powdered and made in a drink or made with sugar and spices into candy ("majun"). Used mainly in India, rarely seen in U.S. in true form. Often sold as a high end and expensive product to the uninformed.
      d. Ganja - 2 or 3 times stronger than bhang, comes from dried female flower tops with resin mostly removed from cultivated or wild types rich in THC. Must contain seeds and no twigs. Usually smoked with tobacco but can be eaten or drunk. Occasionally found as a preparation in the U.S. but rarely made from potent forms of Cannabis so that most sold without the removal of resin. Used mainly in India.
      e. Charas (often mistakenly called hashish in U.S.) - Ten times stronger than bhang, pure resin removed from leaves and stems of wild C. sativa subsp. indica or potent cultivated hybrids with this subspecies and the cultivar subsp. sativa. Smoked or eaten mixed with spices in India. Mostly sold as hashish in U.S. but rarely prepared from subsp. indica. Imported hashish is often true hashish with most of the resin removed ("rocks" or "oil") or charas that is powdered (varying shades of green).
      f. Thia Sticks - A potent form of the cultivar subsp. sativa found mainly in subtropical regions of Southeast Asia, especially in the Mekong River area of Thailand and Viet Nam. Made from tall plants (up to 18 ft tall) that grow 12-18 months producing large, dense female inflorescences densely covered with resin. The roughly crushed flowers are often wrapped with resin-rich leaves into a long, narrow blackish-brown stick.

    5. Cannabis in the United States:

    • a. Weedy plant widely scattered with concentrations in mid-Atlantic, South and Middle West. Most escaped forms of hemp with low potency.
      b. Major agricultural cash crop (albeit illegal) in certain areas (especially in California and Hawaii).
      c. Many attempts to improve potency via selection; numerous fanciful names applied to these selections. The amount of THC has increased over the last 20 years
      d. Most marijuana smuggled into the United States comes from Latin America (mainly Mexico) and the Caribbean (often Jamaica) where hybrid strains involving subsp. indica are more commonly cultivated.
      e. Heavily used and all too often abused by young people.

    6. Dangers of marijuana and its health consequences:

    • a. In spite of thousands of years of its use by millions of people, there are few conclusive answers to the question of its physical and psychological effects on humans. And in spite of popular perception, it has no effect against pain from cancer but it reported to reduce nausea in cancer and AIDS patients.
      b. Use of marijuana does not appear to result in addiction (but see Marijuana Anonymous); use of hashish may lead to addiction, the evidence of organic or physiological dependence not firmly established.
      c. Heavy, long-term use can cause deformed male sperm.
      d. Moderate use does reduce pain associated with interocular pressure associated with glaucoma.

  E. Opium [REQUIRED READING -- in two parts] (Papaver somniferum): ----> Southeastern Europe and western Asia; widely cultivated and escaped.

  • 1. Source of two addicting narcotic compounds: morphine and heroin.
    2. Opium refers to the dried, powdered latex extracted from the unripe fruits of the opium poppy.
    3. Cultivation
    • a. Capsules are deeply cut to allow thick, milky latex to ooze to the surface.
      b. Single capsule can be scored 3-10 times
      c. Tacky mass is scraped from the capsule and dried.
      d. Processing varies but general labor intensive.
      e. Much locally grown opium poppy is used medicinally.

    4. Used by pre-historic people in southern Europe and as a narcotic, a calming agent and to reduce the effects of dysentery by the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.
    5. For 5,000 years used directly as a treatment for intense pain, originally dissolved in wine, or more recently smoked (opium dens in China). Use spread in the United States in the late 1800s but the cause of wars between China and Britain when Britain smuggled opium into China cause serious addiction; see this site for a review of numerous articles.
    6. 26 alkaloids know from Papaver somniferum, three are used: morphine, codeine and papaverine.

    • a. Laudanum is a mixture of opium and alcohol; a popular and common drug until the early decades of this century.
      b. Morphine isolated in 1806; ten times stronger than opium; used for pain and administered by hypodermic syringe after 1853; resulted in addiction.
      c. Morphine addiction was common among upper class women in the United States into 1920 when suddenly banned by federal law. Most given morphine during child birth and continued to use laudanum to prevent withdrawal symptoms. Many women (some 30% of those women who bore children) subsequently became addicted to opiate drugs (including heroin - an excellent summary, see all links: history, effects, dangers, and a brief statement about the law).
      d. morphine, mixed with scopolamine, used in the 1930s and 1940s as an anesthetic for child birth, resulting in severe withdrawal symptoms for many women but little addiction.
      e. Codeine used in "over-the-counter" medicines; milder but can, in rare instances, cause addiction.
      f. Papaverine found in paregoric, a rarely used treatment (today) for diarrhea and cramps.

    7. Heroin: Developed as a non-addicting painkiller, two acetyl groups added to morphine to produce heroin. More powerful analgesic than morphine; for a short time the virtues of this heroic drug (hence the name) were extolled by the medical community. We quickly found out differently!
    

    • a. By 1905 found to be tenaciously addictive because of its rapid adsorption.
      b. Opiates prohibited for non-medical use in 1914; manufacturing ended in U.S. in 1924.
      c. Turkey (until the mid 1970s) and Southeast Asia (currently) major source of raw opium; made into heroin mainly in Europe; sold widely around the world. What is worth $250 to the grower in Cambodia can have a street value in the United States of $200,000.
      d. See International Narcotics Control Strategy Report of March 1996 [REQUIRED READING] for a review of the current state of heroin and other opiates in the United. States.
      e. Heroin overdose still a major cause of death; collapses blood veins and promotes infections such as hepatitis.

  F. Coca [Strongly recommended as a review] (Erythroxylon coca or E. novogranatense): Native of the Andes of South America from Colombia to Bolivia.

  • 1. Coca:
    • a. Coca use at least 3000 years old.
      b. Leaves gathered from shrub and allowed to dry and lightly ferment. Leaves dipped in ash or lime ("oca") and then chewed, the lime aiding in the extraction and ultimate adsorption of the alkaloids.
      c. Used by the Incas to reduce feelings of hunger, pain and fatigue.
      d. Today, in markets of Bolivia and Peru, leaves are sold and it is estimated that 90% of the native population depends on coca to mitigate the harsh environment of the Peruvian and Bolivian Andes.

    2. Cocaine:

    • a. Cocaine: One of 14 alkaloids in coca.
      b. Isolated in 1860 and quickly incorporated into wine. Coca cola was first marketed in 1886 and promoted as a headache remedy as it contained caffeine and coca extracts. Coca Cola company removed coca, it was sued for misleading advertising because the name implied that the beverage contained coca products. As a result coca leaves, with the cocaine removed, are now used to flavor the syrup from which the soda is made.
      c. Popularized medically by Sigmund Freud in his book Uber Coca published in 1884. Used cocaine to treat morphine addiction, alcoholism and depression.
      d. Use of cocaine outlawed by the Harrison Narcotic Act of 1914; resulted in higher cost of drug and increased use in U.S.
      e. Cocaine hydrochloride ground into fine powder and sniffed ("snorting"); "free basing" is the use of a base form (rather than salt form) of cocaine for greater solubility and potency; "crack" cocaine the harden form. Crack is now regarded as the most addictive drug on the market.
      f. Cocaine continues to be a major international problem as well as a national one.

    3. Dangers:

    • a. Prolonged but modest use of coca as practiced by Andean Indians is probably not addictive as little of the alkaloids are adsorbed by the body, taking in about 0.7 grains of cocaine a day.
      b. Injected or snorted cocaine results in the consumption of 6-8 grains daily; this results in abuse and often addiction. Several studies are now ongoing to identify compounds useful to treat cocaine addiction.
      c. Overdose resulting in death can be caused by as little as 1.2 grams.
      d. Results in depression, mood changes, anxiety, insomnia and impotence. Long-term use frequently results in paranoid psychosis.
      e. DO NOT USE COCAINE IF PREGNANT as evidence clearly indicates cocaine causes problems with fetal development. Crack is not kind to babies: see these twosites on maternal exposure, and on crack in general.

    4. Other alkaloids: Lidocaine and procaine, better known by the trade name, Novocain, are used a local pain relievers.
    

  G. Catnip or catmint (Nepeta cataria): Native of Eurasia.

  • 1. Hallucinogen that can be bought everywhere, and many of us have at home.
    2. Sends our cats on trips! Briefly.

VII. Other Hallucinogens

• A. Psilocybin (Psilocybe spp.): Sacred Mexican hallucinogenic fungus known as "teonanactl" ("flesh of the gods") by the Aztecs. Dates back at least to 300 AD. Several other fungi were also used by the Indians of the New World. Active compounds are psilocybin and psilocin.
  B. New World tropical snuffs (Virola spp.): Amazon Indians use the bark of several species of these tropical trees (see ---->) to produce exceedingly vivid hallucinations; not discovered until 1938. Taken as a snuff; resin from the plant now known to be taken orally by some Indians in Colombia. Contains several alkaloids including the tryptamine-N,N-dimethyltryptamine or DMT. Several other unrelated plants used as hallucinogenic snuffs. Virola and Banisteriopsis (see below), along with numerous other hallucinogenic plants, were studied by Richard Evans Schultes of Harvard University.
  C. Nutmeg (Myristica spp.): Old World tropical hallucinogenic flowering plant, the source of nutmeg and mace. Probably pre-historical use. Taken orally or as a narcotic snuff. Extremely variable in effect, usually causes distortion of time and space perception.
  D. Caapi (Banisteriopsis spp.): A potent narcotic drink, ayahuasca, made from the bark of two species by Amazonian Indians. First reported in the 1850s. Active compound is harmine. Also contains tryptamines whose use in the New World tropics is very old.
  

Other Sites of Interest:

Hallucinogenic mushrooms
Drugs of Abuse from the Drug Enforcement Agency: An excellent resource
Stimulants
The Psychedelic Library
Lycaeum-and Erowid- sites describing halucinogenic drugs
Marijuana
Cannabis, a British site
The LSD Conspiracy
National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information
Justice Information Center
International Narcotics Control Strategy Report
Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy: See Chapter 1-4

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Last revised Straney: March 30, 1999