Drug Use in Shamanistic Cultures

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Drug Use in Shamanistic Cultures

• COGS 174
• Ghoncheh Ayazi Rebecca Nassimi
• Buzz Bloomfield Sami Michishita
• Feb.25th, 2010

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What is a Shaman?

• Shaman can have various roles
• Healer
• Spirit Guide
• Interpreter
• The status of a Shaman in society can vary. Some
  people are designated Shaman while others are
  ordinary citizens with Shaman powers.
• A Shaman will often consume a drug (entheogen) to
  enter a trance to communicate with the spirits or
  better understand the world.
• Shaman have expert understanding of their culture
  and their surrounding environment. Their cultural
  knowledge of rituals and practices helps preserve
  tradition.

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Entheogen

• An entheogen is a drug used for religious or
  ritual purposes. It is often consumed by the
  Shaman and those seeking his aid.
• Examples of entheogens
• Iboga by the Bwiti tribe in Africa
• Mescaline by the Aztecs in South America
• Peyote by the Native Americans in North America
• Amanita Muscaria by Siberian Tribes in Siberia

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Shamans in Siberia

• Birthplace of Shamanism
• Ordinary people
• Amanita Muscaria

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Amanita Muscaria

• Amanita Muscaria
• Native to the Northern Hemisphere
• Active Ingredients
• Ibotenic Acid
• Muscimol
• NT Receptors
• GABAa
• NMDA Glutamate Agonist
• Effects
• Hallucinations
• Sweating
• Tremors
• Varying Quality
• Not distributed evenly throughout the mushroom
  (Cap gt Base)
• Potentially dangerous

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Muscimol

• Product of decarboxlyation of Ibotenic Acid
• Hippocampus, Cerebellum, Cerebral Cortex
• Full GABA Agonist
• Responsible for Hallucinogenic effect

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Other Uses of Amanita Muscaria

• Legal
• Dangerous
• Early Pesticide (Milk)
• Vikings Berserker Rage?

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Aztec Use of Entheogens
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The Florentine Codex

• 12 books written 1540-1585 by Aztec natives under
  the supervision of Spanish missionaries
• Catalogues specifics of everyday Aztec life
• Extensive records of Aztecs using a plethora of
  plants for supernatural and everyday purposes
• Titles of Priest or Healer were obtainable by any
  person of noble descent

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Plant Species and their Respective Uses

• Ololiúqui (Christmas Vine)
• Seeds contain LSA, a precursor to LSD
• Used by priests to communicate with the gods
• Tlitliltzin (Beach Moonflower)
• Contains alkaloids with mild hallucinogenic
  effects
• Used to induce a trance and communicate with the
  dead for the purpose of divination
• Peyotl (Peyote)
• Administered to warriors by shaman before battle
  as protection
• Pipiltzintzintli (possibly Salvia Divinorum)
• Applied as a poultice
• Boiled in water and ingested to reduce fatigue

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The God Mushroom

• Aztec name Teonanacatl
• Psilocybin mushroom
• Eating these mushrooms granted gifts from the
  Mushroom God
• Clairvoyance
• Relief from fever and gout
• Used very extensively
• Whenever there was singing and dancing,
  mushrooms were to be eaten Florentine Codex
• Cult of the Mushroom still exists today in
  Central America

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Use During Sacrificial Feasts

• Human sacrifices given in honor of Quetzalcoatl
• Feathered serpent god, creator of mankind
• Eaten with honey and chocolate for 4 days
• Attendees would feast on day 1, then eat only
  Teonanacatl for the remaining 3 days.
• On the 4th day, nobles would choose a slave to
  sacrifice
• Slave would be displayed in front of entire
  settlement
• Chest cut open, heart removed and eaten
• Noble would keep the slaves head for the rest of
  his life

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Pharmacological Violence?

• A common symptom of extremely high psilocybin
  doses is dysphoria (unpleasant, anxious,
  irritable and aggressive mood), and vivid
  hallucinations.
• Florentine Codex documents that many would see
  Quetzalcoatl while on trips, and be absolutely
  terrified
• He who eats many of these mushrooms sees many
  things which make him afraidhe flees, hangs
  himself, or hurls himself from a cliff-
  Florentine Codex
• Would these sacrifices occur without the
  influence of psilocybin mushrooms?

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Additional Influence of Mushrooms

• The Florentine Codex catalogues over 20 species
  of mushrooms eaten as a staple by the Aztecs
• Many of these species are highly neurotoxic
• Cooking and preparation reduces neurotoxicity,
  but not always in its entirety
• How much of Aztec religion was derived from
  extremely high doses of a huge variety of drugs?

Mictlantecuhtli, ruler of the underworld. Also
something youd see on a bad trip.
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PEYOTE
Lophophora Williamsii

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HISTORY

• Small, spineless cactus naturally growing from
  Rio Grande to Chihuahuan Desert, usually in warm
  climate
• Entheogen
• Very slow growing up to 30 years to reach
  flowering stage!
• Considered endangered

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HUICHOL Wixáritari

• Indigenous group of western central Mexico
• Deities Trinity of Corn, Blue Deer, Peyote, and
  the Eagle.
• They fought for a long time to avoid Catholic
  influences by Spanish settlers. -
  Rejected priests

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Huichol practices

• Paint faces with icons, wear embroidered clothes
  to invoke the presence of ancestors
• During the dry season, the ceremony included the
  Peyote Dance
• Brother Blue Deer transforms to Peyote, Mother
  Peyote shot by bows and arrows at dawn

• Ceremonial officer pilgrimage
• 5 year term

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Native Americans

• Native American Church peyotism (Orig. in
  Oklahoma)
• Apache people spread it up to what is U.S. area
  from the south

• Peyotism is an integration of Catholism with
  their own shamanistic religion
• Weekend rituals from Saturday night 8pm to Sunday
  morning breakfast

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Pharmacology

• Crowns sliced off and dried to form mescal
  buttons
• These buttons are usually chewed and swallowed.
  (or boiled and drank as tea)
• About 30 of total alkaloid content is mescaline
• Plus 50-60 other alkaloids
• So much variation that the ED50, LD50, potency
  are all unknown
• Season, age, etc.

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Mescaline

• Primary active ingredient of peyote
• Half life 6 hours but some studies suggest that
  it is not metabolized at all before excretion
• Can be excreted as carboxylic acid form of
  mescaline result of MAO degradation
• Binds to serotonin receptors as partial agonist
• Can build cross-tolerance to LSD

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Effects of Peyote

• Positive
• Feelings of insight/access to spiritual ideation
• kaleidoscope vision of bright colors
• euphoria
• increase energy and tactile sensation
• dreamy feelings
• feeling of hope
• Negative
• Time/reality perception changes
• restlessness/insomnia
• unusual body sensations
• Nausea
• shortness of breath
• changes in body temp.
• inhibition of sex drive
• paranoia, fear, etc

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PEYOTE TODAY

• Schedule I
• Illegal to sell and possess peyote
• Native American Church and members are exempt
  from registration
• Manufacturers/distributers to NA Church are
  required to obtain registration annually.
• Law varies state to state
• CALIFORNIA?
• Still used as medicine to treat alcoholism, drug
  abuse or other social ills

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Last thoughts

• Why is it Schedule 1 if we have no scientific
  proof of its addictiveness, especially since
  theres evidence of medical uses?
• Notice a pattern in western influence invasion
  over these ethnic cultures?
• Huichol vs. Spanish Catholics
• Native Americans vs. federal government

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Iboga and the Bwiti
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What is Bwiti?

• A West Central African religion - Gabon
• The name of the people who practice Bwiti
• A syncretistic religion composed of animism,
  ancestor worship, and Christianity

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Iboga

• Hallucinogenic rootbark of Tabernathe iboga
• Taken by the Bwiti to produce psychoactive
  effects
• Psychoactive substance in iboga ibogaine
• Bark can be pulverized, swallowed, chewed, or
  taken as a pill

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Pharmacology

• A dirty drug acts on multiple NT
• systems 5-HT, DA, GABA
• Primarily taken orally
• Low doses for therapeutic effects, high for
• psychedelic effects
• Iboga substance tastes like sawdust mixed with
  battery acid
• Ibogaine is 1 out of 12
• alkaloids in iboga
• Oral onset 45 min-3 hrs

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Iboga use among the Bwiti

• 2 main uses
• Small doses used as a stimulant, 3-5mg/kg
• High doses (gt10 mg) used for Bwiti initiation
  rituals
• Bwiti rebirth ceremony used required of
  teenagers for group membership

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Effects and Problems

• Dreamlike visual hallucinations last 3-4 hours
• Most intense period may last 24 hours or more
• Lingering effects 1-2 days after
• -Ataxia, dry mouth, nausea,
• vomiting
• -Heart arrhythmia resulting in
• 1/300 deaths
• -Neurotoxic at high doses

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Therapeutic Applications

• Reduction or elimination of addiction to opiates,
  etc.
• Ibogaine scene quadrupled in the last 5 years
• Ibogaine clinics
• Therapeutic effects may last up to 3 months
• Depot binding, ibogaine metabolized slowly
• Diminishes morphine and cocaine
  self-administration in rats
• Blocks DA release

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Something to consider

• Ibogaine is a Schedule I drug in the U.S. (1967)
• Unavailable to the majority of addicts worldwide
• But, it has proven therapeutic effects for
  treating opioid, methamphetamine, nicotine, and
  alcohol addictions
• If in good hands and used in a clinical setting,
  ibogaine can be a lifesaver

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Works Cited

• Ibogaine Therapy A 'Vast, Uncontrolled
  Experiment. Brian Vastag. Science, New Series,
  Vol. 308, No. 5720 (Apr. 15, 2005), pp. 345-346
• Tabernanthe iboga An African Narcotic Plant of
  Social Importance. Harrison G. Pope, Jr. Economic
  Botany, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1969), pp.
  174-184
• Addiction Alleviator? Hallucinogen's Popularity
  Grows. Brian Vastag. Science News, Vol. 173, No.
  1 (Jan. 5, 2008), p. 6

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Works Cited contd

• http//peyote.org/
• http//www.erowid.org/plants/peyote/peyote.shtml
• http//www.neuroinf.pl/Members/neurofizjo/Article.
  2010-03-17.0423/getFile
• http//wixarika.mediapark.net/en/assets/pdf/THEHUI
  CHOl-Wixarika.pdf
• http//www.nativeamericanchurch.net/Native_America
  n_Church/NATIVE_AMERICAN_CHURCH.html

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Works Cited contd

• Albert Hoffman, Teonanacatl and Ololiuqui, two
  ancient drugs of Mexico. Bulletin on Narcotics,
  Issue 1, 1971.
• Elferink, Jan G. R., Flores, Jose A., Kaplan
  Charles D. The use of Plants and Other Natural
  Products for Malevolent Practices Among the
  Aztecs and Their Successors. Estudios de Cultura
  Nahuatl Volume 24, 1994.
• Mike Hughes, Teonanacatl The Secret History of
  Magic Mushrooms. 30 September, 2010.
• Sagahun, Bernardino. Historia general de las
  cosas de Nueva Espana. 1590.

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Works Cited contd

• Amanita Muscaria and Siberia
• Nyberg, H. (1992). "Religious use of
  hallucinogenic fungi A comparison between
  Siberian and Mesoamerican Cultures
• Muscimol
• S. R. Snodgrass (1978). "Use of 3H-muscimol for
  GABA receptor studies".
• Berserker Rage
• Ödman S. (1784) An attempt to Explain the
  Berserk-raging of Ancient Nordic Warriors through
  Natural History
• Early Pesticide Use
• Clusius C. (1601). "Genus XII of the pernicious
  mushrooms".