Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Hallucinogenic snuff
Form of psychoactive drugs From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
A hallucinogenic snuff, or psychedelic snuff, is a powder prepared from plants containing psychedelic alkaloids and insufflated (snorted) to produce hallucinogenic effects.[1][2][3] Hallucinogenic snuffs have been used as entheogens by indigenous peoples of South and Central America for thousands of years.[1][2][3] The snuffs are prepared most commonly from Anadenanthera species including Anadenanthera peregrina and Anadenanthera colubrina, but also from species of other genuses including Mimosa and Virola.[1][2][4] They have local names including cohoba, ebene, paricá, yopo, cébil, and vilca, among many others.[1][2][3] The active compounds in these snuffs include the serotonergic psychedelics bufotenin (5-HO-DMT), dimethyltryptamine (DMT), and 5-MeO-DMT.[1][2][3] The materials of snuffs may also be used as enemas instead of via insufflation.[1][5]

Although previously thought to be non-hallucinogenic and/or toxic, ethnobotanist Jonathan Ott and colleagues showed in 2001 that bufotenin is an active psychedelic similarly to DMT and 5-MeO-DMT and does not necessarily produce major adverse effects.[6][7] Bufotenin is the only significant alkaloid present in the seeds of Anadenanthera species, from which many snuffs are prepared, with percentages of 2.7–12.4% bufotenin relative to 0.04–0.16% for 5-MeO-DMT and DMT.[6][7] According to journalist Hamilton Morris, who has also self-experimented with bufotenin, the effects of pure bufotenin are like a cross between those of DMT and 5-MeO-DMT, though unlike the others it tends to be accompanied by severe nausea and vomiting.[8][9] Morris has stated that, due to its use in the form of hallucinogenic snuffs, bufotenin may be the psychedelic with the longest known history of human entheogenic use.[8][9] However, although bufotenin may be active as a hallucinogen, it can produce powerful and potentially dangerous cardiovascular side effects along with its emetic effects.[10]
The use of hallucinogenic snuffs by indigenous South American people was first observed by Western explorers like Christopher Columbus as early as 1496.[1][3][11] Bufotenin, DMT, and 5-MeO-DMT were first isolated from hallucinogenic snuffs in the 1950s and 1960s.[1][4] [11][12][13][14]
Remove ads
See also
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads