HALLUCINOGENIC PLANTS (PART 25)

EFFECTS of drinking ayahuasca range from a pleasant intoxication with no hangover to violent reactions with sickening after - effects. Usually there are visual hallucinations in color. In excessive doses, the drug brings on nightmarish visions and a feeling of reckless abandon. Consciousness is usually not lost, nor is there impairment of the use of the limbs. In fact, dancing is a major part of the ayahuasca ceremony in some tribes. The intoxication ends with a deep sleep and dreams. An ayahuasca intoxication is difficult to describe. The effect of the active principles varies from person to person. In addition, preparation of the drink varies from one region to another, and various plant additives may also alter the effects.

CEREMONIAL USES of ayahuasca are of major importance in the lives of South American Indians. In eastern Peru, medicine men take the drug to diagnose and treat diseases. In Colombia and Brazil, the drug is employed in deeply religious ceremonies that are rooted in tribal mythology. In the famous Yurupari ceremony of the Tukanoan Indians of Amazonian Colombia - a ceremony that initiates adolescent boys into manhood - the drug is given to fortify those who must undergo the severely painful ordeal that forms a part of the rite. The intoxication of ayahuasca or caapi among these Indians is thought to represent a return to the origin of all things: the user "sees" tribal gods and the creation of the universe and of man and the animals. This experience convinces the Indians of the reality of their religious beliefs, because they have "seen" everything that underlies them. To them, everyday life is unreal, and what caapi brings them is the true reality.

CHEMICAL STUDIES of the two ayahuasca vines have suffered from the botanical confusion surrounding them. However, it appears that both species owe their hallucinogenic activity primarily to harmine, the major ,B-carboline alkaloid in the plants. Harmaline and tetrohydroharmine, alkaloids present in minor amounts, may also contribute to the intoxication. Early chemical studies isolated these several alkaloids but did not recognize their identity. They were given names as "new" alkaloids. One of these names—telepathine—is an indication of the widespread belief that the drink prepared from these vines gave the Indian medicine men telepathic powers.