Download Psychoactive drugs from plants

Psychoactive drugs from plants
David S. Seigler
Department of Plant Biology
University of Illinois
Urbana, Illinois 61801 USA
[email protected]
http://www.life.illinois.edu/seigler
OUTLINE: PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS FROM
PLANTS
Importance
o cultural
o medicinal-pharmacological
o economic
o abuse-recreational-addiction
Most important drugs
o Near Eastern center
+ ergot (LSD)
+ cannabis-marihuana
+ opium-Papaver
+ Amanita muscaria
o South America
+ coca
+ yagé or ayahuasca
+ virola
•
•
•
o Africa
+ khat
+ iboga
•
•
•
•
•
o Mexico
+ peyote
+ ololiuqui
+ Heimia
+ Psilocybe
Reading
• CHAPTER 12, pp. 286 ff
Introduction
• A list of commonly known psychoactive
drug plants is given on page 287.
• A table giving the psychological
classification of major plant-derived
psychoactive drugs is given on page
287.
• Many plant-derived compounds can alter
one's perception of reality. They may produce
feelings of tranquility, invigoration, or "other
worldliness". People may use these
substances to escape from reality.
• Many of these same compounds are used
medicinally.
• Many are quite toxic. Sometimes the toxic
and hallucinogenic properties are interrelated
or confused.
• Most of the known psychoactive compounds
contain nitrogen and many are alkaloids. The
best known exception is the active ingredient
of marijuana.
• The psychoactive compounds are absorbed
into the blood stream and transported to
various sites where they exert their effects.
• They may be taken orally, injected, or
absorbed through mucous membranes as in
the mouth or nose. Many are absorbed
through the lungs. Often, the liver is involved
in degradation of the compounds.
• When they reach the central nervous system,
psychoactive drugs usually act by altering the
natural interactions between neurons. The
neurons send information by chemical
messages.
• The chemical substances involved are called
neurotransmitters. They cross the spaces to
the adjacent neurons; the spaces are called
synapses.
• Specific sites on the adjacent site bind with
the neurotransmitter and this interaction
triggers a response in the neuron.
• Among the things involved are perception of
pain, emotion, and interpretation of audio and
visual stimuli.
• Most psychoactive drugs alter or mimic the
behavior of four kinds of natural neurotransmitters:
acetylcholine, norepinephrine, serotonin, and
neuropeptides.
• Several additional modes of action are possible.
The action of cannabinoids (such as THC) involves
binding to specific endocannabinoid receptors.
These receptors normally bind to neuromodulatory
lipids in humans.
• In most "primitive" cultures, use of
psychotropic substances is within a
cultural, religious, or medical context
and they are generally not used
recreationally. This context generally is
lacking in our present day culture in this
country.
• Schultes defines hallucinogens as "chemicals
that produce, in non-toxic doses, changes in
perception, in thought, and in mood, but
which seldom produce mental confusion,
memory loss, or disorientation for person,
place and time".
• Many synthetic hallucinogens also are
known, e.g., LSD and heroin.
Cannabis sativa,
marihuana near Rantoul,
Illinois
The resinous monoterpenes of
Cannabis sativa
(Cannabaceae) have been
used in China for thousands
of years. Cannabis is
probably native to central
Asia. The plant was used in
early times from the Near
East to China.
Male (left) and female (right) flowers of Cannabis
sativa
Courtesy Dr. J. M. J. de Wet
• This plant is the source of a useful fiber.
Seed oils from cannabis are used as
edible oils in many Asian cultures.
• The plant has also been used
medicinally and for its psychoactive
properties.
• Diagram of plant page 293.
• According to USDA sources, cannabis
is the number one cash crop in the U.S.
today; essentially all of it is grown
illegally.
• Cannabis is described in ancient
Chinese writings as well as in ancient
Hindu texts from India. In India, the
psychoactive properties of this plant
were discovered.
• It is still debated whether cannabis is
hallucinogenic or not. Different cultivars were
selected for fiber and drug use.
• Cannabis resin was originally eaten; in India
that is the most common way that it is used
today. Marco Polo reported the use of
hashish in the East.
• By the time of the Crusades, the use of
marijuana was found throughout Asia and
Africa.
• Smoking (anything) was developed by the
American Indians and this process did not get
introduced into Europe until the 1500's.
• Cannabis was brought to the New World by
the Spanish and the British in efforts to
establish a fiber crop.
• In Illinois, this plant was introduced in W.W. I
and W.W. II as a source of fiber for ropes.
Cannabis has become naturalized and
widespread in many areas of the state. Most
of the wild cannabis in Illinois has little
psychoactive material in it.
Poppies and their products
• We have already discussed poppies as
medicinal plants.
• Poppies are widely cultivated for the seeds
and for seed oil. They are also grown for both
legal and illicit sources of opium.
• Morphine and codeine are isolated from
crude opium and are widely used for
medicinal purposes. Both are addictive.
• The acetylated derivative of morphine, heroin,
is even more addictive. Heroin does not occur
naturally.
Poppy flower and capsule
Carolina Biological Supply Co.
Incised poppy capsule and latex
Carolina Biological Supply Co.
• Opium has been used for thousands of years
as a narcotic. In 3000 B.C., Sumerian tablets
describe use of the plant.
• Opium was used by most cultures of the Near
East to relieve pain.
• Although often associated with China, the
drug was first introduced there by Arab
traders in the 7th century A.D.
• The drug was originally used as a treatment
for diarrhea much as it is today.
• In the 17th century, the Dutch introduced
smoking to Taiwan (Formosa) and people
began to mix opium and tobacco as a
treatment for malaria. The practice soon
became popular in China.
• Although Chinese officials tried to ban the
import of opium, first the Portuguese, then the
British, forced them to accept this material in
trade. This was brought on because the
Chinese had little interest in other European
goods and the Europeans had to have
something to trade for silk, tea, and spices.
• England established opium plantations in
India to trade with China.
• During the 1800's there were a series of
opium wars in which the British (and later
Germany, Russia, France, and the U.S.) took
control of some key port cities of China in
order to force the Chinese to trade with them.
Hong Kong was one of these.
• The use of opium didn't come under control
until the Communist government took over in
1949.
• Opium wasn't commonly used in Europe until
1525 when Paracelsus (re-) discovered a way
to dissolve it in alcohol. This medicinal
preparation, paregoric, became popular.
• Morphine was isolated in 1803 and the
purified alkaloid could be given in measured
doses.
• Morphine is an potent analgesic and it was
widely used in the Civil War. More than
45,000 soldiers returned home as addicts.
Mescal bean,
Sophora secundiflora (Fabaceae)
• The seeds of Sophora secundiflora have
been used by the American Indians of the
Southwestern U.S. as a hallucinogenic drug.
• They are also very toxic.
• See diagram page 308.
Mescal bean, Sophora
secundiflora,
Fabaceae
Khat, Catha edulis, Celastraceae
• The leaves of khat (kat, qat) have been used
for many years in the Arabian peninsula. The
leaves are chewed daily by many, and the
plant is a major export of Ethiopia to Yemen
and a number of nearby countries. Khat is
banned in Saudi Arabia.
• Lime is frequently added to hydrolyse the
alkaloids and convert them to the free bases.
The plant is probably native to Africa?
Courtesy Dr. Abraham Krikorian
Bulletin Narcotics
Coca, Erythroxylum coca,
Erythroxylaceae
• Coca has also been discussed under
medicinal plants. The leaves of coca have
been chewed for thousands of years by
Indians of Andean South America.
• The Spanish tried to prohibit coca until they
realized that the Indians worked harder with
it.
Coca, Erythroxylum coca,
Erythroxylaceae
• In this case also, the Indians add lime to
the leaves before chewing them.
• Cocaine blocks re-adsorption of
norepinephrine in the brain. This makes
the user feel invigorated and blocks
feelings of fatigue and hunger.
• The leaf form of coca never became popular
abroad.
• In 1860, cocaine was isolated and became
popular. It became used as a local anesthetic.
• An extract of coca leaves became used in
Coca Cola. Later the FDA made the company
remove coca alkaloids from the extract.
• As a drug of abuse, cocaine may be sniffed,
smoked or injected.
Yagé or ayahuasca,
Banisteriopsis spp., Malpighiaceae
• Yagé or ayahuasca, the resinous exudate of
the stems of Banisteriopsis spp. is usually
made into a drink known as yagé or
ayahuasca. B. caapi is one of the most
commonly used species and is common in
Colombia and Ecuador. The active
compounds are harmine and other related
alkaloids. Other plants are sometimes added
as synergists, i.e., to enhance the activity.
Yagé, Banisteriopsis
caapi, Malpighiaceae
Courtesy Dr. Carl Bouton
Courtesy Dr. Carl Bouton
Psychoactive compounds from cacti
• A number of species of cacti from the
New World are known to be
hallucinogenic. Among these are peyote
or mescal, Lophophora williamsii and
Trichocereus pachanoi. The former is
from Mexico and the latter from the
Andes of South America. Mescaline is
the most common alkaloid.
Peyote, Lophophora
williamsii, Cactaceae
• The Spanish also tried to suppress the use of
these. Many Indians in Mexico and in South
America continued use of these plants,
however.
• The Native American Church (chartered
about 1920) began use of these in religious
rites much later (about 1890).
Other hallucinogenic plants
• A snuff made from the powdered pods of
Anadananthera peregrina (Fabaceae or
Leguminosae) (yopo) has been used by
Indians of the Caribbean and of northern
South America. The snuff is often mixed with
lime (calcium hydroxide).
R. E. Schultes and A. Hofmann, Botany
and Chemistry of Hallucinogens,
Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1973
Iboga, Tabernanthe iboga (Apocynaceae)
• Iboga is reported to be used in Africa as
a hallucinogen. In Gabon and the
adjacent Congo, the plant is used in
religious rites and in hunting game.
There are also important medical uses
for the plant. The active compounds are
indole alkaloids.
R. E. Schultes,
Hallucinogenic Plants,
Golden Press, New
York, 1976
Psychoactive substances from the
Solanaceae
• In Europe and the Near East, many plants of
the Solanaceae were used in a similar
manner. Among these were Atropa
belladonna, Hyoscyamus spp., Datura spp.
(also used by the North American Indians and
some Asian peoples), and Mandragora
officinarum.
Jimson weed, Datura
stramonium, Solanaceae
• Some South American Indians used
Brunfelsia grandiflora and Brugmannsia
species in a similar manner.
Reina de la noche,
Brugmannsia grandiflora,
Solanaceae
Withania somnifera, Solanaceae
• Withania somniferum is a Near Eastern plant that
has been used both as a psychoactive substance
and as a medicinal plant.
Withania somniferum, Solanaceae
Hallucinogenic fungi
• Among the best known of these are Amanita
muscaria, the fly agaric. This fungus grows in
the temperate zones of Europe and Asia
(where it has been widely used) and North
America (where it has not been).
• In Siberia, this fungus was used before
alcohol became available. The dried
mushrooms were sold and were quite
expensive. Even the urine from users was
recycled.
Fly agaric, Amanita muscaria, a white form
Amanita verna, a highly
toxic species
Psilocybe species
• This fungus is mentioned in Sanskrit writings
from India.
• In Mexico, members of the genus Psilocybe
and other related mushrooms were
widespread and commonly used when the
Spanish arrived.
• The Spanish tried to suppress use of these
fungi. The practice went underground for a
couple of centuries. The fungi are usually
used in a curative, religious manner.
R. E. Schultes and A. Hofmann, Botany
and Chemistry of Hallucinogens,
Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1973
• These hallucinogenic fungi have been used
for more than 2000 years in Mexico. About 80
years ago they were rediscovered by western
scientists.
• Psilocybin is the active compound in many of
these fungi.
Ergot, Claviceps spp., Clavicepitaceae
• Another important group of fungal
hallucinogens are the ergot alkaloids that
come from Claviceps species on grasses.
These compounds are extremely toxic and
produce many physiological changes.
• During the Middle Ages they were
responsible for much human poisoning.
Some of them are also hallucinogenic and
are partially responsible for the bizarre
actions of the victims of "St. Anthony's fire".
Ololiuqui
• In Mexico, the seeds of a number of Ipomoea
and Rivea species (Convolvulaceae) were
used in religious-medical applications as well.
They contain the same compounds more or
less. One important Mexican plant of this type
was called "ololiuqui".
R. E. Schultes and A. Hofmann, Botany
and Chemistry of Hallucinogens,
Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1973
Peganum harmala, Zygophyllaceae
Peganum harmala is a Near Eastern plant that
has been used as a psychoactive material in
the past. It has been introduced as a weed
and is found in much of the arid subtropical
world today. The active compounds are carboline or harmane alkaloids.
Peganum harmala,
Zygophyllaceae