Psychoactive plants review

Erowid.org is an online library of information about psychoactive plants and chemicals and related topics. The information on the site is a compilation of the experiences, words, and efforts of hundreds of individuals including users, parents, health professionals, doctors, therapists, chemists, researchers, teachers, and lawyers. Erowid acts as a publisher of new information as well as a library for the collection of documents published elsewhere. The information found on the site spans the spectrum from solid peer reviewed research to fanciful creative writing. 

The focus of this paper is to review and identify those psychoactive plant species of sub-Saharan Africa. The biological and cultural diversity of Africa is immense (there are over 2,000 languages represented in sub-Saharan Africa). However, these ancient medicinal systems, usually based on oral traditions, are poorly documented even to this day. In contrast. North Africa and the Middle East have a relatively well documented traditional medicine (12-14). The Babylonians, Assyrians and Sumerians recorded heibal remedies in cuneiform on clay tables as long ago as 4000 BC. Not only can we attribute the origins of civilization to North Africa and the Middle East but also possibly the most important psychoactive plant, Papaver somniferum (opium poppy), from which the first alkaloid and psychoactive chemical was isolated. Morphine was first isolated by the German pharmacist Sertuner in 1803 (15). 

Dkiz, J.L. 1977. Ethnopharmacology of sacred psychoactive plants used by the Indians of Mexico Annttal Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology 17 647—675. 

A variety of other plant compounds are bioactive as toxins, pro-toxins, sweet or bitter tas-tants, odorants, semiochemicals, enzyme inhibitors, receptor agonists, receptor antagonists or psychoactive agents. The structure and bioactivity of non-alkaloid, non-phenolic and non-terpenoid plant compounds is briefly reviewed below. Some selected structures of cyclic compounds in this category are shown in the Appendix (Section 4). 

A number of plant species from the genus Ephedra have been used for many years for their stimulant effects. Ephedra sinica is native to Asia and is frequently sold under its Chinese name, ma huanpf. Another species, E. nevadensis, grows in the American West and is known as Mormon tea. The main psychoactive compound in ephedra is ephedrine. Ephedrine is a potent stimulant with effects much like those reviewed in Chapter 6. It is sympathomimetic and produces behavioral effects similar to those of other stimulants (Karch, 2000). Until 2004, ephedrine products were marketed through stores or by mail order to increase energy, prevent drowsiness, suppress appetite, and in high-dose formulations, as an herbal alternative to ecstasy (see Chapter 12). These products contained a wide variety of plant products and... 

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