Must-read: ayahuasca in America

Ecuadorian ayahuasca shaman (Ammit Jack/shutterstock.com)
In the current (Sept 12) issue of The New Yorker. Ariel Levy writes about the drug-fueled South American shamanistic ritual ayahuasca (or yagé,) and how its plants and practices are being imported to “hip” American areas such as Brooklyn and Silicon Valley. As TPR has explained before:
Pharmacologically, ayahuasca is quite interesting. It is commonly made by macerating and boiling together parts of the plants Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis. Neither of these plants, taken alone, has psychedelic properties. P. viridis does contain DMT, a psychedelic tryptamine that acts — as does LSD and mescaline — at the 5-HT2A receptor. However, because of first-pass metabolism, this compound is broken down by the enzyme monoamine oxidase before it ever reaches the systemic circulation. As it happens, B. caapi contains several beta-carbolines — harmine and harmaline — that act as monoamine oxidase inhibitors. These MAOIs prevent the breakdown of DMT.
Levy’s article, cleverly titled “The Drug of Choice for the Age of Kale,” traces the history of Americans’ fascination with ayahuasca back to the Dennis and Terence McKenna, who sought out ayahuasca in 1971 during a trip to Colombia and Peru. She actually could have gone back further, at least to William Burroughs who wrote The Yage Letters in the 1950s and 60s.
The actual ayahuasca “trip” sounds hor...

Source: The Poison Review - September 9, 2016 Category: Toxicology Authors: Leon Gussow Tags: Medical ariel levy ayahuasca Banisteriopsis caapi dmt New Yorker psychotria viridis Source Type: news