Entheogenic and Religious
Psychotria vidris contains the hallucinogenic—or entheogenic—indole alkaloid dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in level varying from 0.1 to 0.61% dried mass. It is known primarily as a principle admixture to the ayahuasca brew used in South and Central America. The recognized mechanism of action is the addition of a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) present in Banisteriopsis caapi, which allows ayahuasca to be effective in oral doses (unlike smoking DMT crystals which requires no conditioning partner drug). This use is legal in Brazil among native tribes and several syncretic religions tribes.
Vegetalistas, healers in the Amazon regions of Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, recognize different sub-varieties of Psychotria viridis, based on the location of glands on the back of the leaves.
Read more about this topic: Psychotria Viridis
Famous quotes containing the word religious:
“One of the duties which devolve upon women in the present interesting crisis, is to prepare themselves for more extensive usefulness, by making use of those religious and literary privileges and advantages that are within their reach, if they will only stretch out their hands and possess them.”
—Sarah M. Grimke (1792–1873)