Pharmañopo—Psychonautics: Human Intranasal, Sublingual, Intrarectal, Pulmonary and Oral Pharmacology of Bufotenine

Abstract

Summarized are psychonautic bioassays (human self-experiments) of pharmañopo—crystalline bufotenine (5-HO-DMT; 5-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine; dimethylserotonine), at times combined with harmaline or harmine—via intranasal, sublingual, intrarectal, pulmonary (inhaled vapor) and oral routes. This is done by way of pharmacological modeling of diverse South American shamanic inebriants, principally the snuffs ñopolyopo and cebíhatáj, prepared from seeds of Anadenanthera peregrina var. peregrina and A. colubrina var. Cebil, respectively. Psychoptic (visionary) activity of bufotenine has been established and the 1967 Holmstedt–Lindgren hypothesis of the paricá effect—intranasal potentiation of tryptamines by concomitant administration of monoamine-oxidase-inhibiting (MAOI) β-carbolines from stems of Banisteriopsis caapi admixed with the snuffs—has been confirmed by 25 psychonautic bioassays. Salient phytochemical and psychonautic literature is reviewed, and isolation of bufotenine from Anadenanthera seeds detailed (with one table and eight references).

Keywords:

• bufotenine
• harmaline
• harmine
• MAOI
• shamanic snuffs
• tryptamines