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In 2008, the first shop with designer drugs in Poland was opened. Currently, they can be found under various names, in many cities they are advertised in various ways, so that the range offered in them is constantly expanded and varied and can reach the widest possible group of recipients.
The internet offer is much richer. No wonder that there are more and more interested buyers. It is worth knowing, however, that a number of products that could be purchased at boosters stores are currently blacklisted. Since May last year, the possession of benzylpiperazine (BZP) and live plants, dried seeds, extracts and extracts of salvia divinorum, steppe rut (Peganum harmala), vomiting (Psychotria viridis), motherwort (Leonitis leonurus), mimosa (Mimosa tenuiflora) and jutrzęczyna (Mitragyna speciosa) is illegal in Poland.
Over the last several months, the potential dangers of using legal highs have been discussed, and their effects compared with the effects of other psychoactive substances, mainly drugs. And yet, can we list the most commonly used ones, say how they work, can they be dangerous, and if so, why? Let’s start with the name.
Many people associate boosters with compounds with psychostimulating effects, which cause a surge of energy, allow you to live intensively, play and – by opening the gate of memory – learn. This is only part of the truth, because plant-based compounds dominate among legal highs, which cause hallucinations, and thus make us lose touch with reality. With some simplification, we can assume that the very diverse and constantly growing family of legal highs includes three groups, the so-called brain enhancers and enhancers, amphetamine derivatives and amphetamine-like compounds (some of them are brain enhancers) and hallucinogenic compounds.
The mother of brain enhancers is amphetamine. In addition to amphetamine, a whole range of its derivatives are used. The amphetamine-like effect is exerted by piperazine derivatives, including BZP. These compounds increase noradrenergic and dopaminergic transmission in the brain, and some amphetamines may also increase serotonergic transmission. There are many reasons for using amphetamine-like compounds: escaping frustration and depression, increasing self-esteem and self-confidence, losing weight on your own with drugs bought online, and supporting the learning process. Unfortunately, amphetamine knowledge is passing away as quickly as it comes. There are known tragic cases where people after amphetamine-assisted learning lost consciousness in the examination room and never regained consciousness.
Small doses of amphetamine suppress the appetite, improve well-being, increase alertness, increase self-confidence, increase the threshold of fatigue, and often cause insomnia. We don’t eat, we don’t sleep, and our memory and cognitive processes behave as if they were supercharged: faster, stronger, more. In addition, acceleration of breathing and heart rate, increased metabolism and oxygen consumption. We have the impression that we can move mountains. High doses taken for a short period of time cause severe psychomotor agitation, aggressive behavior, profuse sweating, coronary pain, a dangerous rise in blood pressure, and even a stroke. Sudden increase in body temperature, which can be fatal, is very dangerous. It is often the result of the action of amphetamine or its derivative and impurities present in the afterburner tablet. Long-term use of amphetamines leads to addiction, disturbances in thinking about uronic content, and physical and mental exhaustion.
The new generation of legal highs are plant-based products that cause hallucinations. Most of them are strong entheogens that give rise to mystical experiences and induce altered states of consciousness. Originally, entheogens were (and still are) used by shamans in religious and healing ceremonies because they give the feeling of contact with god, spirits, and visions indispensable to their profession. The activities of three plant legal highs: salvinorin A, leunorin and dimethyltryptamine will be briefly described.
Salvorin A
Among the many varieties of sage, only one, Salvia divinorum, produces salvinorin A, an hallucinogenic compound that is only 4 times less potent than synthetic LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide). Salvia divinorum originally grows in the Sierra Madre mountains in central Mexico and for centuries has been used by the shamans of the tribes inhabiting these areas in order to experience divine visions, fortune telling (hence the name divinorum from the English: divination), and to treat abdominal swelling caused by the beliefs of the evil curse sorcerer, rheumatism, headache or diarrhea. The plant known in Poland as the bard’s sage has many common names, incl. divine sage, magic mint, shaman sage, mexican sage, lady SD.
The age-old way of using Salvia divinorum by shamans is to slowly chew the fresh leaves. The salvinorin absorbed from the oral mucosa starts to work after several minutes and the disturbed thinking caused by it lasts for about an hour and a half. Contrary to the ritual of Indian shamans, salvinorin A is most often taken by burning dried sage leaves fortified (5-200 times) with leaf extracts or with extracts only.
Absorbed with smoke, it quickly enters the brain and works after several dozen seconds. Strong thinking disturbances usually last for a few minutes. Small doses of salvinorine induce a feeling of lightness, mysticism, and an increase in the perception of the senses. Greater – visual and auditory hallucinations, synesthesia; we feel as if our body is being pinched, stretched or jerked. Another dose of smoke and we lose self-awareness, sense of reality, we travel to other lands, beings, dimensions of space and time. We feel as if our mind has detached from our body. Traveling with divine sage can be counterproductive to what we expect: a feeling of terrifying emptiness and panic fear accompanied by aggressive behavior or a desire to run away; hallucinations mimicking psychoses.
The bard’s sage can free us from the proverbial Mr. Hyda. It happens that a good trip suddenly turns into a nightmare of a bad trip. Escaping this nightmare may end in suicide. Salvinorine causes additional symptoms that last up to several dozen minutes after the hallucinations have subsided, e.g. profuse sweats, slurred speech, feeling depressed, poor coordination causing falls and injuries.
In the group of hallucinogenic compounds, salvinorin has a unique mechanism of action – it is a very strong agonist (activator) of κ-opioid receptors. We associate κ-opioid receptors mainly with the analgesic effect, control of mood and behavior, as well as the regulation of the so-called the reward system, which plays a key role in addiction development. In studies in which volunteers were given κ agonists, it was shown that they induce anxiety, racing thoughts, severe disturbances in the sense of time and space, depersonalization, visual hallucinations, loss of self-control, dysphoria. Is this not like the description of how divine sage works?
Leunoryna
By purchasing a rooted seedling of Salvia divinorum at an online auction, we can obtain heartweed seeds (Leonotis leonurus) as part of the promotion. The motherwort is a perennial with decorative flowers in the shape of a lion’s ear and the color of a lion’s fur (hence the name derived from the Greek language). The plant originally comes from South-East Africa and is called the Wild Dagg. (Dagga – marijuana) because the Huttentot and Xhasu tribes use it as a substitute for cannabis.
Among psychonauts, it is affectionately called marihuanilla, because the leunorin contained in it works similarly to marijuana. The motherwort is included in many herbal smoking mixtures. Most often, dried flowers are used, which can also be infused and drunk as herbal tea. Under the influence of leunorin, we are aroused, we have a great mood, it is easier to establish contacts and exchange views with strangers, we feel sorrow and anxiety of other people.
Dimetylotryptamina
Dimethyltryptamine is often taken when drinking a decoction of plants, the so-called ayahuasca. Ayahuasca was originally obtained from the leaves of the Psychodria viridis shrub (a source of the hallucinogenic dimethyltryptamine; DMT) and the bark of the Banisteriopsis caapi liana, which contains the ß-carboline derivatives harmaline, harmine and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroharmine. They inhibit the activity of MAO-A, the enzyme that breaks down DMT, thanks to which large amounts of this amine reach the brain. Ss-carboline derivatives also have hallucinogenic and hypnotic properties. The source of DMT is also the root bark of Minos tenuiflora and some grass species.
Trace amounts of the compound are also produced by our brain, especially the pineal gland. Ss-carboline derivatives are found in steppe rut (Peganum harmala) and passion flower (Passiflora incarnata), and therefore in plants covered by last year’s amendment to the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction. The thick, brown liquid obtained by boiling plant materials, ayahuasca (which in Quechua means soul liana), has been used by the Indian tribes inhabiting the valleys for centuries. Amazon. Ayahuasca is always drunk in the presence of the curandero during religious rituals, healing or spiritual sessions. It checks the strength of the drink and acts as a guide – it experiences and translates visions. After drinking Ayahuasca, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea appear initially. Then there are auditory and visual hallucinations, synesthesia, disturbances in the sense of time, space, and the perception of one’s own body. They are accompanied by strong emotions that can be completely different – from elation and euphoria to despair and a sense of nothingness. The psychedelic action of DMT is, as in the case of LSD, responsible for the stimulation of 5-HT serotonin receptors.2A i 5-HT1A. Recent research suggests that dimethyltryptamine stimulates sigma-1 receptors known to be involved in the development of methamphetamine and cocaine (and possibly other psychoactive substances) addiction and the development of psychosis. Hallucinogenic effects are also exerted by lysergic acid ethylamide (LSA), a close cousin of LSD, found in clematis seeds available at boosters.
We can often come across the common opinion that legal highs, especially those of natural origin, are a safe and legal alternative to drugs. This is not true. The lack of scientific data on the toxic or adverse effects of herbal legal highs has been misinterpreted and provided as evidence that there are no such effects. We can never be sure that the product we buy will work in the same way as the one we purchased before. What’s more, its composition would amaze the toxicologist more than once. Remember that frequent disturbance of the delicate balance between neurotransmitters, flooding the brain with compounds that are foreign to it, can cause changes that will forever change our thinking and behavior.
Prof. dr hab. Jolanta B. Zawilska
Medical University of Lodz