This review (2013) analyses the multidisciplinary research on Salvia divinorum and its chemical principles, concerning whether the ethnobotany, phytochemistry, mental effects, and neuropharmacology of this psychoactive plant clarify its experienced effects and traditional uses.
Abstract of Salvia divinorum: A Psychopharmacological Riddle and a Mind-Body Prospect
“The multidisciplinary research on Salvia divinorum and its chemical principles is analyzed concerning whether the ethnobotany, phytochemistry, mental effects, and neuropharmacology of this sacred psychoactive plant and main principle clarify its experienced effects and divinatory uses. The scientific pursuit spans from the traditional practices continues with the botanical identification, isolation of active molecules, characterization of mental and neural effects, possible therapeutic applications, and impinges upon the mind-body problem. The departure point is ethnopharmacology and therefore the traditional beliefs, ritual uses, and mental effects of this Mazatec sacred mint recorded during a 1973- 1983 field research project are described. A water potion of crushed leaves produced short-lasting light-headedness, dysphoria, tactile and proprioceptive sensations, a sense of depersonalization, amplified sound perception, and an increased visual and auditory imagery, but not actual hallucinations. Similar effects were described using questionnaires and are attributable to salvinorin A, but cannot be explained solely by its specific and potent brain kappa-opioid receptor agonist activity. Some requirements for a feasible classification and mechanism of action of consciousness-altering products are proposed and include the activation of neural networks comprising several neurochemical systems. Top-down analyses should be undertaken in order to characterize such neural networks and eventually allows for exploring the differential ethnic effects. As is the case for other consciousness-altering preparations, careful and encompassing research on this plant and principle can be consequential to endeavours ranging from the mind-body problem, a better understanding of shamanic ecstasy, to the potential generation of analgesic, antidepressant, and drug-abuse attenuating products.”
Author: José-Luis Díaz
Summary of Salvia divinorum: A Psychopharmacological Riddle and a Mind-Body Prospect
I had just returned from Boston and decided to undertake a research project on lesser known Mexican psychoactive plants. I found Salvia divinorum in the Mazatec Sierra along the Santo Domingo river canyon.
I was sent to a local shaman by a clever and honest Mayor, and started a long-term relationship with a family that lived with great effort and difficulty from cultivating and harvesting the brand of coffee from Ayautla.
After calculating the dose according to my body mass, Doa Julia piled 40 leaves in her hand upon a burning aromatic Burseria (Torchwood) exudate resin and started to chant a long, entrancing, and auspicious song that I recorded and later translated into Spanish.
Find this paper
Salvia divinorum: A Psychopharmacological Riddle and a Mind-Body Prospect
https://doi.org/10.2174/18744737112059990004
Open Access | Google Scholar | Backup | 🕊
Cite this paper (APA)
Diaz, J. L. (2013). Salvia divinorum: a psychopharmacological riddle and a mind-body prospect. Curr Drug Abuse Rev, 6(1), 43-53.
Study details
Compounds studied
Salvia Divinorum