Plant Stimulants: Oral and Smoked Stimulants

Question 1

Betel

BOTANICAL INFORMATION:

Answer 1

• Palm
• Indonesia
• Seed (or nut) produces the stimulant
  
  • Wrapped in leaf, from herbaceous vine in Southeast Asia

Question 2

Betel

PLANT UTILIZATION:

Answer 2

• Chewed-common in Pacific islands, China, Southeast Asia
  
  • Palm seed, mixed with mineral lime, wrapped in leaf
  • Produces red juice, discolours teeth and gums
  • Increases risk of developing oral cancers
• India-preparation is formalized and ritualistic
• Asia-sold in market stalls
• Alkaloids-Arecaidine and arecoline
  
  • Similar to nicotine, addictive
• Medicinally used to expel intestinal worms

Question 3

Tobacco

BOTANICAL INFORMATION:

Answer 3

• Solanaceous or Tomato
• Herb
• Amazonia
• Grows best in loose, sandy soils

Question 4

Tobacco

HISTORY AS A MEDICINAL PLANT:

Answer 4

• Used in ceremonies and shamanistic rituals
• Divination and healing sessions, pleasure and social interaction
• Aztec and Amazonian tribes used to induce trances, dreams and visions
• North American Aboriginals used in spiritual, ceremonial, and medical shamanism and pleasure
• Smoked, chewed, snuffed, or as salves
• Medicinal in Europe to treat headaches, toothaches, skin problems, burns, dropsy, piles, and colic
  
  • Purgative and emetic
• Highly Addictive

Question 5

Tobacco

MODERN UTILIZATION:

Answer 5

• Alkaloids-Nicotine and Nornicotine
  
  • Stimulant, but also a depressant
  • Stimulates neurotransmission by mimicking acetylcholine, releasing dopamine and adrenaline
  • Stimulates and then blocks sensory receptors responsible for detecting heat and pain
  • Appetite suppressant, inhibiting hunger contractions and deadening taste buds
• Addiction is a psychological dependence
  
  • Initial surge of dopamine
• United States Report of the Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health
  
  • Tobacco addiction shortens life, lung and other forms of cancer, exacerbates heart disease, bronchitis, and hazardous to the unborn
• Make cigarettes “safer” reducing both the amount of tar and nicotine
• Pulmonary emphysema, mental impairment in newborns, lung cancer, second-hand smoke
• “Stop smoking” aids provide an alternative source of nicotine
  
  • Success rates are low
  • Developed e-cigarettes to deliver nicotine without the harmful tar
• Medicinal benefits-suffer less from Parkinson’s, self-medication for Schizophrenics
• Nicotine alleviates Parkinson’s disease, Tourette’s syndrome, Alzheimer’s
  
  • Mimicking acetylcholine controls dopamine production

Question 6

Khat or Qat

BOTANICAL INFORMATION:

Answer 6

• Shrub
• Northeast Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti) and Arabian peninsula
• Europe and western Asia

Question 7

Khat or Qat

PLANT UTILIZATION:

Answer 7

• Stimulant
• Fresh leaves and branchlets chewed
  
  • Potency lost if more than three days old
• Addictive-development of social problems, family instability and depressions
• Anorexia, malnutrition, and gastritis
• Alkaloid-cathinone
  
  • Stimulates the release of various neurotransmitters from pre-synaptic terminals
  • Results in increased alertness, elevated mood, excitement, hyperactivity, insomnia, increased blood pressure
  • Relief from hunger, fatigue, promote anorexia
• Illegal to import
• Potent methylated semi-synthetic methcathinone on the illicit market in Russia and North America

Question 8

Coca

BOTANICAL INFORMATION:

Answer 8

• Shrub
• Andes mountains of Peru and Bolivia (South America)
• Cultivated in Andes and Amazonia
• Europe and western Asia