Elsevier

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Volume 6, Issue 3, November 1982, Pages 303-309
Journal of Ethnopharmacology

The possible role of amazonian psychoactive plants in the chemotherapy of parasitic worms — a hypothesis

https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-8741(82)90053-8Get rights and content

Abstract

Data from the pharmacological and ethnobotanical literature are presented to support the hypothesis that tropical hallucinogenic plants (which contain indole or isoquinoline alkaloids) were selected by Amazonian people for their antiparasitic properties and were probably incorporated into religious ceremonies.

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    Wyatt (1977), for example, noted the anthelmintic (anti-worm) properties of betel nut, which is widely chewed in Asia and the Pacific. Rodriguez and Cavin (1982) proposed that the origin of tropical hallucinogenic plant use in Amazonia might be explained by the anthelmintic and antimicrobial properties of the plants. Intriguingly, three of the world's most popular recreational drugs are effective treatments against helminths: nicotine (the psychoactive component of tobacco) and arecoline (the psychoactive component of betel-nut) have been used as commercial anthelmintics in animals (Hammond, Fielding, & Bishop, 1997), and cannabis is toxic to plant-parasitic nematodes (Mukhtar, Kayani, & Hussain, 2013).

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An earlier version of this manuscript was presented by Eloy Rodriguez at the Annual AAAS Meeting on Traditional MedicineCooperation or Antagonism?, San Francisco, January 4–5, 1980.

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