Narcotic Plants of the Old World, Used in Rituals & Everyday ... by Hedwig Schleiffer

Time and globalization also change people's relationship with substances of abuse hence, an area that was initially alien to certain substances might evolve to becoming a trafficking hub, and then a destination. History shows that local plants with psychoactive constituents can get exported worldwide through global travel, commerce, or even conquest. The relationship between man and substances that have abuse potentials, and whose use has been associated with the development or progression of substance use disorders has continued to evolve in terms of geography, economic implications, and time. In most of the ancient religious rituals such plants were consumed as a part of the traditional shamanic or pagan culture for many centuries and most of the religious figures and images in the ancient and modern religious systems are a result of these hallucinogenic substances and H-ASC mind states. The main purposes of these plants were spiritual healing to contact with spirits to contact with the souls of ancestors to reach enlightenment (Nirvana or Satori) to become a master shaman, pagan, or witch and to reach so-called-other realities. Some of the psychoactive ingredients of the plants that were used during these religious rituals were opium, cannabis (tetrahydrocannabinol), psilocybin, mescaline, ibogaine, dimethyltryptamine, Peganum harmala, bufotenin, muscimol, thujone, ephedra, mandragora, Salvia divinorum, etc. Psychoactive plants that induce a form of altered states of consciousness (hallucinogen-induced ASC (H-ASC)) have been widely used during the religious rituals of many cultures throughout the centuries.

Narcotic Plants of the Old World, Used in Rituals & Everyday ... by Hedwig Schleiffer