The Report On The Amazon Basin

Hallucinations and the experience of Peyote are seen as not only a cosmic experience, but also a personal reflection life and its many lessons as well.

     Napoleon Chagnon has spent about 60 months since 1964 studying the ‘foot people’ of the Amazon Basin known as the Yanomamo. In his ethnography, Yanomamo, he describes all of the events of his stay in the Venezuelan jungle. He describes the “hideous” appearance of the Yanomamo men when first meeting them, and their never-ending demands for Chagnon’s foreign goods, including his food. There are many issues that arise when considering Chagnon’s Yanomamo study. The withholding of genealogical information by the tribesmen, and how Chagnon was able to obtain his information is an interesting and significant aspect of this study. Why did Chagnon feel that this genealogical information was

Images from the study suggest a greater connectivity across the brain. There is evidence that the visual hallucinations produced by the drug involve not only the visual cortex, but many other parts of the brain. This lack of boundaries are highly segregated and may suggest a mechanism behind the altered state of consciousness experienced by users and the “ego dissolution”, or loss of a sense of self, described by many. (E., R. (201126) 426.)

In extreme cases, convulsions, comas, and heart/lung failure have been reported. The more insidious effects of hallucinogens are found not in their potential for physical impairment, but in that of their psychological danger. The hallucinations, or something that is seen, heard, smelt, felt, or tasted without really existing, that accompany this genre of substances are strong, vivid, and can last for up to 12 hours. Hallucinogen users’ brains are altered in such a way that they are unable to separate reality and the effects of their trip. This can cause severe anxiety, intense mood swings, impaired time perception and the sense that objects around you are distorted. In addition, those under the influence experience a God Complex, described as a feeling that a person is superior to their peers, and able to accomplish the impossible. At least 4.6 million emergency room visits per year worldwide can be accredited to the dangerous actions taken by users of the psychedelic drug that can include fighting, jumping out of windows, and running across roads with the assumption that they are invincible and stronger than their physical limitations (drugabuse.gov).

DMT is a powerful chemical found in some Amazonian plants. DMT is a hallucinogenic drug and can be very lethal. DMT scientific name is dimethylamino, it is usually known as the "businessman's trip". It is illegal worldwide and is said to be the most illegal drug in the world. Not only is the drug the most rare to acquire, but it is also the most common drug.

Psychedelics have become so common in America that 8% of high school seniors report having used LSD [Nation 1]. LSD is also known as “acid,” is a chemical compound lysergic acid diethylamide. The effects range from an altered state of reality to strong visual hallucinations. LSD first became popular in the 1960’s, seemingly overnight. Because it was such a new drug, it remained legal until 1966 [Riser]. Many thought of acid as a spiritual aid, and used it to meditate. It was often compared to the drugs peyote and mescaline that were used in Native American religious ceremonies [Riser]. During this time period there were social reforms taking place all over the country.

Do the mentally ill commonly take psychiatric drugs because the drugs actually work, or do they take them because they believe that these drugs work? Robert Whitaker, the author of Anatomy of an Epidemic, suggests that psychiatric drugs may catalyze or possibly create mental and physical illnesses rather than improve mental health. However, psychedelic drugs, which are also psychoactive agents like psychiatric drugs, may be better alternatives. Aldous Huxley, the author of The Doors of Perception, proposes that psychedelic drugs can help people understand mental illness from a more personal perspective, and that they can also expand the mind. The recreational use of these drugs can uncover a hidden external reality, and in turn, enrich the spirit. But perhaps aside from recreational use, psychedelic drugs should be more widely used instead of psychiatric drugs to treat both the longtime and the newly mentally ill. Under moderated use, psychedelics not only profoundly enhance one’s creative vision but also provide therapeutic mental health benefits.

This lecture covered stimulants and hallucinogens, such as the morning glory which has alkaloids similar to LSD, but has about 10th the potency of LSD. Typically the seeds are coated with an herbicide so users must be cautious when using morning glory. Mescaline is derived from the peyote cactus, and is not legal in America, but is permitted in some states for the use among Native American religious ceremonies. Plants with hallucinogenic properties such as belladonna, mandrake, henbane, and Datura have all been around for centuries, and have serve various purposes other than just the psychoactive effects. Henbane has been used as part of a cure for alcoholism, as well as being used to poison hamlets father. The ancient Chinese used Datura to

Did you know that the rainforest is a fantastic biome? It has three parts that make it special. The forest is also home to more plant life than any other. It’s pretty big. Rainforests have a climate and appearance, producers, and consumers specific to the ecosystem.

"The feeling of doing DMT is as though one had been struck by noetic lightning. The ordinary world is almost instantaneously replaced, not only with a hallucination, but a hallucination whose alien character is its utter alienness. Nothing in this world can prepare one for the impressions that fill your mind when you enter the DMT sensorium."- McKenna.

While some cultures are more accepting of drugs like Ayahuasca referring to it as “vine of the souls” and others establish the use of Psychedelic Iboga (West-Central Africa) America is not this privileged. The American lifestyle tends to be very fast paced in the cities where drugs like marijuana, coffee, and cocaine act like an epidemic amongst the younger crowd. Studies have found these drugs affect an individual’s physiology by replicating and stimulating the body's natural nervous system functions.

In addition, another effect from DTM is one can receive not only spiritual, but mental healing. Moreover, people that have done DMT say that there was a present of an intellectual being called, Mother ayahuasca. According to an online source states, “Mother Ayahuasca, is a benevolent feminine presence, who is described as a great being of love” (Mother Ayahuasca & The Feminine Christ). Similarly, Shaman’s say mother ayahuasca is a healer of our illnesses in both mind and spirit. For instance, mother ayahuasca is known to cure people from harmful additions like cocaine or heroin (Mother Ayahuasca & The Feminine Christ). As a matter of fact, Etnikas Ayahuasca retreats, is a clinic in Peru that uses ayahuasca to treats harmful addictions (Xshaun1111).

This concoction was brewed to create what the indigenous people of the amazon call ayahuasca. Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic beverage used by indigenous communities in South America for spiritual, religious, as well as medicinal purposes (Grob et al., 1996). This beverage is prepared by brewing the bark of the caapi plant and leaves of the Psychotria viridis plants. It is the leaves of the Psychotria viridis plants that contain the psychoactive DMT. The caapi plant contains beta-carboline alkaloids that act as a monoamine oxidase, thus inhibiting the rapid breakdown of DMT. As a result, the hallucinogenic effects of the DMT are experienced at a longer duration and hallucinations tend to be more intense (McKenna, 2004). It is these hallucinogenic effects that link this drug to religious and spiritual experiences, which is why the beverage has been used in plenty customs of the Amazonian and Mestizo people. They viewed this drug as a gateway to

Dimethyltryptamine AKA (DMT) AKA (The Third Eye) is a drug scientist should be researching. Like Dr. Strassman who studied it in 1990-1995. Dr. Strassman is a medical doctor specialized in psychiatry. One of the only people who have researched DMT usage and the effects. He is also the author of the book “DMT the Spirit Molecule”. He conducted lots of experiment. In the experiments, he would give people high doses of DMT to volunteer test subjects. These test found out that the chemical is

For most people, when the phrase psychedelic mushroom is thrown out, the first thing that comes to mind is hallucination. Some people think of LSD or the 60s, others may think more specifically to personal experiences they have had with the drug. Some may have used them recreationally as a teen, some may have had a single awful experience with them, or some may totally resent the idea of psychedelic mushrooms. No matter what someone may think of them, there is not a stranger thought process than Terence McKenna’s. When psychedelic mushrooms are brought up around him, there are much stranger things than a memory of seeing God or a condescending idea of recreational fun going through his mind. McKenna’s thought process is best explained in his