The Shaman even today is a widely unknown figure in culture. A figure that is intimately related to our very roots, to our very souls perhaps. Here is a short preview from several humans in the amazon rain forest.
Watch a short video introduction to poisonous and hallucinogenic mushrooms and their effects. This CH4 mini documentary television program show from 1989 includes brief information on psychedelic mushrooms such as Liberty Caps (psilocybin) and the Amanita Muscaria (Fly Agaric) to the soundtrack tune of “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane’s along an illustrated Alice in Wonderland montage.
Researchers have discovered a new drug that raises the level of endocannabinoids–the ‘brain’s own cannabis’–providing anti-depressant effects. The new research published in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), suggests the new drug, called URB597, could represent a safer alternative to cannabis for the treatment of pain and depression, and open the door to new and improved treatments for clinical depression–a condition that affects around 20% of Canadians.
In preclinical laboratory tests researchers found that URB597 increased the production of endocannabinoids by blocking their degradation, resulting in measurable antidepressant effects. “This is the first time it has been shown that a drug that increases endocannabinoids in the brain can improve your mood,” says the lead investigator Dr. Gabriella Gobbi, an MUHC and Universit� de Montr�al researcher.
Endocannabinoids are chemicals released by the brain under certain conditions, like exercise; they stimulate specific brain receptors that can trigger feelings of well-being. The researchers, which included scientists from the University of California at Irvine, were able to measure serotonin and noradrenaline activity as a result of the increased endocannabinoids, and also conducted standard experiments to gauge the ‘mood’ of their subjects and confirm their findings.
“The results were similar to the effect we might expect from the use of commonly prescribed antidepressants, which are effective on only around 30% of the population,” explains Dr. Gobbi. “Our discovery strengthens the case for URB597 as a safer, non-addictive, non-psychotropic alternative to cannabis for the treatment of pain and depression and provides hope for the development of an alternate line of antidepressants, with a wider range of effectiveness.”
Cannabis has been known for its anti-depressant and pain-relief effects for many years, but the addictive nature and general health concerns of cannabis use make this drug far from ideal as a medical treatment. The active ingredient in cannabis–THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol)–stimulates cannabinoid receptors.
Funding for this study was provided by the Fonds de la Recherche en Sant� du Qu�bec (FRSQ), the Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation (CPRF), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and an MUHC fellowship.
The MUHC is a comprehensive academic health institution with an international reputation for excellence in clinical programs, research and teaching. The MUHC is a merger of five teaching hospitals affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University��the Montreal Children’s, Montreal General, Royal Victoria, and Montreal Neurological Hospitals, as well as the Montreal Chest Institute. Building on the tradition of medical leadership of the founding hospitals, the goal of the MUHC is to provide patient care based on the most advanced knowledge in the health care field, and to contribute to the development of new knowledge. www.muhc.ca
Founded in 1878, the University of Montreal today has 13 faculties and together with its two affiliated schools, HEC Montr�al and �cole Polytechnique, constitutes the largest centre of higher education and research in Qu�bec, the second largest in Canada, and one of the major centres in North America. It brings together 2,400 professors and researchers, accommodates nearly 55,000 students, offers some 650 programs at all academic levels, and awards about 3,000 masters and doctorate diplomas each year.
source:Link
Isoniazid was the first chemical compound established as an antidepressant, in 1952, by Jean-Francois Buisson in France and Max Lurie in the United States, after it had come in to use for the treatment of tuberculosis. Izoniazid, and a derivative iproniazid, were observed to have a “psychostimulant” effect and to inhibit the enzyme Monoamine Oxidase. Nathan Kline and colleagues conducted the first trial to show a significant effect of iproniazid on depression in psychiatric patients. Kline approached Roche with what he called a “psychic energizer” and the first MonoAmine Oxidase Inhibitor (MAOI) was introduced as Marsilid. Sales grew massively in the following years, and others of the class were introduced by several drug companies, but adverse effects such as hypertension crisis related to food amines, and acute hepatic necrosis, curtailed their use.
The discovery that a tricyclic (“three ringed”) compound had a significant antidepressant effect was also first made in the early 1950s, by Roland Kuhn in a Swiss psychiatric hospital. By that time antihistamine derivatives were coming in to use to treat surgical shock and then as psychiatric neuroleptics. Although, in 1955, in the first parallel-group randomized control trial in psychiatry, reserpine was demonstrated to be more effective than placebo in alleviating anxious depression, neuroleptics were developing for use as sedatives and antipsychotics. In attempting to improve the effectiveness of one of them, chlorpromazine, in conjunction with the Geigy pharmaceutical company, Kuhn discovered that compound “G 22355″ (manufactured and patented in the US in 1951 by Häfliger and Schinder) had a beneficial effect in patients with depression with mental and motor retardation He first reported his findings on what he called a “thymoleptic” in 1955/56 and they gradually became established, resulting in the marketing of the first tricyclic antidepressant, imipramine, soon followed by variants.
These new drug therapies became prescription-only medications (POM) in the 1950s. It was estimated that no more than 50 to 100 people per million suffered from the kind of depression that these new drugs would treat and pharmaceutical companies were not enthusiastic.
source:Wiki Dictionary Link
Watch two short documentaries about cocaine and the culture around cocaine production.
I’ve been waiting for the right time to post this amazing monumental presentation regarding the occult and esoteric pagan history behind religious symbolism in relation to Jesus and Sun cycles, amanita muscaria mushroom (fly agaric) and the divine experiences of altered states of consciousness through entheogenic drugs. Happy Holidaze…
Thousands of years ago, in the pre monarchic era, psychedelic/entheogenic substances where publicly known world wide and were respected for their ability to bring forth the divine, Yahweh, God, The Great Spirit, etc., by the many cultures who used them. Often the entire tribe or community would partake in the entheogenic rites. These rites were often used in initiation into adulthood, for healing, to help guide the community in the decision process, and to bring the direct religious experience to anyone seeking it, that might take these psychedelic sacraments properly.
In the pre literate world, the knowledge of psychedelic plant sacraments, as well as fertility rites and astronomical knowledge surrounding the sun, stars, and zodiac, known as astrotheology, were anthropomorphized into human/god like beings so their stories and practices could be passed down for generations. Weather changes over millenniums caused environmental changes that altered the available foods and plant sacraments available in the local vicinity. If a tribe lost its shamanic El-der (El – God), all of the tribe’s knowledge of their plant sacraments as well as astronomical knowledge would be lost.
Links:
http://www.pharmacratic-inquisition.com/
http://www.gnosticmedia.com/
The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross
Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality
