Mind-altering Cycads? Preliminary Evidence of Psychoactive Effects in Cycadales
Mark Bonta
Abstract:This article examines historical and contemporary evidence for the importance of cycads as sources of psychoactive experiences for ritual and recreational purposes. Methods used include critical analysis and comparison of published and gray literature as well as ethnographic accounts gathered by the author in Mexico and South Africa. The consumption of cycad parts (pollen, coralloid root, and caudex) to derive an intentional psychoactive effect as a drug may implicate the neurotoxic amino acid BMAA, while ferm… Show more
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