Sassafras Ceremony – Medicine of Love or a Psychedelic Lie?
Increasingly, in the world, one can encounter various cults or ceremonies that try to prey on innocent people undergoing various kinds of emotional difficulties in their life. In such ceremonies, people are often lied to by present gurus and consume substances that are supposedly to induce positive psychoactive states in them. One of them is the so-called sassafras, which is really only a part of the drug commonly referred to as MDMA or MDEA.
The Course of a Ceremony Involving Sassafras
Due to the variety of ceremonies and rituals one can hear about, precise rules for the supposed “awakening” offered by those responsible for the entire meeting have never been established.
Nevertheless, quite often at ceremonies, which may vary significantly from one another, and some assumptions mutually exclude each other, one can often encounter one quite specific type of plant, mainly found on the North American continent and in China. We are talking here about the supposed sassafras in capsule form.
Sometimes before its consumption, members of the congregation may engage in play, joint meditation, or one-on-one conversations with the organizer who will conduct the entire ceremony.
They often also listen to speeches and lectures on what awaits them after taking this substance and how much it will improve their entire life in all areas where there are functioning problems.
The most common promises that can be heard primarily include a sense of happiness, which sometimes can be phrased in slightly different words. According to the “shaman” present at the ceremony, sassafras will cure people of various personality disorders, emotional hypersensitivities, anxiety states, and even contribute to improved functioning in cases of depression
Unfortunately, most may turn out to be a lie, or at least the consumption of this plant provides only a short-term effect. Above all, what is given to people in such rituals are not any naturally grown plants in the soil without the use of any enhancing fertilizers, but the most ordinary drugs often made in a not very accurate way in a non-sterile laboratory, known worldwide under the slightly more popular name MDMA.
Sassafras is Used in the Production of MDMA/MDEA
It should be stated outright that in all ceremonies where people decided to improve their mental health, they are not given the pure plant but only a substance that has been used to extract its fruits, sassafras dryness soaked in MDMA/MDEA, or simply ground MDMA given in capsule form. The worst part is that therapy, meant to heal not only the psyche but also the entire body and soul, may contribute to even worse functioning of some individuals in the future. MDMA of unknown origin taken unknowingly and regularly can damage certain areas of the brain, causing depression and suicidal thoughts.
Sassafras in MDMA
It’s worth taking a closer look at what MDMA is and when exactly sassafras is used in its production. In this way, one can better understand the real action of substances that are administered at such ceremonies.
What is MDMA?
The correct scientific name is Methylenedioxymethamphetamine. No wonder it contains many colloquially used expressions, as the main name of this chemical compound is hard to remember, hence such are also used in this article.
MDMA is an incredible psychoactive substance with enormous therapeutic properties, which upon consumption induces so-called empathogenic effects in the body. They are associated with stimulating the central nervous system in the brain, allowing for a significantly sharper overall perception for the next few hours.
Perceptual sharpening, in turn, makes a person after taking the given substance more stimulated in all senses (most strongly in tactile, olfactory, and visual) and feels full of energy to act.
This is a very familiar description of what happens in such rituals after taking sassafras. Individuals may experience various kinds of hallucinations through disturbances in the properly functioning brain, and after about eight hours, they feel acute exhaustion and irritation.
These are symptoms of the normal weakening of the substance in the body, unfortunately, the ceremony leaders claim that in fact, individuals have awakened anew and feel as if all kinds of toxins and bad feelings are leaving them when in reality they are experiencing what’s known as a “come down”.
What Exactly is Sassafras Used for in the Production of MDMA
First and foremost, it should be noted that using sassafras for drug production is illegal.
Sassafras, which has properly blossomed, produces fruits that are the main source for extracting two important substances, which can be used to produce MDMA. Mainly deriving from the name of the plant safrole and in smaller quantity but equally necessary isosafrole (obtained in the process of safrole isomerization).
These substances are further subjected to a special conversion, which can be conducted in many different ways (one of the more known methods is the oxidation of isosafrole or the addition of hydrobromic acid to safrole).
Należy zaznaczyć, że Safrol z sasafrasu nie ma działania psychoaktywnego, jest używany do syntezy MDP2P, będącego prekursorem psychoaktywnych środków MDMA i MDEA. Dodatkowo sam w sobie ma działanie kancerogenne.
Jeśli ktoś uważa, że spożywa sasafras i ma po nim psychodeliczne efekty to doświadcza efektu placebo albo oszustwa ze strony dostawcy tego środka.
Sama rośliny nigdy nie wywoła takich efektów jak MDMA.
It should be noted that Safrole from sassafras does not have a psychoactive effect; it is used to synthesize MDP2P, being a precursor to psychoactive agents MDMA and MDEA. Additionally, it itself has carcinogenic effects. If someone thinks that consuming sassafras causes them psychedelic effects, they are experiencing either a placebo effect or deception by the supplier of this agent.
The plant itself will never cause effects like MDMA.
What Harm Can the Supposed Sassafras Cause?
It’s worth noting that MDMA, in the short-term, a few-hour perspective, can indeed cause beneficial effects for better mental functioning. However, in the long term, a substance of unknown origin taken in the form of a “holy plant” can bring really enormous damage.
Inadequate Hydration
The least harmful thing that can happen during the consumption of supposed sassafras capsules is dehydration.
Due to thirst and the felt dryness in the throat, a person in a drugged state can drink too much water, leading to the induction of isotonic transgression in the body, which disturbs water management, kidney, and liver function.
Mental Disorders
Although the main goal of individuals participating in sassafras therapy is often the desire to get rid of unpleasant emotional states, by taking it paradoxically, they may only increase their existing symptoms.
Due to the violation of the nervous system in the brain, a state of lethargy, acute emotional changes caused by chemical damage in neurons, or complete lack of energy may occur in the body, often causing deep depressive states.
Ceremony organizers usually buy ready-made sassafras on the darknet, whose composition and purity they often do not know. In most cases, they do not know what they are giving to other people and what they themselves are consuming.
Addictions
A separate issue is addictions to MDMA, which “shamans” (as they often call themselves) at ceremonies particularly exploit so that participants think that positive energy (actually being the body’s need for another dose of the drug) draws them back to the place of healing, for everyone to further improve their current mental state and gain greater happiness in life.
Although there is no evidence of physical addiction to MDMA, the psychological issue remains, which in the whole atmosphere of acceptance and, after all, short-term positive emotional states, causes a person previously inexperienced with too positive contact with the world may very much want to return to the experienced emotions again, even when they feel that something bad is happening with their whole body.
Heart Problems
Especially at risk are people who have serious heart problems on a daily basis and should not overstrain their body in this area.
Unknowingly, after taking the drug, they may experience sudden acceleration of heart rate (i.e., tachycardia) and acute fibrillation of its chambers.
The continued increased pace leads to accelerated breathing and aeration, often hyperventilation. In such a state, it is not difficult for a person to have a heart attack during the ceremony.
The worst part is that it will be difficult to get help from people who are also intoxicated. “Healers” are not always willing to help, as they would face serious consequences if it came out that instead of a plant, someone was given an illegal psychoactive substance that could even kill.
Is Sassafras Dangerous?
Of course, it should be known that the plant itself is harmless and will not cause more serious side effects.
Sassafras taken in its natural form contributes to, for example, improved wound healing, its bark, and root can be used to produce oils that when drunk work very well as heart medications and help in the treatment of hepatitis.
However, sassafras taken in such a way never causes the effects described earlier. It is purely a medicinal herb and in itself would never give the same efficacy as often seen during various ceremonies.
Sassafras should certainly not be banned or criticized. Only society should increase its awareness in the area of psychoactive substance action so as not to fall victim to a psychedelic lie exploited by people who only want to earn.
