Newsgroups: alt.drugs,alt.psychoactives
From: [s--ko--u] at [superior.carleton.ca] (Steven Zikopoulos)
Subject: Kava Kava (Piper methysticum)
Date: Fri, 13 May 1994 22:26:56 GMT

Thought some people interested in ethnopharmacology would like to
readthe following...

KAVA
Although beer has largely replaced kava as the major intoxicating brew
of Polynesia, kava bars are still quite common.  This beverage made
from the shrub PIPER METHYSTICUM was for centuries venerated amon the
communities of the idyllic islands of Polynesia.  It was originally
prepared exclusively by children, who would collect the roots and
lower stems of teh shrub, chew them, and then spit the soggy mass into
a communal bowl.  The salivary enzymes were clearly important for the
release of the psychotropic constituents marindin and
dihydromethysticin, from the vegetable matrix.  The dried residue was
then mixed with water and the extrat was straned to produce kava.  The
mode of preparation is essentially the same today.

A measure equivalent ot a half-full split coconut shell is sufficient
to produce a state of well-being and somnolence, althoughlarger
quantities may induce a quarrelsome state and even drunken behaviour.
This was too much for the missionaries and the tried with some success
to rid the island of this unholy brew.

The mode of actionof kava is completlely unknown, though the chemical
structures of the main constituents have some structural similarity to
those from nutmeg, and like these they may be metabolized to
amphetamine-like compounds.

Mann, J  (1992). Murder, Magic and Medicine.  Oxford University Press:
New York.


-- 
Steven Zikopoulos <[s--ko--u] at [ccs.carleton.ca]>