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Salvinorine and Dream Research
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Salvinorine is the most powerful natural hallucinogen.Salvinorine is a unique
diterpene hallucinogenic molecule found in Salvia divinorum.
This plant was discovered in the I96O's by Hofmann,etc,in Mexico.
Salvinorine may open novel avenues of research into the mechanisms of schizophrenia
and psychotic states as it,apparently,does not act by any known neurotransmitter
system.
The effects of salvinorine are very sensitive to light and sound stimulation.
Salvinorine's hallucinogenic properties can only be experienced in darkness and
silence,contrary to serotoninergic hallucinogens.
Because of this peculiar phenomenon,salvinorine may,in fact,just trigger phenomena
naturally encountered in the transition phase between the waking state and sleep.
In fact,descriptions of the effects of salvinorine on consciousness are consistent
with the fact that salvinorine is not really a hallucinogenic molecule but an
oneirogenic molecule.
Salvinorine,apparently,triggers a shift from the normal waking state of consciousness
to a dream state of consciousness while retaining awareness.
Such a state of consciousness is called a CONSCIOUS DREAM when it comes naturally or
with learning.Conscious dreaming has been much explored by some Tibetan monks since
nearly a millenium while it only came recently to the attention of Westerners.
The first explorer of conscious dreaming in the West seems to have been the Marquis de
Saint-Denis in the I9th century,in France.
In summary,salvinorine may induce short REM episodes while awake and
so,literally,kick,all of a sudden,the experimenter directly into a random oneiric
scene.If this hypothesis is correct then salvinorine may become an important tool in
order to investigate more deeply how REM sleep is triggered.Hobson has already shown
the importance of cholinergic cells in this phenomenon.Salvinorine may or may not act
on these cholinergic neurons,directly or indirectly.
So salvinorine should be a valuable tool for the exploration of natural REM sleep.
As psychotic states obey to rules very similar to those observed in
dreams(1),salvinorine might also open the way to novel anti-psychotics.
Salvinorine,thus,deserves serious studies.
Note:Salvia divinorum is a very rare plant.
For those researchers interested in studying salvinorin(e)here is an address of a
nursery where you can obtain specimens of salvia divinorum for research:
hoti at ilhawaii.net
(1):See:http://www.kudzu.com/bobhome/dreaming
or:http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~dog/Claude.html
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(1):See:http://www
