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Sceletium tortuosum (Kanna) has been used by South African
pastoralists and hunter-gatherers as a mood-altering
psychoactive substance since prehistoric times. The earliest written
records of the use of the Kanna plant date back to 1662.
Sceletium was an item
of barter in the time of Jan van Riebeck, and there is
documentation of trade from the Castle in Cape Town, South
Africa. The traditionally prepared dried sceletium was often
chewed as a quid after fermenting it, but it has also
been made into teas and tinctures. Less commonly, it has
been reported that Sceletium tortuosum used to be inhaled as a snuff,
or smoked with the addition of other herbs.
Kanna effects
include the elevation of mood and a decrease in anxiety, stress and
tension, and it has also been used as an appetite
suppressant by shepherds walking long distances in arid
areas. In intoxicating doses it can cause euphoria,
initially with stimulation and later with sedation.
One report talks of how it's a favorite
psychoactive herb
used daily by the author.
Long-term use in the local context followed by abstinence
has not been reported to result in a withdrawal state or
addiction. The
plant is not hallucinogenic, and no severe adverse effects
have ever been documented.
Buy Kanna from a supplier who doesn't strip the indigenous
lands of this beautiful plant, and offers it is several
varieties, including pharmaceutical-grade, used in natural
healing clinics, as well the highly potent "White
Kanna" variety that they grow on their own
Private Reserve Farms in India.
Check back as we do
more research on a species that is closely-related to Kanna,
but is reportedly MORE potent, due to a higher concentration
of the active alkaloid; mesembrine. This plant is
called
Pleiospilos
bolusii and
there is rumor that it may be offered in addition to Kana
sometime in the near-future.
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