Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: Ancients got high? There are legal highs?

Monday, June 1, 2026

Ancients got high? There are legal highs?

(once) Ancient humans got high every single day

How good are legal highs? (Kratom, Kava, Kanna)

(Metta Beshay) Patreon: mettabeshay. All links are at linktr.ee/mettabeshay. "Getting high" [finding a temporary way out of our "normal" or usual state of consciousness] is an almost universal human experience. We are taught that alcohol is the default option for humans, but I learned that this is not the case.

Let's delve into the history of kanna in South Africa with the Koi Koi and the San people (Khoi San people). [The San people were made famous in The Gods Must Be Crazy (film series)].

Let's discuss the complex morality of the growing kratom use in the world.

Let's try the most famous and confusing legal magic mushroom, the shamanic fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) and explore how to use it for sleep.

Finally, let's learn the best methods to prepare the popular Pacific Island plant kava.

I try all of these plants [from Nature's Plant Pharmacy] and provide a firsthand and honest report on how they make me feel.

I have learned that there is an insane number of legal plant medicines to explore, such as Mormon Tea made of ephedra, shrooms like psilocybin, areca nut or betel nut, Salvia divinorum or seer's sage, and fermented kanna...

CHAPTERS

0:00 Intro and disclaimer
1:28 Amanita muscaria (fly agaric)
6:39 Kava
12:50 Kratom
22:58 Kanna
30:17 Outro

WARNING: This video is strictly for educational and documentary purposes. I do not recommend anyone to try or repeat any of my actions in this video.

SOURCES

The father of pharmacognosy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedaniu...
High Uses of Benadryl / how_to_trip_safely_on_benadryl
Kanna: Kanna History: https://kanna-info.com/history-of-kanna
Basic kanna info: https://www.erowid.org/plants/kanna/k...
Ann and Alexander Shulgin talking: • Ann and Sasha Shulgin Discussing Phen...
European Conquer Kanna reports: “The Present State of the Cape of Good Hope” Translated in 1731 Active ingredients: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
True Review Kanna Video: • Video Zembrin: https://www.amazon.com/Nutricost-Zemb...
Mesembrine: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31299...
Mesembrine: https://www.drugs.com/npp/sceletium-t...
Pharmacology of Kanna: / all_you_need_to_know_about_kannas_pharmaco...
More Chemistry Talk: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science...
South African Ethnobotanist post / clarification_on_kanna
Source also good dosing info and more: https://sceletium.com/knowledge/
Its Chemical Action: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26615...
Amanita: Amanita History: https://psychedelicspotlight.com/a-cu...
Amanita Psychnautwiki: https://psychonautwiki.org/wiki/Amani... • The Fly Agaric 🍄 Facts, Myths, and Ex...
Great Podcast Kava: Great Kava Info • The Science Behind Kava Alcohol Use in Micronesia https://micsem.org/article/alcohol-an...
Native American Powwow • I Experienced My First Native America... • Salvia Trip Professionally Filmed • Salvia 2023 bad trip
Mandrake: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles...
https://www.botanical.com/botanical/m...
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
https://wellcomecollection.org/articl...
https://digirepo.nlm.nih.gov/ext/dw/1...
https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscri...

My kratom source: https://left-coast-kratom.com/buy-bul...
My kanna source: https://sceletium.com/product/sceleti...
My discount code: METTA99
My Amanita muscaria (red mushroom) source: https://mn-nice-ethnobotanicals.com/c...
My discount code: METTA
Kava and kratom extract shot: https://www.shorebreakkava.com/produc...
Discount code: METTA
Cashapp: https://cash.app/$MettaBeshay
Venmo: @Metta-Beshay

Oh, thought I was joking? No, I want that dang dolla. Instagram: mettabeshay