"How much MAOI could be contained in a few puffs of a changa joint? While the leaves of Banisteriopsis caapi generally have a higher concentration of harmala alkaloids than the vine, they nevertheless may only contain 0.28-0.7%, or about 3 to 7 mg of MAOI alkaloids per gram of dried leaf.4 Using one recipe's suggested 50% B. caapi leaves plus 50% DMT (by weight), this adds up to only 1.5 to 3.5 mg of MAOI alkaloids in a one-gram joint-and changa is frequently diluted further with other herbs that don't contain MAOI chemicals.
Few people smoke a gram of material alone. If a changa joint is split between three or four people, then each person is getting, at most, one milligram of mixed harmala alkaloids. Justin Case ended his description of this smoking blend with the statement: "The degree to which [Banisteriopsis caapi leaves] can prolong the effects of DMT must be experienced to be believed." Could such a minuscule amount of harmala alkaloids really cause so much potentiation?
I asked Dennis McKenna of the Heffter Research Institute if he thought the trivial amount of harmala alkaloids likely to be present in most changa could possibly inhibit enough MAO to influence the DMT effects, and he replied:
I am not too surprised that it works; because although the amounts of beta-carbolines being absorbed may be small, they are directly absorbed into the brain, and given their potency [...], there is probably enough to transiently inhibit MAO in the brain, temporarily partially inhibiting metabolism of the tryptamines.5
In his bioassays of snuffed 5-MeO-DMT, Jonathan Ott characterized 10 mg as his "threshold dose" of that tryptamine, and in three experiments he found this to be significantly potentiated when combined with 20, or 10, or 5 mg harmaline hydrochloride, "irrespective of the diminishing dosage of harmaline-that is, even the minimal dose was appreciably as effective as the maximal in this regard."6 One might wonder if he would have found 2.5 mg an equally effective potentiator? Or half that much again?
Drawing conclusions based on different routes of administration (insufflated vs. smoked) can be problematic. Nevertheless, Ott's snuff findings may provide additional support for Dennis McKenna's speculations on changa's method of action. Erowid looks forward to learning more about this intriguing approach to smoking DMT."
http://www.erowid.org/ch...s/dmt/dmt_article1.shtmlThat pretty much mirrors my experience anyway.
Long live the unwoke.