YouTuber and Bigg Boss winner Elvish Yadav was recently held for suspected use of snake venom as a recreational drug. When animals are used for psychoactive substances, be it their body parts or secretions, they are called psychoactive fauna. They have mind-altering properties when they are consumed in ample amounts. Some animals misused for such purposes are as follows:
Snake venom
As bizarre as it may appear, addiction to conventional and unusual practices are not unusual. The practice of snake venom addiction is a fairly common phenomenon in the Indian subcontinent. A 2021 study published in the National Library of Medicine underlined that snake venom addiction can be lethal but found that certain patients completely recovered without any treatment because of antibodies in the body from previous snakebites. A 2022 paper published by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Jodhpur said snake venom has been used as a psychoactive substance in India causing mood alteration, nociception, lethargy, and blurring of vision, stressing on the need for a careful review of the causes of their recreational effects. The reason for opting for such intoxication has no simple explanation, but a 2021 paper published in Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology said one of the possibilities is a dry bite. Dry bite is when a small amount of venom enters the human body causing psychoactive hypnotic and euphoric effects. It even said that the psychotropic property of cobra venom is partially akin to that of morphine.
Toads and frogs
Amphibians like toads and frogs synthesise high levels of amines like serotonin, histamine and tyramine in the skin for chemical defence. Marine toads Bufo alvarius and Bufo marinus also have glands that secrete a viscous milky-white venom, which researchers say were used as ritual intoxicant by ancient peoples of Mesoamerica (central and southern Mexico). Marinus venom was used as ‘zombie’s powder’ in the pre-Columbian period of North-America. However, it is advised not to consume Bufo toad venom orally because it is ineffective and can be fatal because the venom is known to be evolved as a defence against predators. Many species of toads and frogs produce venoms and skin chemicals that are not advised to be consumed orally but cause psychoactive effects when they are inhaled. Another chemical found on some species of toads called tryptamine bufotenin have hallucinogenic effects after consumption.
Hallucinogenic fish
Fishes such as clownfish, rabbitfish, sea bream, sea chub, surgeonfish, goatfish, mullet and groupers, found in the waters of South Africa in the Hawaiian and Norfolk Islands of the Pacific Ocean, have been found to produce demonic hallucinations which are both auditory and visual, giving a ‘fishing trip’ such as one induced by lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD).
Such a condition is called ichthyoallyeinotoxism which is an unusual poisoning that happens because of the consumption of a certain kind of toxic fish. Another fish Sarpa salpa, which is also known as ‘dream fish’ or ‘nightmare fish’, and inhabits temperate and tropical areas of the Atlantic coast of Africa to the Mediterranean Sea, induce vivid hallucinations which last for several days.
Red harvester ants
Used mostly for religious and medical practices by native people of south and south central California, red harvester ants are also known to cause hallucinogenic and mind-altering effects after consumption of live ants. These ants have venom with proteins, enzymes, histamines and are known to be more toxic than Oriental Homet and honey bee venoms. These ant venoms also have formic acid and polypeptide kinins which can cause pain, inflammation and hypotension but some of them have nicotinic cholinergic activity which may induce hallucinations.
