Australian Plants Containing Safrole (There's 8 native)

[phase_dancer]

You smell the stuff at raves and doofs a lot, people rub it on their legs for a "blow up"

Yes, I've noticed it many times. I've even seen vendors and massage people selling it as an insect repellent, advising customers to rub it directly onto the body. Bad practice imo.

 

[IWillHostIt]

There are relatively few essential oils that can be safely applied to the skin undiluted. Sassafras is not one of them. When used externally for delousing, the concentration of the oil in such preparations is low, usually less than 1%.

For goodness sake don't take either sassafras oil or it's chief constituent internally.

Don't you mean externally? haha I corrected you.

 

[Sustanon]

Haha i couldnt imagine drinking it as the essential oil is pretty toxic. I still dont understand why people take nutmeg lol

 

[IWillHostIt]

More info about safrole

• Safrole and isosafrole is Schedule 4 in Australia.
• One kilogram of pure safrole or isosafrole enables production of more than 3000 MDMA tablets.
• Safrole has been dectected in more then 50 plant species
• In this part of the world- Australian East Coast, there is a pest xenotype known as Cinnamomum Camphora (camphor laural). Large trees abound, and if found growing on a dry hillside, the safrole content can be reasonably high. So much so, that often when the root bark is exposed, the odour is instantly recognizable as safrole, not camphor.
  Source: http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?t=237810
• Safrole is also listed as a cat #1 substance in the UK and therefore a permit is required to buy or sell any safrole containing oil.
• In the US, safrole is currently a List I chemical. SOURCE:
  http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/DEA_list_of_chemicals
• Sassafras keeps mosquitoes and flies away therefore it is an asset to any garden.
• The root bark of the plants has been fermented to make molasses and beer.

Medicinal properties

Sassafras is still being used externally for skin aliments, wounds and rubbing of oil on affected areas. In Europe, sassafras was used to cure syphilis. Although it can safely be used for eczema and psoriasis it is found to relieve arthritic pain, gout and rheumatism. Its strong smell makes its useful for dental care too. It can be used as a mouthwash to remove infection. Sassafras can also be applied on the head to kill lice. It is useful to relive intestinal gas. It has proved well as a diuretic too. Sassafras can be used in fevers. So much warning comes with the properties many patients shy away from using it. Like every other tree has its worth, sassafras too enjoys its position in the medical world. The root after it is free from safrole is used as a flavoring agent and the leaves are useful for file powder. Its aroma is useful as potpourri in rooms for creating fragrance. And what else is the tree useful for - making fences, boats and canoes, furniture, can be used as cooperage as it can be a good source for timber. There is a story that beds made from sassafras get out fragrance so that evil spirits keep away. One cannot deny the curative abilities of the tree. Tree lovers still respect its utility.

 

[IWillHostIt]

I forgot to add the above ^ to my first post in this thread. Can a moderator please add above post underneath my first.

 

[IWillHostIt]

Thanks for the read man, i found that pretty interesting.

No worries man, Glad you liked it.

 

[swilow]

I know at various doofs, nutmeg oil is often seen, people applying it to their wrists, thigs and/or calves....I don't even know if either oil would permeate the skin, so I can see no real reason why people bother.

 

[phase_dancer]

^ Are you sure it's nutmeg oil? Perhaps it's diluted. The essential oil can be quite nasty on the skin. Eugenol and limonene present in the oil have been associated with allergies and dematitis so I'd definitely say this oil shouldn't be used on the skin.

The odour of the concentrated oil is certainly overpowering and sickly. If you took a whif from the bottle I once had, you couldn't smell anything else for a day or so. I became totally repulsed by it. The capped bottle was kept in a fridge, and its odour completely overpowered everything else. When the fridge was later thoroughly cleaned and left standing empty for a week, the only odour remaining was that of myristicin & eugenol....

 

[tapout]

^ Are you sure it's nutmeg oil? Perhaps it's diluted. The essential oil can be quite nasty on the skin. Eugenol and limonene present in the oil have been associated with allergies and dematitis so I'd definitely say this oil shouldn't be used on the skin.

The odour of the concentrated oil is certainly overpowering and sickly. If you took a whif from the bottle I once had, you couldn't smell anything else for a day or so. I became totally repulsed by it. The capped bottle was kept in a fridge, and its odour completely overpowered everything else. When the fridge was later thoroughly cleaned and left standing empty for a week, the only odour remaining was that of myristicin & eugenol....

The aquaculture industry uses eugenol all the time as a general anaesthetic for fish, its a smell that certainly lingers well after you have finished using it! Its interesting that you say it shouldn't be used on the skin, given the method in which its used its nearly impossible to not have constant contact with it for extended periods of time.

 

[nabollocks]

• The root bark of the plants has been fermented to make molasses and beer.

Whilst on the ABT Railway Train Tour in Tasmania a commentator told a story of the men who built the railway making beer out of the sassafras bark. She then went on to say that they finished building the train track in record time...

Those guys knew what they were up to

For those of you who have never made the journey down south here is a link about the ABT railroad. http://www.westcoastwildernessrailway.com.au/history.asp


I just found a reference for the beer story as well.

124

Atherosperma moschata, (sassafras), a tall, handsome tree, the bark of which contains medicinal properties, and is used in the preparation of tonics, and in the manufacture of sassafras beer. It is common in damp gullies, and is found also in Victoria and New
South Wales...and Tasmania.
http://www.archive.org/stream/crownlandsguide100tasm/crownlandsguide100tasm_djvu.txt

I would like to make some of this beer. Anybody got a good recipe?

How much research has been done on the carcinogenic properties of sassafras bark?

It seems ABC is happy to publish a recipe for Sassafras Beer:

Sassafras Beer

You need:

Five gallons of water
Quarter pound of hops
Quarter of ginger (optional but if used should be bruised)
Four pounds of brown sugar
Four handfuls of crushed Sassafras Bark

Method:

Boil all together for one hour. Dissolve one ounce of icing lass in a little hot water. Stir into the boiler. Strain through a jelly bag (cloth) and put it in a large cask. When luke warm stir in one penny's worth of brewers yeast. Let stand for three days, skimming each day. Strain into bottles and cork.

http://www.abc.net.au/tasmania/stories/s971336.htm

Notice this recipe also came out of Tasmania...

Here is the actual reference for the carcinogenic status of safrol stated earlier in the thread:

Absorption, metabolism and excretion of safrole in the rat and man.
Benedetti MS, Malnoë A, Broillet AL.

The metabolic disposition of different doses of [14C] safrole were studied in rat and man. In both species, small amounts of orally administered safrole were absorbed rapidly and then excreted almost entirely within 24 h in the urine. In the rat, when the dose was raised from 0.6 to 750 mg/kg, a marked decrease in the rate of elimination occurred as only 25% of the dose was excreted in the urine in 24 h. Furthermore, at the high dose level, plasma and tissue concentrations of both unchanged safrole and its metabolites remained elevated for 48 h probably indicating impairment of the degradation/excretion pathways. The main urinary metabolite in both species was 1,2-dihydroxy-4-allylbenzene which was excreted in a conjugated form. Small amounts of eugenol or its isomer 1-methoxy-2-hydroxy-4-allylbenzene were also detected in rat and man. 1'-Hydroxysafrole, a proximate carcinogen of safrole, and 3'-hydroxyisosafrole were detected as conjugates in the urine of the rat. However, in these investigations we were unable to demonstrate the presence of the latter metabolites in man.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14422

Something smells fishy about the classification of safrol as a carcinogen in root beer.

 

[peaked]

While I'm sure many ears have pricked up at the mere mention of safrole from local plants, I sincerely hope this does not lead to people pillaging native parks and other natural areas.

Moreover, it would be a shame to see these native plants gain a negative reputation from law enforcement. For many of the plants, there are good non-drug related reasons to have them growing - sassafras has many culinary uses such as the previuosly mentioned root beer and in use for certain types of candy (as in the sugarly sweet kind). Plants high in sassafras are also meant to act as a natural insect reppellant.

In terms of using these plants as a means to produce drugs, I don't think the likelyhood is as high as some would think. It would certainly be an appealing method to the small time enthusiast, who might make a few grams for themselves, but it just doesn't seem like it would be economical to people that mass produce.

These plants (to my understanding) take a number of years to even reach a medium size. Of the many years taken taken to grow, even if one did get a kilogram of leaf/bark (which is probably an overstatement) for many of the plants, only 0.1-0.3% may be oil. Then of that tiny amount of oil, only 30% of it is actually safrole. I'm no good at this kind of maths, but wouldn't that equate to only a few grams of MDMA from a plant? Also, if all the leaves or bark are removed, then won't the plant die, essentially making the method of production useless for those wanting regular batches?

I guess the exception to this is people skipping the cultivation part and just finding an abundant natural forest of it. Even then though, how many trees would it take to even produce a kilo of MDMA? While it may be less risky than importing it, would the overall effort be worth it for the profit? Would this method of production be able to meet "Australian demands", which some estimate to be in the realm of atleast a few hundred thousand pills a week?

Even with the increased security on all imported goods these days, it seems more likely that someone with the money would just bribe their way into importing quality MDMA, rather than go through the hassle of producing a smaller amount from local plants, with an end product that will probably be inferior.

 

[nabollocks]

Agreed.

Destroying trees to try and make something that even trained scientists find hard is just silly.

Do not try making anything illegal at home.

On the other hand, it seems sassafras beer is legal and in fact quite pleasant.

Does anybody have any experience with sassafras beer? Any reports on effects? I am told it is quite stimulating, but cannot find any references.

I note that there is still one company making root beer in America using sassafras in the traditional way. How can this be if it is banned?

Maybe there is a market for this in Aus?

 

[IWillHostIt]

*bump*, this thread needs more views I think.

 

[Iconoclast]

Id rape a rainforest if it meant I could make 1kg or mandy! Fuck the planet!

 

[ahura999]

anyone 'actually' worked with Eremophila longifolia

heya , i am looking for data on eremophila as i have just come out of the desert in Australia with several hundred seeds for the species . It seems that everyone is regurgitating the same paragraph , do you know anyone who has actually worked with the plant, you are the only one i can see that has different info , thanks in advance .

ahura

Page: 52 Fig: N/A Ref:16 Species: Eremophila longifolia Family:

Myoporaceae Synonyms: Stenochilus longifolius Vernacular names: `Berrigan', `Emu bush', `Dogwood'. Appearance: Tall erect shrub, up to 6m high, drooping branches. Finely hairy youngish shoots give it a grey appearance. Alternate leaves, 5-17cm long, narrow and tapered at both ends. Purplish 2.5cm long flowers are externally hairy the flower lobe is longer than broad, flowers occur in groups of up to three. Fruit is ovoid or globular, fleshy, dark coloured with a single hard four-celled stone. Flowers nearly all year round. Habitat: Limestone soils, usually inland, continental Aust except extreme north. Active con: Leaves contain an essential oil rich in safrole and methyleugenol.

Eremophila longifolia

Usually inland, continental Australia except extreme north

"Steam distillation of the leaves gave an aromatic oil in 5.8 % yield. Various levels of safrole content between collection groups where recorded via fractional distillation and gas chromatography at (i) 72%, (ii) 90% mean / 93% best, (iii) 37%, and (iv) 0%."
(Australian Journal of Chemistry. 1961;14:663-664)

 

[Luude]

Agreed.

Destroying trees to try and make something that even trained scientists find hard is just silly.

Old post, i know.

But if a trained scientist finds it difficult to make MDMA, then they should choose another career path.

 

[helohihello]

Sassafras root beer sounds good.
I don't think the Aussie plants would be useful at all for commercial MDMA manufacture.

I mean we don't really have enough plants afaik. Probably one month of this and they'd all be gone.

 

[Luude]

SE Asia is the mecca for Safrole containing plants.

 

[pingoey]

Id rape a rainforest if it meant I could make 1kg or mandy! Fuck the planet!

hahaha +1

 

[moderateuser]

Words of Warning: Glancing at that recipe for sassafrass beer posted ages ago above, I can tell it will taste foul. The only fermentable ingredient is the sucrose in the brown sugar, which makes a sour alcohol. This is why, though cheap, cane sugar isn't ever used in beer making as the principle fermentable, but rather only for the alcohol distilled into rum.

Despite that it used to be a fashionable practice, the top should not be skimmed or interferred with as this incourages oxidisation as well as contamination from bacteria and mold. Futhermore isinglass should be added after fermentation not prior to fermentation, another finings product like "irish moss copper finings" would be more appropriate for taking debris out of suspension in the brew at that stage.

I have tasted the results of very similar recipes for home-made sars, and they were rank.

MU