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Dissociatives Ubunzulu & Global Visionary Harm Reduction - Safe Entheogenic Alternatives for Sangomas, Curanderos & Sadhus

Asante

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A New Era of Traditional & Pharmacological Synergy


Across the world, medicine men, shamans, and spiritual practitioners have sought deep visionary states for healing, guidance, and connection with the unseen. However, traditional plant entheogens—such as Datura, Brugmansia, and high-dose Solanaceae preparations—come with serious risks, including delirium, toxicity, and unpredictable dosing.


In a hypothetical Pan-African pharmaceutical initiative, a South African pharmaceutical house has begun distributing 80 mg memantine tablets as a safe, standardized alternative for licensed Sangomas—the revered traditional healers of South Africa. This initiative builds on past pharmacological integrations, such as South Africa’s 2C-B (Ubulawu Nomathotholo) initiative in the 1980s, which provided a visionary compound to traditional practitioners before its prohibition.


This new harm reduction effort now extends globally, offering safe, controlled entheogens to recognized spiritual practitioners in Africa, the Amazon, and India, where ancestral wisdom meets modern pharmacology.





Pharmaceutical Formulation & Use


  • Brand Name (Pan-African Market): Ubunzulu (Zulu – "Depth / Profoundness")
  • Active Ingredient: Memantine hydrochloride 80 mg per tablet
  • Dosing: 1/4 to 2 tablets (20 mg – 160 mg), at most once per week
  • Intended Users: Recognized traditional healers only (licensed Sangomas, Amazonian Curanderos, Indian Sadhus, and Aboriginal Ngangkari Medicine Men)
  • Purpose: Facilitating deep visionary states, spiritual guidance, and ancestral communion, without the toxic risks of traditional delirients like Datura.
  • Shelf Life: 3+ years when stored in sealed blisters in dry, dark conditions (e.g., Sangoma huts, jungle shamanic spaces, Sadhu ashrams).
  • Metabolism & Safety: Long plasma half-life (~60-80 hours), excreted unchanged in urine, low addiction potential, non-hallucinogenic outside visionary doses.




Pan-African-Friendly Brand Names


For African traditional healers, a brand name must reflect the sacred nature of spiritual journeying while maintaining pharmaceutical credibility:


🔸 Ubunzulu (Zulu – "Depth, Profoundness") – Evokes the deep, ancestral nature of the visionary experience.
🔸 Bantuwazi (Bantu + Uwazi (Swahili – "Clarity")) – Represents the open vision Sangomas seek.
🔸 Nzila (Lingala – "Pathway") – Symbolizes the Sangoma’s journey between worlds.
🔸 Uhambo (Xhosa/Zulu – "The Journey") – A direct nod to spiritual odyssey.
🔸 N’Doto (Swahili – "Dream") – Reflects the dreamtime visions of African spirituality.





Expansion to Global Indigenous Healing Traditions


Recognizing the global nature of sacred healing, this initiative extends beyond Africa to provide safe, standardized alternatives to traditional but potentially dangerous visionary plants.


For Amazonian Shamans (Curanderos, Ayahuasqueros)


  • Brand Name: "Yachay" (Quechua – "Sacred Knowledge")
  • Traditional Use: Curanderos in Peru, Brazil, and Ecuador frequently use Brugmansia (Toe/Datura) in dieta rituals, despite serious toxic risks. Memantine offers a safer, non-lethal alternative that still allows access to deep ancestral wisdom journeys without the disabling delirium of Brugmansia poisoning.

For Indian Sadhus & Yogis (Aghoris, Naga Sadhus)


  • Brand Name: "Divyadrishti" (Sanskrit – "Divine Vision")
  • Traditional Use: Sadhus have long used Datura inoxia (Shiva’s sacred plant) as a meditative and visionary aid, despite its dangerous unpredictability. Memantine’s lucid NMDA modulation provides a controlled visionary state, aligning with Shivaic introspection without toxic risk.

For Australian Aboriginal Medicine Men (Ngangkari)


  • Brand Name: "Wati Dream" (Wati – "Medicine Man", Dream – "Dreamtime connection")
  • Traditional Use: Tjukurpa (Dreamtime) visions guide Aboriginal healing. Memantine’s dissociative yet grounded effects may serve as a safe dreamtime exploration aid, without the dangers of pituri alkaloids or toxic solanaceous plants.




Harm Reduction & Ethical Considerations


  1. Bridging Traditional and Modern Healing
    • Enables traditional healers to integrate safe, pharmaceutical-grade visionary substances instead of unpredictable, often lethal plant preparations.
    • Creates a formalized framework for spiritual journeying without toxicity or psychosis risks.
  2. Preventing Overuse & Tolerance
    • Weekly dosing prevents NMDA receptor tolerance buildup while maintaining sustained visionary potency.
    • Restricting access to licensed spiritual practitioners prevents recreational abuse and preserves cultural integrity.
  3. Pharmaceutical & Cultural Impact
    • Creates a safe, structured model for integrating pharmaceuticals into global traditional medicine systems.
    • Counters the Western fear and prohibition of entheogens, showing a scientifically validated, responsible approach.
    • Encourages harm reduction at the intersection of indigenous spirituality and modern medicine.




A Vision for the Future


With memantine’s proven safety, non-toxicity, and controlled pharmacokinetics, this initiative sets a precedent for responsible global entheogen integration. By working with Sangomas, Amazonian Curanderos, Indian Sadhus, and Aboriginal Medicine Men, we bridge ancient traditions with harm reduction science, ensuring safer visionary exploration for the generations ahead.


Is this the future of entheogenic harm reduction?
Would this model work beyond South Africa and find a place in other global traditions?


Let’s discuss.

source: https://omnicyclion.org/global-visi...-alternatives-for-sangomas-curanderos-sadhus/







Mods: not gonna AI spam Bluelight with unworthy shitposts. This seems a viable and noble initiative however.
 
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Is memantine an upcoming street drug? This is now the second recent thread I've seen dedicated to memantine. Literally hadn't heard of this drug before that guy last week who took 500mg of it and said it was amazing :LOL: .
 
This is interesting. As a white South African, we often live very dissociated lives from the african populace, but I've interacted with them enough in my life to know they are deeply spiritual and open minded compared to the vast majority of people I Interact with on a daily basis. When I speak to them about my own spiritual beliefs and the things I have seen, they immediately make comparisons to their ancestors beliefs and discuss it freely, while my experiences with orthodox and especially the Russian orthodox that live near me have not been so kind...

It's sad to see how they live today however, most are homeless and heavily addicted to methamphetamine and inhalants at least in my area. Dispensaries exist for psychedelic drugs but they are all gated off electrically. Someone has to push a button to let you in, and they generally don't allow people with poor clothes or looks (AKA africans) inside as they believe they will 'abuse' the psychedelic medicines, but this is not what I have seen from my own experience. In our country at least, and the state I live in, traditional healing culture is being chased away as more and more of the country gets gentrified and westernized, while its being heavily appropriated by the middle and upper class whites. I'm ashamed to say I'm part of this group of people, but I would also personally like to introduce these substances the more northern areas primarily bantu populated. There are Bwiti groups here who use ibogaine, but ironically, they are ALL white.

I have been considering it for a while. To travel out further north where semi-uncontacted tribes that practice traditional healing still exist, bring them the entheogens we use here, I will make sure to bring some Memantine too.. if I ever do it, I'll come back with photos. Getting the money to do it would be my priority first off however. I've been saving up leave days anyway, fuck it...
 
Ok I have to ask are Quaalude's still a big thing in south Africa (I'm not sure if its a thing there but ive heard of it and im curious)? Aside from that I'm curious what sort of psychedelics do u use there? Especially the ones that the gated communities allow?
 
Ok I have to ask are Quaalude's still a big thing in south Africa (I'm not sure if its a thing there but ive heard of it and im curious)? Aside from that I'm curious what sort of psychedelics do u use there? Especially the ones that the gated communities allow?
Yea, it's a thing among the coloured (mixed race) for a similar comparison, they're very much like 'african americans' in their culture, with gangs being especially popular from western influence. Actual bantus from northern african have a very different culture and either westernize completely and enter a similar status to white middle and upper class, or remain in tribes/shanty towns which we call 'plakkerkampe'. Communication between bantus and whites is especially difficult, apartheid is culturally still a very real thing.

My brother told me about his experience smoking quaaludes on meth which is apparently quite popular, they hit a bulb of meth and then as soon as the rush ends they smoke quaaludes. Never had the chance to experience it myself, but I'm not ballsy enough to purposefully engage with those kinds of people.. lots of white zoomers and millennials join these gangs, doesn't end up pretty most of the time... though I have smoked meth more than a few times in my very younger years, which I still regret heavily.

Most if not all of the quaaludes are stolen from hospitals. Same goes for the ketamine around here, I can only buy medical vials. I wouldn't be surprised if the hospitals themselves were complacent in this themselves, I've had many visits to government hospitals, it seems nobody there has any fucking clue what's going on and it's every man for themselves. 4 different people had to ask my name, one guy told me I was discharged, other guy held my arm and told me I needed to stay, it was almost hilarious.
 
Thanks for that. That was enlightening :). Do you like living in south Africa?
Well, it's a beautiful place. But it gets boring. At least where I'm situated, it's just like any other first world country, as I live in the cape. I have too much available to myself. Even compared to most developing countries, the wealth disparity is insane. Even the places that haven't been gentrified are all left to fend for themselves being passively genocided as the nature they rely on is being poisoned and exploited. All my family have already left for Netherlands, so I'm the only one here. I don't really want to see this place go to shit, Elon is already giving us a bad name. I would like this country more if the equality our government promised was actually being given. But I'm staying just because I want to contribute to that promised goal as much as I have the ability to, even if all that is includes is bringing new experiences to other people.
 
chris_p didnt realize you were SA! insider perspective, very good! I'm NL, small world!

I have personal experiences for over a year with doses in the range of 5-250(!)mg.
Medical range is usually 10mg 1-2x a day, most often 20mg a day, sometimes given as one tablet.

10mg feels roughly like the good side of a shot of vodka. I discussed it at length with chatGPT and he says that for supramedical use most people can tolerate 40mg, and he considers 80mg an experienced dose. a 80mg tablet breakable in 4 and taken 1/4-2 would be ideal, psychonautwiki says heavy doses start 170+mg, so 2 tabs is within that. AI says "psychotic effects start about 100mg and up"
Indeed my sweetspot with my big body is 80-100mg, with zero objections to it being 80 and not 100.

it takes 3-5 hours to come up, lasts you half the day, the whole day or in excess 2-3 days. Please never take 500mg again!

ChatGPT shouldnt be relied on, but estimates that a genuinely lethal dose would be in the 4-10gr range, like Nembutal or Quaaludes.

Loving how this topic develops.

How are we feeling about Mescaline HCl being available to genuine shamans?
 
How are we feeling about Mescaline HCl being available to genuine shamans?
The priciness is the main issue. It's pure synthetic mescaline. ***** for 400mg, which might not sound like much , but thats about half a full trip for me, still significant effects and lasting visuals/mental state for several hours, but for a shaman they might need more. The cactus could be the better way to go, especially since those types are more accustomed to using entheogen plants in their rituals. Buying full length pedro cactus is decently cheap. I remember both highs from the cactus and the synthetic mescaline being akin but different. Will have to consider on that one.

"psychotic effects start about 100mg and up"
It's being liberal here for safeties sake, but real psychotic effects are at a much higher doses I'd reckon, probably 250+mg. In the bodies of people who have experienced such effects and can handle it already. The place it takes you is very dark and real. More real than a psychedelic, at least, it feels like what is occurring to me is a material breakdown of the senses, and not a drug induced psychosis or a complete transportation to an alternate alien realm mentally like with DMT, the experience was more akin to some strange movie composed of myself floating through massive never-ending structures with no real conception of what my purpose is there, where I was, or where in time I was situated, like the holes in the world are cracking to show the infinite patterning underneath, even in planes we do not normally think of like time, hearing, sight, body image and self, yet the mind remains relatively unaffected, not like the 'observer' state seen in psychedelics where the self is incinerated, my ego remains unaffected or altered in a 'different manner' from high dose psychedelics, that it can still think about what it is I am experiencing, and those thoughts manifest sensorially immediately. Highly controllable visions.

However, the mania that comes after is really what I find enjoyable. It was definitely far too high of a dose though. I required significant amounts of depressants like benzodiazepines to keep myself still after consuming such a large amount. I would start getting dissociative-type visuals consuming shrooms afterwards, weed felt like memantine, the feeling of it just kept sticking to everything, but I cannot say I did not enjoy it, it was a feeling of pure power and unchaining from my mind, the antidepressant effect was like none I had ever noticed on any other drug, even medical ones prescribed many years ago. After 4-5 days it was over completely for me. I'm definitely planning on doing it again sometime...

The price has been edited out to conform to PD rules. Please do not discuss prices, thanks
:cool:
 
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Thing is: If Mescaline HCl is commercially manufactured as a product of widespread pharmacy, Lets say a beefy Chinese factory churning out 100 tons per month, a wholesale price of literally **** /kg is more like it. Gallic acid, its backbone, is a tannin derived natural product wholesaling about ***** per kg. (no synthesis talk i promise) so **** per gram is highballing it.

I have a sneaking suspicion that with "psychotic effects" he means "tripping dissociatively", ie "psychotomimetic" like they said of LSD.

The place it takes you is very dark and real. More real than a psychedelic, at least, it feels like what is occurring to me is a material breakdown of the senses, and not a drug induced psychosis or a complete transportation to an alternate alien realm mentally like with DMT, the experience was more akin to some strange movie composed of myself floating through massive never-ending structures with no real conception of what my purpose is there, where I was, or where in time I was situated, like the holes in the world are cracking to show the infinite patterning underneath, even in planes we do not normally think of like time, hearing, sight, body image and self, yet the mind remains relatively unaffected, not like the 'observer' state seen in psychedelics where the self is incinerated, my ego remains unaffected or altered in a 'different manner' from high dose psychedelics, that it can still think about what it is I am experiencing, and those thoughts manifest sensorially immediately. Highly controllable visions.

This is so recognizable to me in lower doses, but alo in previous hammering hard with O-PCE and MXE which i gave up on as damn, i'm 52 now, at some point you gotta get with the age, plus the mania was killing me while the hypomania of a good dose of memantine.. yes please!

Next to my computer lies a 3 gram lab vial of Memantine HCl for over a week now, untouched, totally not tempted or fiending. I was a complete arylcyclohexylamine slut but memantine? totally lives up to its nonaddictive name with me.

Chris P, speaking of African Traditional Spirituality, my DRC Nkondi literally greets you kindly!
 
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Is memantine an upcoming street drug?
I don't expect it to become a street drug as it is far less recreational than lets say Ketamine, and holy crap waiting 3-5 hours till it fully came on? Definitely not party friendly, the gig is over by the time you're where you want to be.

I could see this being great for a festival though, by drug shy people who maybe take it once or twice on a day and for the rest smoke a joint or inhale a balloon to build a little peak.

A pill guy could turn a $150 kg into 12,500 80mg pills and maybe sell em for a buck apiece but people on the whole will be underwhelmed, disappointed and cause of the 3-5 hour come up you'd get the DOM effect of people thinking its bunk and taking way too much.
Its dissociative connaisseur stuff for people who think of abandoning the wildness of arylcyclohexylamines or DXM for something less toxic and more managable.

Funny how you say:

Literally hadn't heard of this drug before that guy last week who took 500mg of it and said it was amazing :LOL: .

and immediately, the 500mg guy joins the convo.

God I love Bluelight!
 
There is so much harm reduction in abandoning 0.5-1gr Datura or Toé in favor of 80-160mg Memantine - not just in acute risk of serious injury, but also because hyoscyamine/scopolamine give you brain damage over time, while memantine is literally a brain repair anti azheimer nootropic.

Staying ontopic:

In the 1980s and early 1990s, South Africa saw a fascinating but short-lived experiment in the intersection of indigenous spirituality and modern psychedelics. The synthetic psychedelic 2C-B, first synthesized by Alexander Shulgin in 1974, was legally available and marketed under the brand name "Ubulawu"—a reference to traditional African dream-inducing herbal mixtures used by Sangomas (indigenous spiritual healers) for divination and ancestor communication.


Pharmaceutical distributors, recognizing a market for consciousness-expanding substances among spiritual practitioners, introduced 2C-B to Sangomas as a "modernized" entheogen. Unlike the often unpredictable effects of traditional plant-based psychedelics like Boophane disticha or Silene capensis, 2C-B was presented as cleaner, more controllable, and reliable in producing visionary states. Its mild, empathogenic effects and ability to induce visual and emotional depth made it particularly attractive as a tool for spirit work, divination, and initiation ceremonies.


By the early 1990s, 2C-B had gained traction within certain Sangoma circles, where it was integrated into ritual practices, dream incubation, and trance-based healing. Some Sangomas even reported that the Ancestors "approved" of its use, considering it an evolution of existing entheogenic traditions.


However, the South African government—under pressure from global anti-drug policies and concerned about the growing recreational use of 2C-B in club and rave scenes—classified it as a Schedule 7 illegal substance in 1997, effectively ending its legal use. This prohibition disrupted its growing acceptance among Sangomas, driving its use underground.


Today, while 2C-B remains illegal, echoes of its brief role in Sangoma spirituality persist, with some practitioners still using it clandestinely as a "lost medicine" of the visionary tradition.
 
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Most if not all of the quaaludes are stolen from hospitals.
Mandrax or Quaaludes are illegal in South Africa. Its the worlds biggest market but its al manufactured illegally, domestically and India/China. Its not legal anywhere anymore

"it was banned in South Africa in the 1970s "

"It was banned and termed illegal in the seventies"
--

Also interesting it was one of the drugs investigated as incapacitating agent by SA gov in their own little messed up MK Ultra experiments. It sounds like full on genocidal shit I wonder if they got people addicted as population control

During the 1980s, the apartheid regime in South Africa ordered the covert manufacture of a large amount of methaqualone at the front company Delta G Scientific Company, as part of a secret chemical weapons program known as Project Coast.
 
Mandrax or Quaaludes are illegal in South Africa. Its the worlds biggest market but its al manufactured illegally, domestically and India/China. Its not legal anywhere anymore

"it was banned in South Africa in the 1970s "

"It was banned and termed illegal in the seventies"
--

Also interesting it was one of the drugs investigated as incapacitating agent by SA gov in their own little messed up MK Ultra experiments. It sounds like full on genocidal shit I wonder if they got people addicted as population control

During the 1980s, the apartheid regime in South Africa ordered the covert manufacture of a large amount of methaqualone at the front company Delta G Scientific Company, as part of a secret chemical weapons program known as Project Coast.
Likely still being produced illegally. Wouldn't doubt if the labs they used for them are still around. Corruption is quite bad
 
Mandrax labs in SA are so vile and carcinogen ridden, you really don't want to touch local product unless its absolutely crisp, odorless and colorless.
No synthetic info but they use a precursor so carcinogenic that most chemical industry avoids it like the plague in their synthetic processes.
It most strongly causes bladder cancer, and an amateur Mandrax chemist in a video mentioned copiously pissing blood, likely tumors.
 
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