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Deliriants are a subclass of hallucinogen. The term was coined in the early 1980s to distinguish these drugs from psychedelic drug such as LSD and such as ketamine, due to their primary effect of causing delirium, as opposed to the more lucid and less disturbed states produced by other types of hallucinogens, where rational thought is better preserved (including the ability to distinguish hallucinations from reality). Duncan, D. F., and Gold, R. S. (1982). Drugs and the Whole Person. New York: John Wiley & Sons The term generally refers to anticholinergic, which are Drug that inhibit the function of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
Common examples of deliriants include plants of the genera Datura and Brugmansia, both containing scopolamine, as well as higher than recommended dosages of diphenhydramine (Benadryl). A number of plant deliriants such as that of the Solanaceae, particularly in the Americas, have been used by some indigenous cultures to reach delirious and altered states of consciousness for traditions or rituals, such as rites of passage, divination or Necromancy. Despite their long history of use, deliriants are the least-studied class of hallucinogens in terms of their behavioral and neurological effects.
Delirium is primarily associated with antagonism of postsynaptic M1 receptors. However, antagonism of both the M1 receptor and the M2 receptor have been implicated as having negative effects on memory and cognition, and the selective M2 receptor antagonist hyoscyamine has been reported to produce deliriant effects similarly to M1 receptor antagonists. Conversely, the M3 receptor has not been implicated in cognition.
The central nervous system actions of deliriants are complex, and other muscarinic acetylcholine receptors, including the M3, M4, and M5 receptors, may also be involved in the effects of the drugs. As an example, the M1, M2, M4 and M5 receptors have all been implicated in regulating dopamine release, with the M1, M2, and M4 receptors having inhibitory effects on dopamine release and the M5 receptor having stimulatory effects.
Peripheral muscarinic receptors are part of the autonomic nervous system. M2 receptors are located in the brain and heart, M3 receptors are in salivary glands and M4 receptors are in the brain and lungs. Scopolamine is a nonspecific muscarinic antagonist at all four (M1, M2, M3, and M4) receptor sites. Due to these compounds' inhibition of various signal transduction pathways, the decrease in acetylcholine signaling is what leads to many of the cognitive deficits and mental impairments.
It has also been said that common anticholinergic agents/hallucinogens should be more accurately referred to as , as for instance these agents do not generally block nicotinic receptors.
Scopolamine has been shown to exert a greater impairment on episodic memory, event-related potentials, memory retention and free recall compared to Diphenhydramine (an anticholinergic and antihistamine). Some antihistamines may also act as deliriants in high doses. Due to scopolamine's prominent amnesiac and impairing effects, it has been used in Colombia for criminal purposes such as 'drugging' individuals, usually perceived as wealthy, and robbing them due to scopolamine's discombobulating effects and enhanced suggestibility. It is usually done by putting the extracted and isolated powder form of the alkaloid in a victim's (alcoholic) drink, oftentimes directly by or with the help of attractive women to act as criminal accomplices to the robbers.
In Colombia, isolated (powdered) scopolamine has become infamous and is referred to there by several monikers such as Burundanga and "Devil's Breath". It is usually extracted by criminals from the Borrachero Tree and may even occasionally be encountered as a street drug there.
The antimuscarinic plant-based alkaloids scopolamine and atropine are also notorious for their characteristic hyperactive effects and ability to cause stark and dream-like hallucinations. The hallucinations themselves are often described by users as disturbing, unpleasant or dark in nature.Grinspoon, Lester and Bakalar, James B. (1997). Psychedelic Drugs Reconsidered. The Lindesmith Center Other commonly reported behaviors and experiences include holding conversations with imagined persons or entities, smoking nonexistent cigarettes (even with nonsmokers), visual hallucinations of spiders or Shadow people or being unable to recognize one's Mirror Test. Deliriants in particular appear to be noted for their powerful effects on users' behavior.
Ken Hedges, who was curator of archaeology at the San Diego Museum of Man, and also studied hallucinogen-based Kumeyaay rock art recalled how when he was a student at San Diego's Mount Miguel High School in 1960, two teenage boys in Ojai who sampled datura were found on that town's main street at night; "in a state of mind that could only be called extremely deranged, they were walking from streetlight to streetlight, banging their heads on each pole until they were covered with blood." Hedge claimed that even among Native Americans, "terrifying visions" were often the result for "those who submitted themselves to the plant's power." Anthropological assessment of the sacred Chumash people Datura cult in Southern California ascertained that within the tribe, frequent or repeat users of datura tended to gradually become more and more antisocial, often adopting behavior patterns that the rest of the tribe viewed as "capricious malevolence".
During one of his workshops in Hawaii, psychonaut Terence McKenna discussed the effects of the hallucinogenic Solanaceae plants compared to psychedelics, stating that:
During an on-camera interview, author of The God Molecule: 5-MeO-DMT and the Spiritual Path to the Divine Light, Gerardo Ruben Sandoval Isaac explained that in the Oaxaca "mushroom village" of San José del Pacifico, the psilocybin mushrooms are regarded as being "related to light" and that ( Brugmansia) is "related to the darkness" and that they (the tribes) "are aware of the polarity of this flower", further crediting the idea that the hallucinogenic experience produced by deliriants is typically of a "dark" and disturbing nature. When datura was first formally discovered in colonial Jamestown, Virginia in 1676 by English soldiers during Bacon's Rebellion, they spent 11 days in altered mental states after using the leaves of the plant, which they did not know were psychoactive and poisonous, as part of a salad.
Historian Robert Beverley Jr. wrote of the observable effects seen during their intoxicated state; "They (the soldiers) turned natural fools upon it for several days: one would blow up a feather in the air; another would dart straws at it with much fury; and another, stark naked, was sitting up in a corner like a monkey, grinning and making mows (grimaces) at them; a fourth would fondly kiss and paw his companions, and sneer in their faces with a countenance more antic than any in a Dutch droll… They were not very cleanly; for they would have wallowed in their own excrements if they had not been prevented. A thousand such simple tricks they played, and after eleven days returned (to) themselves again, not remembering anything that had passed."
Synthetic compounds such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl), dimenhydrinate (Dramamine), and tropine benzilate are deliriants. Nutmeg, although purportedly not as strong or as unpleasant as diphenhydramine or scopolamine, is considered a deliriant, due to its propensity to cause anticholinergic-like symptoms when taken in large doses.Demetriades, A. K.; Wallman, P. D.; McGuiness, A.; Gavalas, M. C. (2005). "Low Cost, High Risk: Accidental Nutmeg Intoxication". Emergency Medicine Journal. 22 (3): 223–225. doi:10.1136/emj.2002.004168. PMC 1726685. The effects caused by myristicin and elemicin found in Nutmeg oil can last up to several days, similarly to the tropane alkaloids found in datura.Ehrenpreis, J. E.; Deslauriers, C; Lank, P; Armstrong, P. K.; Leikin, J. B. (2014). "Nutmeg Poisonings: A Retrospective Review of 10 Years Experience from the Illinois Poison Center, 2001–2011". Journal of Medical Toxicology. 10 (2): 148–151. doi:10.1007/s13181-013-0379-7. PMC 4057546. The mushroom referred to as Amanita muscaria with its active agents ibotenic acid and muscimol may also be considered an 'atypical' deliriant, although fly agaric is probably more accurately described as a hypnotic. (2025). 9789291682492, European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. . ISBN 9789291682492Satora, L.; Pach, D.; Butryn, B.; Hydzik, P.; Balicka-Slusarczyk, B. (June 2005). "Fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) poisoning, case report and review". Toxicon. 45 (7): 941–3. doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2005.01.005.
In rare cases, highly toxic plants from the Aconitum (wolfsbane) genus have been used as "deliriants" by certain groups practicing European witchcraft, the left-hand path or asceticism due to the unpleasant but supposed altered state of consciousness which can be a side effect of wolfsbane poisoning. Plants of the aconitum genus contain the neurotoxin aconitine and in the case of Aconitum ferox, an extremely toxic alkaloid called pseudaconitine, which is in rare cases, taken as an ordeal poison and entheogen on the Indian subcontinent by ascetic groups such as the Aghori, where it may be mixed with other psychoactive plants or poisons such as datura and cannabis. Risk of death is considered very high when taking A. ferox and its use is restricted to only the most experienced adepts of their particular school of Shivaism.Barrett, Ron (2008). Aghor medicine: pollution, death, and healing in northern India. Edition: illustrated. University of California Press. , .Svoboda, Robert (1986). Aghora: At the Left Hand of God. Brotherhood of Life. .
Ultimately, user reports of recreational deliriant usage on the drug resource website Erowid also generally indicate a firm unwillingness to repeat the experience. In addition to potentially dangerous mental/behavioral effects (accidents during deliriant experiences are common) some , such as those found in plants of the Datura genus, are exceptionally toxic and can cause death due to tachycardia-induced heart failure, hypoventilation and hyperthermia even in small doses. Anticholinergics have been shown to increase the risk of developing dementia with long-term use, even at therapeutic doses, therefore they are presumed to carry an even greater risk when used at hallucinogenic dosages. Scopolamine in particular has been implemented in scientific models used to study the cholinergic hypothesis for Alzheimer's disease and other related dementias.More SV, Kumar H, Cho DY, Yun YS, Choi DK (September 2016). "Toxin-Induced Experimental Models of Learning and Memory Impairment". International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 17 (9): 1447. doi:10.3390/ijms17091447. PMC 5037726.
Despite these overtly negative effects both on the physical and mental health of the user, usage of deliriants for recreational purposes has still gone on for centuries and was said to be introduced in Europe and surrounding areas by Romani people, who would smoke or ingest plants such as datura to experience hallucinations. It has been said that certain groups who used deliriant plants, especially in () practices, would traditionally mix in medicinal or neuroprotective plants either directly during the intoxications or later on to counter negative health consequences or symptoms such as dysphoria or senility.Hansen, Harold A. The Witch's Garden pub. Unity Press 1978
Tropane-containing nightshades have played an integral role in Old World folklore and European witchcraft. Henbane is reputed for having been used in Greco-Roman magic during ancient times as well as being associated with black magic and maleficium during the Late Middle Ages. During this period in medieval Europe, the Central European species Scopolia carniolica was also used as an admixture in Magic potion.Starý, František, Poisonous Plants (Hamlyn colour guides) – pub. Paul Hamlyn April, 1984, translated from the Czech by Olga Kuthanová. Belladonna was purported to aid in the "flight of witches" where they reportedly would experience "bacchanalian carousal" or hallucinatory .
Mandrake (the root of Mandragora officinarum) is mentioned twice in the Bible, and was also frequently mentioned as a typical ingredient in flying ointment recipes since at least as far back as the Early Modern Period. During this time period, the New World plant datura stramonium (jimsonweed) was discovered in North America by colonialists and eventually lumped in with the other classic 'witches weeds' of the nightshade family that were endemic to Europe. Datura has a long history of usage both in Mexico and the Southwestern United States by indigenous cultures using it for ritualistic, sacred and magical purposes.Cecilia Garcia; James D. Adams (2005). Healing with medicinal plants of the west - cultural and scientific basis for their use. Abedus Press. .
In modern times, both Datura and Brugmansia are still used for sorcery, black magic, and shamanism in Latin America.Endredy, James (2011). The Flying Witches of Veracruz: A Shaman's True Story of Indigenous Witchcraft, Devil's Weed, and Trance Healing in Aztec BrujeriaCampos, Don Jose (2011). The Shaman & Ayahuasca: Journeys to Sacred Realms. In certain South American countries, members of the Brugmansia genus have been known to be occasionally added to ayahuasca brews by malevolent sorcerers (brujos) or bad shamans who wish to take advantage of unsuspecting tourists. Genuine shamans (curanderos) believe one of the purposes for this is to "steal one's energy and/or power", of which they believe every person has a limited amount.
Since medieval times, extremely Noxious weed of the Aconitum (wolfsbane) genus were also associated with folklore and magic and were used for similar purposes as the tropane-containing nightshades. Despite being a highly poisonous and often deadly plant to work with, it was still often included in recipes for flying ointments and magical salves, likely as a way to help counteract both the Tachycardia and hyperthermic side effects of the scopolamine. The aconitum genus (specifically aconitum napellus) was firmly associated with superstition and witchcraft in Europe, particularly when it came to mythos surrounding werewolves and lycanthropy.Schultes, Richard Evans; Albert Hofmann (1979). Plants of the Gods: Origins of Hallucinogenic Use New York: McGraw-Hill. . This is believed to have originated at least partially from wolfsbane's alleged tendency to cause paresthesia which supposedly can be reported to feel like one's body is covered in fur. In Greek mythology, the goddess Hecate is said to have invented aconitum which Athena used to transform Arachne into a spider.
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