Syrian Rue

More about Syrian Rue

Syrian Rue (Peganum harmala) is a perennial shrub with prickly looking, fleshy leaves. They can grow up to 1 meter high. The brown, small seeds contain harmine and other harmala alkaloids. According to some, this is the Soma or Haoma of Ancient Persia. Syrian rue is a plant from the Middle East. The whole plant is used as an incense for cleansing rituals and to ward off the evil eye, but especially the seeds and roots have a long tradition in Eastern medicine and were used for the treatment of various diseases as well as for pain relief.  Peganum harmala seems to have both central and peripheral antinociceptive activities that may be mediated by opioid receptors. 

Syrian Rue, also known as Peganum harmala is a natural smartdrug (legal high).

Pharmacologically, it is a monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitor, short MAO-I. MAO is an endogenous enzyme that breaks down monoamines, a class of neurotransmitters including Dopamine, noradrenaline, and most importantly, serotonin. Taking MAO-I's can have antidepressant and mild hallucinogenic effects. However, MAO-Is are most often used in combination with other psychedelics. As psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms and magic truffles is primarily acting on the serotonergic system, combining it with a MAO-I such as Syrian Rue can make the trip longer and more intense. Syrian Rue is offered by our house own brand Open Up in the Sirius Smartshop. It contains only natural seeds as ingredients and is free from artificial additions.

Disclaimer: combining psychoactive substances, even if they are natural, is never without risk. Combining psychedelics with MAO-Is is only suited for experienced psychonauts. If you have never tripped before, but are interested in it, you can read our different blogs about psychedelics.

If you want to learn more about it, you can check out this encyclopedia text about MAO-Is. Additionally, there is a very recent blog about syrian rue that describes how MAO-inhibitors can be combined with psylocibin containing truffles.

If you are interested in other similar, or completely different natural smartdrugs or legal highs then check out the wide assortment of Open Up products. You can also read this blog about different Open Up products.

Have a good trip!

Usage

Chew the seeds very fine or make a tea from the finely ground seeds.

Side-effects

Effect

A low dose increases mental activity and produces a pleasant dreamy state for a few hours, at higher dosages many people experience auditory and visual hallucinations and sometimes mystical experiences. Large birds of prey, jaguars and snakes are common hallucinations with harmala alkaloids. These are usually accompanied by great nausea, cramps and dizziness. The effects last about 3-6 hours.
For the MAO-inhibiting effect, to make substances containing DMT or 5-MeO-DMT orally active (anahuasca), or to enhance the effects of mushrooms (psilohuasca), a dose of 3 grams of Peganum is usually taken, after about half an hour to an hour the second substance is administered.
This makes a mushroom experience 1 to 3 hours longer and 1.5 to 2 times stronger.

Dosage

Start with a low dose of 1 gram to test your reaction to the harmala alkaloids. 
An average dose is about 3 grams per person. A high dose, 5 grams, is experienced by many as very uncomfortable and, mainly, causes more physical discomfort than a stronger experience.

Usage

The seeds can just be chewed and swallowed, make sure they are very well ground and mixed with saliva in the mouth for a few minutes before swallowing. You can also grind the seeds with a mortar and swallow the powder with a little water or juice. This method ensures that nothing of the active substances is lost, but for some it gives more nausea and cramps.

You can also make tea from the seeds, this is supposed to be gentler for the stomach, but some active ingredient is lost. This can be compensated by using 0.5-2 grams of additional seeds. A common recipe is to crush the seeds and let them simmer on low heat in 150ml of water and 50ml of lemon juice per person. After half an hour you can filter the liquid and drink it.

Warning

Everyone has a different sensitivity to β-carbolines, some people can already experience very strong reactions even from small doses. The high reactivity of MAO-inhibitors can cause some food products and psychoactive substances, which normally do not cause problems, to suddenly produce dangerous and even life-threatening reactions. It is therefore wise to do your homework very well before you start and start with low doses so that you can first determine your sensitivity and reaction to the MAO-inhibitor. Always make sure that there is at least one sober person present, sometimes people lose consciousness under the influence of beta-carbolines, which combined with the overwhelming nausea often experienced can be particularly dangerous. 
A (too) high dose may very well make you end up in the hospital or even in the cemetery.
MAOIs inhibit the ability of the body to detoxify certain medicines and fermented foods. 
Narcotics, barbiturates, tranquillisers, antihistamines, amphetamines, phenetylamines, all forms of alcohol and even foods containing tyramine are potentially LETHAL in combination with the use of MAO-inhibitors. 
If you are planning to use a powerful MAOI, such as Peganum harmala, DO NOT combine it with serotonergic drugs, substances or plants, or other MAO-inhibitors. Click here for more info. 
Also, do not eat food containing tyramine-at least 12 hours before and after use of the MAO-inhibitor. Here you will find a list of foods that you can best avoid in combination with an MAO-inhibitor.
 

Scientific name

Peganum harmala