
Snake Venom Use as a Substitute for Opioids: A Case Report and Review - dmitryminkovsky
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5968650/
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droithomme
The first ACE inhibitor added to western pharmacology for hypertension was the
molecule captopril. This was isolated as the active ingredient in pit viper
venom which causes the snake's victim to calm down, and was used as a
traditional medicine by some Brazilian indian tribes. It also functions as an
anxiolytic, though is not prescribed for that in western medicine.

The drug doesn't use the paralysis agent or toxin from the snake, which the
raw venom still contains and thus has certain notable side effects.

Remaining side effects of captopril were removed by testing alterations to the
molecule and the altered result, called lisinopril, is now the primary
treatment for hypertension.

It's not clear if the venom from east indian snakes used medically contains
the same ACE inhibitor captopril as west indian snakes, but it may be a
related molecule.

In any case articles and some discussions of east indian snake treatments seem
to often position venom as some sort of illicit narcotic that is being used
and abused, and candidates for criminalization/regulation, as opposed to what
it likely really is: a natural medicine which not only works to treat anxiety,
hypertension, and addiction, but best practice modern pharmacological
solutions were inspired by and directly developed from these natural
medicines. People don't call captopril a narcotic or heroin substitute, which
is interesting.

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b_tterc_p
> Initially, with the help of the nomadic snake charmers, he subjected himself
> to the snake bite (possibly cobra, but patient was not sure) over his tip of
> the tongue. The snake bite was associated with jerky movements of the body,
> blurring of vision, and unresponsiveness, i.e. “blackout” as per the patient
> for 1 h. However, after waking up he experienced a heightened arousal and
> sense of well-being, which lasted for 3–4 weeks, which according to the
> patient was more intense that the state of high experienced till that time
> with any dose of alcohol or opioids.

I am... surprised that this does not permanently damage your tongue.

~~~
Quequau
I read that and wondered if it might really mean 'drop of venom on the tongue'
instead of 'bite into the flesh of the tongue that injected venom'.

~~~
droithomme
Kind of. The snake handler holds the snake just below the head. The devotee
sticks out his tongue. The handler rubs the snake head back and forth across
the tongue, causing some light biting by the snake. The snake can't do the
striking motion that results in much venom being injected, but small amounts
of venom do come out. You would get different results if you some how arrange
to have the snake actually strike your tongue. Sometimes the snake is allowed
to dangle out of the mouth after having latched on, but again without the
striking motion the snake is not injecting as much venom. The handlers will
also sometimes have the snake first bite into a bundle of herbs of some kind.
It's not clear what that is for.

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imjustsaying
Fascinating article.

>puppy husk

This was mentioned at least twice as something the example snake bite
recipient used to use. I'm pretty sure they meant 'poppy husk', unless puppy
husk is another novel analgesic. This puts the quality of the journal's peer
review in doubt.

~~~
et2o
It's clear to all readers they mean opium products, this isn't what peer
review would focus on.

Also seems like a commonly used translation in India:

[https://www.htsyndication.com/united-news-of-
india/article/4...](https://www.htsyndication.com/united-news-of-
india/article/4-drug-peddlers-arrested,-27-intoxicant-injections,-10gm-heroin-
and-77.5-kg-puppy-husk-recovered/31618666)

~~~
imjustsaying
That's the thing that really made me wonder. Peer review implies reviewed by
multiple people, a review committee. Between the authors and the committee,
multiple people read this and said it was ok.

Thanks for the link. If thats the commonly used translation there, then that
makes much more sense, and I see why they went with it. Learned something new
today.

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GorgeRonde
Some people get high on big frogs in Arizona. Or so said the urban legend. And
then a few weeks ago Youtube suggested me a video (Joe Rogan maybe ?) where
the differences between ayahuasca DMT and frog DMT were discussed. In the
comments someone said. "It happened to my chihuhua ! I was walking my dog (I'm
from Arizona) when that huge frog squirted his venom at her. The poor animal
convulsed for 30 minutes."

Amazing.

~~~
Quequau
You are referring to Bufotoxin / Bufotenin which is produced by some toads (of
the Bufo family).

You can read more on Wikipedia:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River_toad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River_toad)

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nyolfen
there's an old vice video about a guy doing this for 20 years:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q_m-
rDUNw0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q_m-rDUNw0)

and related reading:

[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/11/poison-p...](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/feb/11/poison-
pass-the-man-who-became-immune-to-snake-venom-steve-ludwin)

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sterlind
If nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (NAChR) agonists were true substitutes for
opioids, wouldn't that imply that nicotine could be useful in kicking opiates?
I'm a little fuzzy on the neuroscience, but iirc one of the distinguishing
features of opioids are that they induce both happiness and wanting. When
simple dopamine agonism is used (for example, electrical stimulation of the
basal ganglia), patients report wanting the stimulation, but not enjoying it
(a little like "tomacco" from that Simpson's episode.)

I'm sure snake venom contains more psychoactive constituents than an a NAChR
agonist, and I'd love to know what else is in that juice.

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kemiller
Seems similar to Kambo. South American frog poison.

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univalent
This isn't new. I remember seeing infomercials from the government in the
early 90's asking people not to do the snake bite on tongue method to get a
high. I really doubt it was a king cobra though. That would kill the person
for sure. (You could argue they deserve it).

~~~
TaylorAlexander
Could you explain in more detail why people who want to get high deserve to
die?

~~~
univalent
Not people who just want to get high. Heck, I do that myself. Just seems
extreme folly to have poisonous snakes bite you on the tongue. Right near the
brain.

~~~
idDriven
I would argue its a combination of miserable life circumstances and lack of
availability of better options. Have you ever heard of the drug Krocodile?
It's most prevalent in Russia, a cocktail of horrible chemicals cooked down
with a little codeine. It's a death sentence if you use it for a year, and not
a nice death either (consider this a massive understatement). Even the people
who use it know this, they just lost the will somewhere along the way to care.

