APES WERE FIRST STONERS

Humans were not the first to use recreational drugs. Some apes take
stimulants and hallucinogens, sometimes munching roots that now show
promise in treating human addicts, say scientists.

Professor Michael Huffman of the Primate Research Institute, Kyoto
University, and Don Cousins, author of The Magnificent Gorilla, report in a
forthcoming issue of the journal African Study Monographs that apes may
indulge in drugs -- from a pick-me-up of the kind found in coffee to
hallucinogens.

Earlier work in the journal Bioscience by Huffman suggested that the
practice of medicine began with our hairy ancestors. Some chimps swallow
bristly, rough leaves to sweep parasites out of the gut, while others suck
the bitter pith from the tree Vernonia amygdalina, which contains compounds
active against parasites responsible for malaria and dysentery.

Now it seems that apes may use drugs recreationally. African apes eat the
seeds of Kola trees which contain caffeine and theobromine and are
legendary for their effect in preventing fatigue.

They found that two hallucinogenic plants are ingested by gorillas in
Equatorial Guinea and chimpanzees in the Republic of Guinea: Alchornea
floribunda and A. cordifolia (Euphorbiaceae).

A. floribunda is used in Gabonese cults where the root has a reputation as
an intoxicant and aphrodisiac.

It is said to provide a state of intense excitement followed by a deep,
sometimes fatal depression.

Most intriguing, said Huffman, is how local people claim to have discovered
the intoxicating effects of the plant by watching animals, including
gorillas, go into a frenzy of fear, as if being chased by invisible
objects, after eating the roots.

The apes even resort to a drugs detox. The Tabernanthe iboga root has been
exploited by gorillas of Sindara on the Ngounie River, south of Lambarene
in Gabon.