Virola snuff (yãkoana)

Names

In English-language writing, this medicine is often called Virola snuff, after the trees that supply its resin. The names epená and paricá also appear, but both are applied to snuffs from other plants as well.

The Yanomami call the snuff yãkoana or yãkõana in the Yanomae language, and nyakwana in other Yanomami dialects. Eastern Tukanoan peoples, including the Tukano, Desana and Barasana, also use it; the Tukano-language name is recorded as wîho or viho.

The species most often linked to this snuff are Virola theiodora and Virola elongata, though others, including Virola calophylla and Virola calophylloidea, are also recorded, and identifications are often uncertain. Some botanists treat the first two as a single species, and it is not always clear which tree supplies a particular community's snuff.

What it is

Virola snuff is a fine powder made from the resin of Virola trees and inhaled through the nose. Preparations differ between peoples.

Virola species grow in the tropical forests of Central and South America, and those linked to the snuff grow in the Amazon. They belong to the same family as nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), and the resemblance shows in the fruit, which splits open to reveal a seed wrapped in a red, fleshy covering. The resin comes from the tree's inner bark. It is reddish when fresh and darkens as it dries.

How it works

The resin's main active compounds are DMT (N,N-dimethyltryptamine) and 5-MeO-DMT (5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine), in a mix that analyses show varies between species and samples. Both resemble serotonin, a chemical messenger in the brain, and act on some of the same receptors on nerve cells. This action is thought to underlie their effects on perception and thinking.

When swallowed, DMT is largely broken down by an enzyme in the gut and liver. In a snuff, the compounds are thought to enter the bloodstream through the lining of the nose, avoiding this first pass through the gut and liver, though the body still breaks them down afterwards. Some Virola samples also contain small amounts of beta-carbolines, compounds that can block this enzyme, but their contribution to the snuff's effects is unclear.

Effects on the mind

The compounds in Virola snuff belong to the classic psychedelics, substances that change perception, thought and the sense of self. The snuff itself has rarely been studied under controlled conditions, so much of what is known comes from field accounts and from research on the pure compounds.

The effects are reported to begin within minutes and usually to fade within about an hour. People describe vivid images, often including encounters with beings, along with an altered sense of time, of their own body and of self. Some value these experiences as meaningful or revealing, though feeling that something is an insight does not establish that it is true. The experience can also be difficult, bringing fear, confusion or loss of contact with one's surroundings.

Pure DMT is usually described as strongly visual, while pure 5-MeO-DMT is more often described as a loss of the sense of self, with fewer images. How the two combine in the snuff is not well understood, and experiences vary from person to person.

In tradition

Yanomami shamans in the northern Amazon, on both sides of the Brazil–Venezuela border, inhale yãkoana. In their own terms, the powder is food for the xapiri, images of beings from the first time, which shamans see and call down to heal the sick, fend off harm and hold up the sky. The practice continues: shamans gathered in November 2024 at Palimiú, a community where, Davi Kopenawa said, missionaries once forbade yãkoana and few shamans now remain.

Today

Virola snuff has little documented use outside Indigenous communities. Research has focused instead on its compounds, with clinical trials testing purified DMT and 5-MeO-DMT for depression, including mid-stage placebo-controlled studies. Those results still need confirming in larger studies, and they cannot be assumed to apply to the snuff.

Traditions that use it

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