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If there was one thing to
sum up the plethora of problems with kava effectiveness,
it would be that "People do EVERYTHING wrong!" This
includes things like using kava in a non-recreational
fashion through hand-wringing, or using it at a point in
daily activity when things are winding down (as with
marijuana, if a person is work-weary the high can
literally be surpassed by one’s tiredness).
There is no "holy grail" with regards to kava
effectiveness. However, there are some things related to
EMULSIFICATION that may be the strongest point yet
against kavaine crossing the blood-brain barrier – which
might be considered simply, "the grail" (without a
holiness designation). This may be more closely related
to folk knowledge than general scientific knowledge. To
begin, consider the well-known statement that the same
amount of alcohol will reach the brain from one beer, 1
6-ounce glass of wine or 1 shot of hard liquor.
This is true no doubt. However, this is NOT true to say
that one will get the same amount of alcohol reaching
the brain from the beer, wine or liquor when it’s
diluted with, say 12 ounces of straight water. Indeed,
the pitfalls of using straight water as a mixing liquid
for a psychoactive concoction cannot be overstated. In
fact, the results of mixing marijuana in large
quantities of water and then trying to use it in a
psychoactive sense, would tend to lead to roughly the
same results as "kava inconsistency", aka "kava
burnout"!
Why, the need for emulsification is the main reason
breweries of beer even exist! If the initial ingredients
like barley & hops were thrown together raw and boiled,
not only is there little alcohol, but the ingredients
separate like Jello-123!
The principle of alimentary emulsification takes many
forms, e.g., "kids won’t drink Nestle Quik in water but
they sure love it in milk!" Why is this so? It’s because
when mixed in milk, the constituents of the beverage
form an emulsion that lasts quite long enough for it to
be digested properly. However, when mixed with water, it
only has to sit for a minute or two before the drink
begins to separate/fractionate! And humans instinctually
avoid drinking an unemulsified substance. This instinct
must be recognized, in that one thing that can retain
this recognition in the subconscious, is the lure of a
psychoactive substance (such as kavaine!)
One thing about kava is that it’s already recognized
that things like lecithin help with emulsification.
However, even with lecithin things tend to "burn out"
after a while – simply because the vast
quantity-proportion of pure water used eventually
overwhelms the body’s digestive system and leads to a
state of what could perhaps be termed "fractionated
non-responsiveness of the psyche".
In a sense emulsification is relative; wine, for
example, separates in the cellar and has to be turned
every few months to "remix" it. The key is that at the
very least, a substance has to remain emulsified long
enough for it to be digested. Even extremely strong
mixes of kava such as ½ cup powder to 1 cup water don’t
fit this criterion; thus, even such large doses are
sometimes ineffective in crossing the blood-brain
barrier.
Ironically, the emulsification/water-mixing problem has
little to do with kava itself (however, due to the fact
that euphoriant qualities are linked to physical numbing
properties of a substance that spread like a sheet
through the system, euphoriants may be even more
sensitive than other drug types to the need for
emulsion). Most users of kava don't care about
relaxation -- all we want is to get the most of the
euphoriant substance kavaine!
Emulsifiers takes many forms – not just vegetable fat
such as coconut milk or lecithin. Rather than "fat
emulsifies", it might be more accurately stated that
"calories emulsify". For example, sugary fruit drinks
such as Tang contain trivial amounts of fat at the most,
but they rely on sugar-calories to emulsify themselves
in water.
In short, to consistently experience the full pleasure
scale of kavaine from kava beverage, things will have to
be gone about differently. One plan might be to simply
use a ratio of 4 teaspoons kava powder to ¼ cup coconut
milk, and make an emulsion using the traditional method
of wringing with a paint strainer. This would probably
be considered socially acceptable if it could be proven
that such tactics finally lead to the _consistently_
powerful joy-juice that kavaine in unbridled form would
represent.
At that point in beverage concoction, the decision would
have to be made what to mix the emulsion with; maybe a
little water is ok, but it might be necessary to deduce
how much water is acceptable by trying experiments such
as "can I use 1 cup water and the drink doesn’t
fractionate after 1 hour?"
Again, the actual emulsion should be based by pressing
the kava with the emulsifier itself, not with the
water-portion. Once the proper time-coconut-water (or
other mixer) time-ratio is deduced, it will be
surprisingly consistent.
One final comment. I do not promote the abuse of
psychoactive substances. Nor did Albert Hoffman when he
discovered LSD – but he also realized that in the name
of science the truth cannot be hidden. The difference
with kavaine is that, unlike LSD, its effects are
already known but _TORMENTINGLY elusive_. Thus, instead
of "discovery", my work will be considered more an
"enlightenment".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It turns out the Thatched
Hut Theory isn't as important as I thought. (But there
still may be some reason to it.)
Yesterday my vision quest led to a stunning all-in-all
overview of the kava dilemma. This has to do with the
nature of human tasking. When a substance is used in a
psychoactive sense, the user has to have assimilated it
into their lifestyle. This means that they must be "at
ease" with it.
This is important because, if the person isn't at ease,
they will end up doing "FOCUS TASKS" like vacuuming,
shining their shoes or polishing their silverware. And
Focus Tasks are truly anti-psychoactive in nature. I was
partially on to this concept all along, but it takes a
bit more concise of an explanation. When using a
psychoactive substance, a person has to be at ease by
being in a recreational mind-set such they aren't drawn
to doing absurd, anti-psychoactiv-ities such as
scrubbing the bathroom sink. For with any substance
(including any known mind-altering substance) to engage
in this activity will quash the effects!
What happens to the typical kava user is that, after
taking the first serving, they sit for a while to relax
and let the effects set in. This is a highly effective
start. However, as time progresses during the session,
the home user will ultimately end up performing "FOCUS
TASKS" such as washing the dishes, preparing a meal etc.
What this signifies is that the drinker has not yet
invited the Purple Faerie into their life.
I theorize that, in Freudian terms, this is because it
is the inherent nature of the individual in human
society to have strong superego defenses against blind
Id acceptance of an unknown, unrecognized-by-most
substance such as kava as being a valid member of the
psychoactive-substances-community. Yet on the other
hand, after a few uses the individual's Ego comes to
realize that there indeed _is_ powerful pleasure to be
had from this "new substance". Without recognizing this
Freudian conflict between the Superego and the Ego, a
person may go years specifically engaging in Focus Tasks
after kava sets in -- not realizing that their very
actions are working against the consistently pleasurable
Id effects they desire so much!
In summary, the general rule to attain a consistent
kavaine experience should be to "Kick Back With Kava --
And That's An Order!" I took the first part from some
kava company's actual slogan -- turns out it could be
more pertinent than ever imagined!
Yet there is some leeway to be had. Focus tasking can
have a subjective element to it. For example, a person
might squeeze a quid of kava root in an arduous, focused
manner leading to Kava Burnout, or he could play
Hawaii-Five-O and dance while wringing such that there
is no focus on the task involved whatsoever! This is a
lot of the reason exercise music is so popular -- so
that people don't become dragged out and moody from the
task itself!
Starting to sound familiar?
Another example: it might not be considered a Focus Task
to shine one's silverware, if said silverware is very
valuable and the person thus _enjoys_ shining it, as
opposed to it being cheap silver plate.
David Monk
Minneapolis, Minnesota
August 1, 2006 |
