Spiritual and religious use

Some religions, particularly ethnic religions, are based completely on the use of certain drugs, known as entheogens, which are mostly hallucinogens,—psychedelics, dissociatives, or deliriants. Some drugs used as entheogens include kava which can act as a stimulant, a sedative, a euphoriant and an anesthetic. The roots of the kava plant are used to produce a drink which is consumed throughout the cultures of the Pacific Ocean.

Some shamans from different cultures use entheogens, defined as "generating the divine within" to achieve religious ecstasy. Amazonian shamans use ayahuasca (yagé) a hallucinogenic brew for this purpose. Mazatec shamans have a long and continuous tradition of religious use of Salvia divinorum a psychoactive plant. Its use is to facilitate visionary states of consciousness during spiritual healing sessions.

Silene undulata is regarded by the Xhosa people as a sacred plant and used as an entheogen. Its roots are traditionally used to induce vivid (and according to the Xhosa, prophetic) lucid dreams during the initiation process of shamans, classifying it a naturally occurring oneirogen similar to the more well-known dream herb Calea ternifolia.

Peyote a small spineless cactus has been a major source of psychedelic mescaline and has probably been used by Native Americans for at least five thousand years. Most mescaline is now obtained from a few species of columnar cacti in particular from San Pedro and not from the vulnerable peyote.

The entheogenic use of cannabis has also been widely practised for centuries. Rastafari use marijuana (ganja) as a sacrament in their religious ceremonies.

Psychedelic mushrooms (psilocybin mushrooms), commonly called magic mushrooms or shrooms have also long been used as entheogens.