Kanna #

Kanna contains many alkaloids including mesembrine, mesembrenone, mesembrenol, mesembranol, epimesembranol, and tortuosamine. Of these, mesembrine and mesembrenone are thought to be the main contributors to the psychoactive effects:

	mesembrine	mesembrenone
molecule
subjective effect	energy/focus	calming/relaxation

In 2012, the first commercial kanna extract, Zembrin, was made available in North America.¹ Zembrin is optimized for relaxation (i.e., less than 20% mesembrine) and is typically sold in 25mg tablets. Zembrin only contains 0.35–0.45% total alkaloids.² Other vendors sell much more potent extracts. You can find products with more than 5% total alkaloids (i.e., ≈10x more concentrated than Zembrin). I use an extract with more energy than Zembrin, but still on the relaxing side (≈ 50% mesembrine). It may take some trial and error to find the optimal balance for you. You want enough energy to lift your attention to your head, but too much energy prevents sleep.

More information here, including safety and drug interactions

Applications #

• After dinner, eases transition from work to rest
• Academic exams

Notes #