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	Δ7-mesembrenone
molecule
subjective effect	energy/focus	calming/relaxation	synergistic

A useful way to characterize an extract is the proportion of mesembrine,

mesembrine/TotalAlkaloids

where

TotalAlkaloids ≈ (mesembrine + mesembrenone + Δ7-mesembrenone)

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).

Finding the ideal kanna experience requires precision, with the sweet spot falling between 50-54% mesembrine content (yellow region in the figure). This range provides enough energy to elevate mood without crossing into jittery overstimulation that prevents sleep. What makes kanna interesting is how the subjective effects closely resemble those of low-dose psilocybin or DMT. I avoid the stimulant type extracts with higher mesembrine concentrations (>80%).

Dose kanna cautiously! If you take too much, even a relaxing, low mesembrine blend is going to feel uncomfortably stimulating. 🤦

More information here, including safety and drug interactions

Applications #

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

Notes #