This herb has traditionally been smoked, eaten, or brewed into a tea or decoction.

According to Ayurvedic tradition, Vacha is a 'sattvic' herb which feeds and transmutes the sexual 'kundalini' energy. Calamus has been called called 'the closest thing to Viagra that nature has to offer.'

It is a stimulating nervine antispasmodic, and a general tonic to the mind. As a rejuvenative for the brain and nervous system, it is used to promote cerebral circulation, to stimulate self-expression, and to help manage a wide range of symptoms in the head, including neuralgia, epilepsy, memory loss and shock. In many cases involving the sinuses or shock, the powdered root is taken nasally.

The Cree say that they can take Calamus root and 'travel great distances without touching the ground'.

Active constituents: Monoterpene hydrocarbons, sequestrine ketones, (trans- or Alpha) Asarone (2,4,5-trimethoxy-1-propenylbenzene), and Beta-asarone (cis- isomer) contained in the roots essential oils.

It is used in the Phillipines for rheumatism and memory problems. In Korea, it is an ingredient in a type of moonshine called Immortals' Booze. Research in China has shown the essential oil in this rhizome to be sedating and neuroprotectant.

Sweet flag has been used in Asia for at least the last 2000 years for a number of beneficial reasons. The ancient Chinese used it to lessen swelling and for constipation. In India, Ayurvedic medicinal practice has used the magical root to cure fevers, for asthma and bronchitis, and as an all around sedative. The root was also used by the ancient Greeks and included in the traditional remedies of many other European cultures.

During the middle ages calamus was an admixture in several of the ancient, psychoactive, 'witches flying ointments', often being mixed with solanacious herbs.

The root was also well-known in Biblical times and mentioned in Exodus 30: 22-25 as one of the ingredients of the 'holy anointing oil'.

The Cree Indians of Northern Alberta use calamus for a number of medicinal reasons including: as an analgesic for the relief of toothache or headache, for oral hygiene to cleanse and disinfect the teeth, the fight the effects of exhaustion or fatigue, and to help cure/prevent a hangover.

Other Native tribes used it to treat a cough, made a decoction as a carminative and as an infusion for cholic.

The Sioux used the whole plant, making aromatic garlands from the leaves and using the root as a tea for bowel pains, or rubbed the chewed root on the skin for a general illness cure.

Calamus was also known to many early American settlers and used for a number of folk remedies. Walt Whitman even wrote poetry about his beloved herb in 'Leaves of Grass'.

Calamus was also widely used by Canadian trappers working for the Hudson Bay Company, using it as a stimulant, chewing a small piece whenever tired.

The unpeeled, dried rhizome was listed in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia until 1916 and in the National Formulary until 1950, for medicinal use on humans.

Today the FDA defines calamus as 'not intended for human consumption.' This is due to the fact that massive doses of isolated beta-Asarone given to lab rats over extended time periods have proven to be carcinogenic.

http://www.upb.pitt.edu/visitors/media_center/press_releases/archive/january_99/

'Dr. David Soriano, associate professor of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, is hoping the government takes a closer look at a popular aquatic garden plant.

Soriano recently presented a paper at the 50th Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Raleigh , N.C. The paper, titled 'Isolation of beta-Asarone from Acorus gramineus Variegatas and Synthesis via a Phase-Transfer Catalyzed Wittig Reaction,' was drafted with collaboration from four students.

'This aquatic plant (Acorus gramineus), a dwarf variety of Sweet Flag, is available from many American greenhouses and is a popular component of many backyard ponds,' Soriano explains. 'However, this plant metabolite, beta-Asarone, is a powerful central nervous system stimulant.'

A metabolite is simply a biochemical produced by an organism as a result of its natural chemistry, explains Soriano. Most reactions in live forms are produced by enzyme catalysts. For example, cocaine is a metabolite which is formed in coca leaves. If a plant produces cocaine it follows that it must have the enzymes present to produce that substance. The enzymes are themselves produced by the genes in the organism.

'The actual point of my talk,' says Soriano, 'is that this plant should be considered as a controlled substance like marijuana and opium plants. The plant can be grown and the rhizome chewed on to gain the effects of stimulation.'