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Movie actress dies at a Mexican spiritual retreat after consuming deadly monkey frog potion

The strange potion dates back to the Inca period and is meant to cause uncontrollable diarrhoea and vomiting for consumers, which supposedly acts as a 'cleanse'

Marcela Alcazar Rodriguez
Marcela Alcazar Rodriguez enjoyed a varied career in Hollywood

A movie actress met an untimely end after she consumed a potion containing a poison frog called Kambo.

Star Marcela Alcazar Rodriguez was at a spiritual retreat in Mexico and took part in a 'cleansing ritual' which used a substance made from giant monkey frog, which secretes a hallucinogenic substance. The potion itself causes vomiting and uncontrollable diarrhoea, which is thought to clear out the system for some retreat visitors.


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The potion is also said to be 40 times stronger than morphine. However, when Marcela consumed the potion, it was said to cause her whole body to spasm as it entered her system.

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Marcela Alcazar Rodriguez
Marcela Alcazar Rodriguez was at a retreat in Mexico(Image: NX)
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According to local reports in Durango, Northern Mexico, she died just hours later at a Red Cross hospital. It is not yet confirmed whether the poison caused her death, or rather the substance triggered an organ failure.


The Durango State Attorney General's Office said they are investigating her death and looking for the leader of the spiritual retreat, who fled the scene following her death. An autopsy is currently being investigated, which is thought to give a clearer idea on the cause of death.

Marcela had a vast movie career. She mainly worked in the US, but also took many jobs in Mexico. She co-starred in the hit indie rom-com film New Low, which was dubbed a "cult hit" by Variety. Producers, Mapache Films, who have worked with Marcela several times, sent its condolences to her family through a public statement.

They posted on Facebook: "With deep regret, today we say goodbye to our partner and friend Marcela Alcazar, also wishing for healing for her closest family and friends."


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The potion is by no means a new experiment. Several people have tried it and sang praises for the "cleansing" properties. It was originally brewed in the Inca period. Mant the poison cleans the mind and the physical body through a powerful purging.

Known as the 'Forest Vaccine,' the potion is applied through small burns to the skin so it is absorbed very quickly. Luis Manuel Naranjo, president of Mexico College of Psychologists, said people who administer the potion often hold back on giving treatment as it interferes with the desire purge.

"One of the side effects of this is vomit, if it's normal for people to throw up, because they handle them as part of the cure, from the purge, when you're cleaning it is when you throw up," he told Newsflash.

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