Visible effects of erythrophleine poisoning include induced terror, labored and irregular breathing, convulsions, urination, and vomiting.

It does this by inhibiting Na-K ATPase, an enzyme that breaks down ATP to generate an electric potential by moving sodium and potassium ions against their concentration gradient.

The process has largely been outlawed, but due to the limited judicial infrastructure of some West African states, ordeal trials still take place with some regularity.

[11] Some prominent economists have even argued that sassywood is a more effective substitute to Liberian courts, given the decrepit nature of the country's judicial system.

In order to create the drink, bark of the ordeal tree was simply scraped, powdered, added to water, and allowed to steep.