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Harvard Ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes conducted groundbreaking plant research in the Amazon rainforests in the 1940s. After WWII began, the United States government sent Schultes to the South America to investigate disease-resistant rubber plants needed for war effort and to research curare, a plant medicine that had been as a muscle relaxant since the 1930s. Until then, curare was only known to modern medicine as an Amazon dart poison.
In the 1950s, Schultes was the first to write about ayahuasca in academic journals. N,N-dimethyltryptaine (DMT) is the hallucinogenic constituent of the South American shamanic brew ayahuasca. Schultes, who lived among indigenous communities who used ayahuasca for spiritual and medicinal purposes, was the first to describe ayahuasca tea in Western academic journals.
In 1976, Schultes authored Hallucinogenic Plants: A Golden Guide, a layman's guide to hallucinogenic plants.
In the 1950s, Schultes was the first to write about ayahuasca in academic journals. N,N-dimethyltryptaine (DMT) is the hallucinogenic constituent of the South American shamanic brew ayahuasca. Schultes, who lived among indigenous communities who used ayahuasca for spiritual and medicinal purposes, was the first to describe ayahuasca tea in Western academic journals.
In 1976, Schultes authored Hallucinogenic Plants: A Golden Guide, a layman's guide to hallucinogenic plants.
Ayahuasca tea is made from the Banisteriopsis caapi vine combined with DMT-containing Psychotria viridis and/or Diplopterys cabrerana.
| B. caapi contains a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) that inhibits the breakdown of DMT (a monoamine) by monoamine oxidase enzymes located in the human digestive tract. |  Banisteriopsis caapi |
 Psychotria viridis Consumption of DMT in an ayahuasca tea formulation allows absorption of DMT into the body and creates an extended experience that last a few hours. The fact that ayahuasca comes from a tea made from multiple plants makes it difficult to study in the United States. | Forword by Schultes Hallucinogenic Plants: A Golden Guide  |
More on harmala and other alkaloids: Drugs of Perception
Schultes 1990 Interview: Discovering the Source of
Curare, Ayahuasca, and the Importance of Plant Medicines
Curare, Ayahuasca, and the Importance of Plant Medicines
Learn more about Schultes' South American Adventures
Peyote to LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey
Botanist, Ethnopharmacologist, author of Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss: My Life with Terence McKenna, Dennis McKenna, PhD:
Here, McKenna discusses drug, set, and setting:
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Importance of Drug, Set, and Setting:
| Addiction Specialist Gabor Maté, M.D. | Psychiatrist Julie Holland, M.D. |
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Source: Mushroomjohn.com. Click for link.
Mushroom Expert and Student of Guzmán,
Paul Stamets, Details the Discovery of Psilocybin
Mushrooms by R. Gordon Wasson
Shamans of the Amazon:
Ayahuasca, Politics & the War on Drugs
Paul Stamets, Details the Discovery of Psilocybin
Mushrooms by R. Gordon Wasson
Shamans of the Amazon:
Ayahuasca, Politics & the War on Drugs
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The Veterans Affairs Healthcare System is arguably the best we have in the United States, yet even it cannot provide adequate mental health care to patients. We must do better in the United States and it must start with large-scale, culturally competent, government-sponsored research of classic hallucinogens and mindfulness. Both are archaic means of resilience that will not bankrupt the nation.
Click for link.
Stunting Growth of Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, Pain Meds: Meditation Better than Placebo, Meditation & Psychedelic Psychotherapy Better than Overprescribing
Courageous Heffter-Funded Work at UAB School of Public Health that Changes Perceptions & Could Change Your World
Courageous Heffter-Funded Work at UAB School of Public Health that Changes Perceptions & Could Change Your World
The Awe-Inspiring Power of Positive Emotions
Scientists Put Shamanic Medicine Under The Microscope
Huffington Post: In an unlikely collaboration with Amazonian shamans, medical researchers seek a cure for autoimmune disease.
Scientists Put Shamanic Medicine Under The Microscope
Huffington Post: In an unlikely collaboration with Amazonian shamans, medical researchers seek a cure for autoimmune disease.
A New Understanding: The Science of Psilocybin
R. Gordon Wasson Discovers "Magic Mushrooms" in the
Mountains of Oaxaca. Psilocybe Mushrooms Now a Crucial Part
of Mental Health Research and Understanding Brain Circuitry.
Botanical Dimensions Gives Western Culture an Unfiltered
Look at Plant Medicines, Ethnobotany, and Culture
R. Gordon Wasson Discovers "Magic Mushrooms" in the
Mountains of Oaxaca. Psilocybe Mushrooms Now a Crucial Part
of Mental Health Research and Understanding Brain Circuitry.
Botanical Dimensions Gives Western Culture an Unfiltered
Look at Plant Medicines, Ethnobotany, and Culture
Dr. Gabor Maté, M.D., discusses how ayahuasca offers addicts insight into self-destructive behaviors
Dr. Gabor Maté, M.D., discusses how ayahuasca offers addicts insight into self-destructive behaviors
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