Review of Sacred Knowledge : Psychedelics and Religious Experience William A. Richards New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2016. 269 pp. ISBN 978-0-231-17406-0 $29.95 Reviewed by Michael J. Winkelman http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0040299 Abstract Reviews the book, Sacred knowledge: Psychedelics and religious experiences, by William A. Richards. Richards’s career of clinical research with psychedelics and professional formation in theology, comparative religion and the psychology of religion bring integrative perspectives to understanding psychedelic experiences. Clinical accounts, scientific research and his personal experiences with psychedelics enable Richards to address issues of core importance in religious studies, medicine and society in general. Clinical studies with psychedelics provide findings that contribute to assessment of [...]
Lire la suiteScientists mass-produce 'magic mushroom' active ingredient from bacteria The study shows that psilocybin can be produced in a sustainable manner. https://www.zmescience.com/medicine/scientists-mass-produce-magic-mushroom-active-ingredient-from-bacteria/ byTibi Puiu October 3, 2019 Psilocybin, the active psychoactive compound found in specific mushrooms, is a promising drug that can be used to treat depression, anxiety, addiction, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Looking towards the future, researchers at Miami University have used genetic engineering to coax harmless E. coli bacteria to produce psilocybin. Psilocybe semilanceata. Credit: Pixabay. The mushrooms that produce psilocybin, such as Psilocybe cubensis, are not particularly expensive or difficult to grow. However, they do take up a lot of space and require many [...]
Lire la suiteAyahuasca, Psychedelic Studies and Health Sciences: The Politics of Knowledge and Inquiry into an Amazonian Plant Brew Kenneth W. Tupper, and Beatriz C. Labate Current Drug Abuse Reviews, 2014, 7, 71-80 Abstract : This article offers critical sociological and philosophical reflections on ayahuasca and other psychedelics as objects of research in medicine, health and human sciences. It situates 21st century scientific inquiry on ayahuasca in the broader context of how early modern European social trends and intellectual pursuits translated into new forms of empiricism and experimental philosophy, but later evolved into a form of dogmatism that convenienced the political suppression of academic inquiry into [...]
Lire la suiteOf Roots and Fruits : A Comparison of Psychedelic and Non-psychedelic Mystical Experiences David B. Yaden, Khoa D. Le Nguyen, Margaret L. Kern, Alexander B. Belser, Johannes C. Eichstaedt, Jonathan Iwry, Mary E. Smith, Nancy A. Wintering, Ralph W. Hood Jr., and Andrew B. Newberg Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 2017, Vol. 57, (4), 338–353 DOI: 10.1177/0022167816674625 Abstract Experiences of profound existential or spiritual significance can be triggered reliably through psycho-pharmacological means using psychedelic substances. However, little is known about the benefits of religious, spiritual, or mystical experiences (RSMEs) prompted by psychedelic substances, as compared with those that occur through other means. In this study, 739 self-selected [...]
Lire la suiteLegal highs : staying on top of the flood of novel psychoactive substances David Baumeister, Luis M. Tojo and Derek K. Tracy Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology, 2015, Vol. 5, (2), 97–132 DOI: 10.1177/2045125314559539 Abstract : There has been growing clinical, public, and media awareness and concern about the availability and potential harmfulness of so-called ‘legal highs’, which are more appropriately called new or novel psychoactive substances (NPS). A cat-and-mouse process has emerged wherein unknown chemists and laboratories are producing new, and as yet nonproscribed, compounds for human consumption; and as soon as they are banned, which they inevitably are, slightly modified analogues are produced to [...]
Lire la suitePsychedelics David E. Nichols Pharmacological Review, 2016, 68, 264–355 http://dx.doi.org/10.1124/pr.115.011478 Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .266 I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [...]
Lire la suiteThe genus Datura L. (Solanaceae) in Mexico and Spain – Ethnobotanical perspective at the interface of medical and illicit uses Guillermo Benítez, Martí March-Salas, Alberto Villa-Kamel, Ulises Cháves-Jiménez, Javier Hernández, Nuria Montes-Osuna, Joaquín Moreno-Chocano, Paloma Cariñanos Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 2018, Volume 219, Pages 133-151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2018.03.007 A B S T R A C T Ethnopharmacological relevance : The different species of the genus Datura have been used traditionally by some pre-Columbian civilizations, as well as in medieval rituals linked to magic and witchcraft in both Mexico and Europe. It is also noteworthy the use of different alkaloids obtained from the plants for medicinal purposes in the treatment [...]
Lire la suiteThe Consumption of Psychoactive Plants During Religious Rituals : The Roots of Common Symbols and Figures in Religions and Myths H. Umit Sayin NeuroQuantology, June 2014, Volume 12, Issue 2, 276-296 Doi : 10.14704/nq.2014.12.2.753 ABSTRACT Psychoactive plants which contain hallucinogenic molecules that induce a form of altered states of consciousness (HASC) have been widely used during the religious rituals of many cultures throughout the centuries, while the consumption of these plants for spiritual and religious purposes is as old as human history. Some of those cultures were shaman and pagan subcultures; African native religions; Bwiti Cult; South American native religions; Amazon Cultures; Central American Cultures; [...]
Lire la suiteLes psychédéliques peuvent-ils traiter l'anorexie et la dépression ? RESPADD, Actualités des Addictions, n°102, septembre 2019 Depuis son enfance, Rachael Petersen a vécu avec un sentiment de chagrin inexplicable qu'aucune pharmacothérapie ou psychothérapie n’a pu entièrement atténuer. Aussi, en 2017, elle s'est portée volontaire pour participer à un petit essai clinique à l'Université Johns Hopkins, qui testait la psilocybine, l'ingrédient actif des champignons hallucinogènes, pour le traitement de la dépression chronique. «J'étais tellement déprimée», a récemment déclaré Petersen, 29 ans. «J’ai eu l’impression que le monde m’avait abandonné, que j’avais perdu le droit d’exister sur cette planète. Vraiment, c’était comme si mes [...]
Lire la suitePsychedelics as Medicines for Substance Abuse Rehabilitation : Evaluating Treatments with LSD, Peyote, Ibogaine and Ayahuasca Michael Winkelman Current Drug Abuse Reviews, 2014, 7, 101-116 Abstract : Substances known as psychedelics, hallucinogens and entheogens have been employed in ethnomedical traditions for thousands of years, but after promising uses in the 1950’s and 1960’s they were largely prohibited in medical treatment and human research starting in the 1970’s as part of the fallout from the war on drugs. Nonetheless, there are a number of studies which suggest that these substances have potential applications in the treatment of addictions. While these substances are generally classified as [...]
Lire la suite