Dennis McKenna

And a whole slew of alkaloids were isolated in the 19th century. Morphine, scopolamine, hyoscyamine, cocaine around the middle of the 19th century, theobromine, caffeine, all of these alkaloids were isolated.

And a whole slew of alkaloids were isolated in the 19th century. Morphine, scopolamine, hyoscyamine, cocaine around the middle of the 19th century, theobromine, caffeine, all of these alkaloids were isolated.

culminating with the isolation of mescaline in a pure form at the end of the 19th century in 1903, or maybe it was 1899, I'm not sure, but Arthur Hefter, the chemist Arthur Hefter, for whom the Hefter Research Institute is named, isolated mescaline from peyote. So the concept that

culminating with the isolation of mescaline in a pure form at the end of the 19th century in 1903, or maybe it was 1899, I'm not sure, but Arthur Hefter, the chemist Arthur Hefter, for whom the Hefter Research Institute is named, isolated mescaline from peyote. So the concept that

culminating with the isolation of mescaline in a pure form at the end of the 19th century in 1903, or maybe it was 1899, I'm not sure, but Arthur Hefter, the chemist Arthur Hefter, for whom the Hefter Research Institute is named, isolated mescaline from peyote. So the concept that

always before therapy with plants was understood to be a symbiosis, a symbiotic alliance between these plants that were intelligent entities that had their own agency, obviously had active compounds, but were understood to be in some ways very much participating in this spiritual process of healing that we call medicine or we call herbalism.

always before therapy with plants was understood to be a symbiosis, a symbiotic alliance between these plants that were intelligent entities that had their own agency, obviously had active compounds, but were understood to be in some ways very much participating in this spiritual process of healing that we call medicine or we call herbalism.

always before therapy with plants was understood to be a symbiosis, a symbiotic alliance between these plants that were intelligent entities that had their own agency, obviously had active compounds, but were understood to be in some ways very much participating in this spiritual process of healing that we call medicine or we call herbalism.

But the isolation of these pure compounds was the beginning of the concept of spirit became ostracized from medicine. And the idea, no, there's no life force. There's no vital force in these things. It's just chemistry. It's just pharmacology. And so are we. We are biochemical engines. Just biochemical machines.

But the isolation of these pure compounds was the beginning of the concept of spirit became ostracized from medicine. And the idea, no, there's no life force. There's no vital force in these things. It's just chemistry. It's just pharmacology. And so are we. We are biochemical engines. Just biochemical machines.

But the isolation of these pure compounds was the beginning of the concept of spirit became ostracized from medicine. And the idea, no, there's no life force. There's no vital force in these things. It's just chemistry. It's just pharmacology. And so are we. We are biochemical engines. Just biochemical machines.

And if you apply the right molecular monkey wrench, you know, in the form of a molecule, you can fix the problem, you know. You can fix the machine. So the idea that spirit was part of medicine, was part of healing, was suppressed as medicine evolved into what it is now, you know. And it very much de-emphasizes that. spirituality. It's very much about pharmacotherapy. We have chemicals.

And if you apply the right molecular monkey wrench, you know, in the form of a molecule, you can fix the problem, you know. You can fix the machine. So the idea that spirit was part of medicine, was part of healing, was suppressed as medicine evolved into what it is now, you know. And it very much de-emphasizes that. spirituality. It's very much about pharmacotherapy. We have chemicals.

And if you apply the right molecular monkey wrench, you know, in the form of a molecule, you can fix the problem, you know. You can fix the machine. So the idea that spirit was part of medicine, was part of healing, was suppressed as medicine evolved into what it is now, you know. And it very much de-emphasizes that. spirituality. It's very much about pharmacotherapy. We have chemicals.

You have sicknesses. They affect these different processes. There's no invocation of any spiritual aspect to it. It's all seen as very mechanistic. But then, so it goes on and, you know, as we know, the American Medical Association and these other institutions went out of the way to suppress herbalism and herbalists and to dismiss the whole thing as quackery.

You have sicknesses. They affect these different processes. There's no invocation of any spiritual aspect to it. It's all seen as very mechanistic. But then, so it goes on and, you know, as we know, the American Medical Association and these other institutions went out of the way to suppress herbalism and herbalists and to dismiss the whole thing as quackery.

You have sicknesses. They affect these different processes. There's no invocation of any spiritual aspect to it. It's all seen as very mechanistic. But then, so it goes on and, you know, as we know, the American Medical Association and these other institutions went out of the way to suppress herbalism and herbalists and to dismiss the whole thing as quackery.

Even though there's a vast body of literature, scientific literature, that shows that herbal preparations do have medicinal properties, but so-called mainstream medicine, pharmaceutical medicine, Biomedicine, as I like to characterize it, they don't accept that. Or they're skeptical, definitely. They don't accept it. For one thing, you can't patent natural products. It's not as easy.

Even though there's a vast body of literature, scientific literature, that shows that herbal preparations do have medicinal properties, but so-called mainstream medicine, pharmaceutical medicine, Biomedicine, as I like to characterize it, they don't accept that. Or they're skeptical, definitely. They don't accept it. For one thing, you can't patent natural products. It's not as easy.

Even though there's a vast body of literature, scientific literature, that shows that herbal preparations do have medicinal properties, but so-called mainstream medicine, pharmaceutical medicine, Biomedicine, as I like to characterize it, they don't accept that. Or they're skeptical, definitely. They don't accept it. For one thing, you can't patent natural products. It's not as easy.