Psychedelic Drugs: Mainstream Medicines of the Future?

Ira Pastor, ideaXme longevity and aging ambassador and founder of Bioquark interviews Dr Dennis McKenna, Founder at Symbio Life Sciences PBC.

Dennis McKenna has pursued interdisciplinary research focusing on Amazonian ethnopharmacology and plant hallucinogens for over 30 years. He has investigated the potential of psychedelic drugs to help address human health challenges.

Please note, this content is suitable for those 21 years and above. Check the law in your country which governs drug taking and seek professional advice before taking drugs.

Ira Pastor comments:

Throughout recorded history, natural products, primarily those from the plant, fungal, and bacterial bio-communities, have formed the basis for most of human health interventions. Many scientists believe we have only touched the surface of what the natural world has to teach us.

Newer research disciplines, including inter-kingdom signaling, semio-chemical communication, ectocrine dynamics, the microbiome and virome, are revealing a myriad of new ways that complex, combinatorial, non-human “biological signals” can affect the human genome for positive transitions in health and wellness dynamics. Examples such as microbiome “cocktails”, “living” bio-products (seen in recent FDA approvals of leeches, maggots, and helminth worms for human therapeutic use), and the FDA’s multi-component botanical drugs guidelines are just a few examples of this “combinatorial” trend and a move away from the reductionist “magic bullet” drug era.

Complex Drugs for Complex Diseases

Diseases are complex and multi-factorial, drugs will be also. Parallel to all of this, is a global re-emergence of research activities in the area of psychedelic pharmacotherapeutics, primarily focusing on classic hallucinogens, many which have their origins from nature, including psilocybin, ibogaine and it’s derivatives, Ayahuasca and DMT, not to mention LSD and MDMA, which contribute to understanding the mind and show possibilities to help alleviate suffering in mental health.

Dr. Dennis McKenna, my guest today is an ethnopharmacologist, pharmacognosist, lecturer and author. Dr McKenna has a Masters* in Botany and Doctorate in botanical sciences. He has authored numerous scientific articles and books on natural products derived medicines, including the 1100+ page encyclopedia Botanical Medicines: the Desk Reference for Major Herbal Supplements, as well as on psychedelics The Invisible Landscape, Psilocybin – Magic Mushroom Grower’s Guide, and The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss about his and his late brother Terence’s life and journeys together).

Psychedelic Medicines

Along with his brother Terence, he is one of the founding members and the director of ethnopharmacology at the Heffter Research Institute, a non-profit organization concerned with the investigation of the potential therapeutic uses of psychedelic medicines. Recent clinical studies have focused on psilocybin-assisted treatment for end-of-life anxiety and depression in cancer patients, as well as alcohol and nicotine addiction.

Dr. McKenna spent a number of years as a senior lecturer for the Center for Spirituality and Healing, part of the Academic Health Center at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He was also a senior research scientist for the Natural Health Products Research Group at the British Columbia Institute of Technology in the Vancouver area.

His main objective in establishing the McKenna Academy of Natural Philosophy is to re-establish the fusion of philosophy and science that existed in the pre-reductionist scientific era, where mind and consciousness were not seen separate things, but as inseparable aspects of nature and hence scientific investigation.

On this show Dr. Mckenna talks to us about:

His background. His therapeutic work in the area of Psilocybin and Ayuhusca. Entheogens, a class of psychoactive substances that induce any type of spiritual experience aimed at development (The term entheogen is often chosen to contrast recreational use of the same drugs). His opinion of cannabis, neuro-bio-hacking, psychedelic micro-dosing, and psychedelics used to help with fighting addiction. His impression of the current regulatory environment on these substances per FDA and DEA in the U.S. The goals of the McKenna Academy Natural Philosophy. Towards the end of the show, Dr McKenna informs the audience whom he would like to meet and why!

Note: The law permitting use of individual drugs varies country to country.

*Included the pharmacological, botanical, and chemical study of Ayahuasca, yielding dissertation entitled Monoamine oxidase inhibitors in Amazonian hallucinogenic plants: ethnobotanical, phytochemical, and pharmacological investigations, which needless to say entailed extensive fieldwork in the Peruvian, Colombian, and Brazilian Amazon, Dr. McKenna received post-doctoral research.

Credits: Ira Pastor interview video, text, and audio.

Follow Ira Pastor on Twitter: @IraSamuelPastor

Follow Dennis McKenna on Twitter: @DennisMcKenna4

If you liked this interview, be sure to check out our interview with John LaMattina on drug discoveries and treatment protocol.

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