Ethnopharmacology of Psychedelic Substances in Chinese Culture - Jonathan Lu скачать в хорошем качестве

Ethnopharmacology of Psychedelic Substances in Chinese Culture - Jonathan Lu

Speaker: Jonathan Lu Presented at Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs Conference 55th Anniversary (ESPD55) hosted by Dennis McKenna and McKenna Academy of Natural Philosophy at St. Giles House, UK (Posted with permission from McKenna Academy) https://espd55.com/ https://mckenna.academy/ https://donate.mckenna.academy/ Abstract: About the Speaker: Jonathan Lu is the co-founder of VCENNA, a CNS drug discovery company inspired by the ethnobotany and wisdom of ancestral medicinal practices for mental wellness treatment. Jonathan is an expert generalist whose multidisciplinary career includes roles as a corporate manager, venture investor, and early-stage operating executive. He is a graduate of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and received a B.S. in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering from Cornell University. https://www.vcenna.com/ Abstract: The use of psychedelic plants and fungi holds a storied tradition in 4 of the world’s 5 oldest civilizations (Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, Ancient Egypt, Mayan). Why is China, which is home to a celebrated ancestral tradition of plant-based medicine (Traditional Chinese Medicine aka TCM), the world’s oldest continuous civilization, and history’s earliest documented pharmacopeia left out from the ethnobotanical study of psychoactive plants? In Richard Schultes and Albert Hofmann’s 1979 magnum opus, Plants of the Gods, only 5 out of the 91 plant and fungi species featured are of East Asian origin, and merely a single paragraph out of 190 pages is dedicated to the plants of China. In this paper, we discuss the reasons for China’s historical exclusion from the ethnopharmacology of psychoactive compounds that are rooted in geopolitical history, cultural anthropology, and cultural psychology, as well as their modern-day implications for psychoactive drug research and development. We will also review the history of ethnopharmacology in China and its heroes: from Shen Nong (神农), the venerable father of agriculture who created the 1st documented pharmacopeia in 2700 BCE including plants such as 大麻 (Cannabis sativa) and 附子 (Aconitum fischeri); to Ge Hong (葛洪) the renowned 4th Century philosopher and alchemist who espoused the ingestion of herbal medicines such as 零芝 (“spirit mushroom”) in the pursuit of immortality, as documented in his prolific writings on Taoism.