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Home » Catalog » Sustainability & Ecology

Ethnopharmacologic Search For Psychoactive Drugs: 55 Years of Research
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Ethnopharmacologic Search For Psychoactive Drugs: 55 Years of Research

By Dennis McKenna, Ph.D.

$60.00

ESPD55: Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs A Collective Reimagining of Plant Wisdom, Scientific Inquiry, and Human Consciousness

Edited by Dennis McKenna, PhD — Proceedings of the 2022 ESPD Conference

For academics, clinicians, ethnobotanists, psychedelic practitioners, and visionary thinkers, ESPD55 is essential reading—an authoritative reference and a catalyst for future inquiry. Anyone shaping the future of psychedelics will find this volume indispensable.

Enter the living dialogue where science meets spirit, ecology meets consciousness, and ancestral intelligence meets cutting-edge research.
 Own the next chapter in the world’s most enduring exploration of psychoactive medicine and human potential—and help shape the ethical, ecological, and visionary renaissance unfolding now.

For more than half a century, Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs has stood as the foundational gathering point for scholars exploring the interface of ancestral plant wisdom and modern psychedelic science. In this landmark continuation of that legacy, ESPD55 brings together the proceedings of the 2022 conference—an extraordinary convergence of over thirty leading thinkers in ethnobotany, pharmacology, ecology, anthropology, consciousness studies, and Indigenous plant medicine traditions.

Curated by Dennis McKenna, PhD and hosted by the McKenna Academy of Natural Philosophy, this volume captures a moment at the frontier of a global psychedelic renaissance. With contributions from some of the most respected voices in the field—including Sir Ghillean Prance, Wade Davis, Andrew Weil, Monica Gagliano, Glenn Shepard, Paul Stamets, Jonathan Lu, and many others—ESPD55 offers a rigorous, multidimensional exploration of how psychoactive plants and fungi shape culture, cognition, and healing.

Across six thematic spheres—the ethnosphere, phytosphere, mycosphere, faunasphere, archeosphere, and sonosphere—readers are invited into groundbreaking research and cultural insight spanning continents and knowledge systems. Featured chapters include:

  • Ancient Psychoactive Plant Use in Eurasia – Mark D. Merlin, PhD
  • Coca: The Divine Leaf of Immortality – Wade Davis
  • The Therapeutic Potential of Coca – Andrew Weil
  • Ethnopharmacology of Psychoactive Substances in Chinese Culture – Jonathan Lu
  • The Ark: Biocultural Sustainability for the San Pedro Cactus – Laurel Sugden & Josip Orlovac Del Río
  • The Harpy’s Gift & the Jaguar’s Curse: Matsigenka Hunting Medicines – Glenn H. Shepard

From the ceremonial use of Ephedra and San Pedro to emerging ethical frameworks for ayahuasca sustainability, from cognitive evolution studies to sonic ethnomedicine, this book illuminates both the ancient past and the unfolding future of entheogenic research. 

Preorder your copy before December 2nd and receive exclusive, never-before-seen interviews curated by the McKenna Academy, featuring intimate conversations with leading voices in psychedelic science — including Paul Stamets, Wade Davis, Monica Gagliano, and more.

A rare opportunity to access visionary never before seen interviews, not available anywhere else.

Available to Ship: November 15, 2025 Publication Date: June 6, 2025 ISBN: N/A Categories: , , , , , , , , , Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Description

ESPD55 is more than a conference volume—it is a cultural document, a scientific record, and a call to steward psychoactive knowledge with integrity and reciprocity. It challenges researchers, practitioners, and seekers to ask:

  • How can Indigenous knowledge systems inform ethical psychedelic innovation?
  • What does sustainability mean for sacred plant species and the communities who safeguard them?
  • In what ways can psychedelic science expand our definitions of health, consciousness, and ecological belonging?

For academics, therapists, ethnobotanists, psychedelic practitioners, and visionary thinkers, ESPD55 is essential reading—an authoritative reference and a catalyst for future inquiry.

Anyone shaping the future of psychedelic studies will find this volume indispensable.

Step into the living dialogue where science meets spirit, ecology meets consciousness, and ancient traditions meet twenty-first-century research.

Own the next chapter in the world’s most enduring conversation on psychoactive medicine and human potential.

 

Additional information

Weight 2 lbs
Dimensions 8 × 10 × 1 in
Format

Paperback, eBook
Pages 550

About the author

Dennis McKenna, Ph.D.

Author

Dennis McKenna is an American ethnopharmacologist, research pharmacognosist, lecturer and author. Dennis McKenna’s professional and personal interests are focused on the interdisciplinary study of ethnopharmacology and natural hallucinogens. He received his doctorate in 1984 from the University of British Columbia, where his research focused on ethnopharmacological investigations of ayahuasca and oo-koo-he, two indigenous Amazonian psychedelic medicines. He completed post-doctoral studies at the Helicon Foundation in San Diego (1984-86), the Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacology at NIMH (1986-88) and the Department of Neurology at Stanford University (1988-1990). He worked at Shaman Pharmaceuticals as Director of Ethnopharmacology from 1990-93, and relocated to Minnesota in 1993 to join the Aveda Corporation as Senior Research Pharmacognosist.

Dr. McKenna taught courses in Ethnopharmacology, Botanical Medicines and Plants in Human Affairs in the Center for Spirituality and Healing at the University of Minnesota from 2001 to 2017. He is a founding board member of the Heffter Research Institute and serves on the advisory board of non-profit organizations in the fields of ethnobotany and botanical medicines. He was a key organizer and participant in the Hoasca Project, an international biomedical study of ayahuasca used as a sacrament by the UDV, a syncretic religious group in Brazil. He is the younger brother of Terence McKenna. From 2004 to 2008, he was the Principal Investigator on a project funded by the Stanley Medical Research Institute to investigate Amazonian ethnomedicines for the treatment of schizophrenia and cognitive deficits.

In 2017, with the collaboration of many colleagues, he organized and presented a landmark symposium, the Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs: 50 years of Research. The conference commemorated the 50th anniversary of the original conference held in San Francisco in 1967. Synergetic Press published a limited edition of the Proceedings of both the 1967 and 2017 symposia as a double volume set in 2018.

In the spring of 2019, in collaboration with colleagues in Canada and the U.S., he incorporated a new non-profit, the McKenna Academy of Natural Philosophy – A 21st Century Mystery School, www.mckenna.academy. He emigrated to Canada in the spring of 2019 together with his wife Sheila, and now resides in Abbotsford, B.C.

Related: Dennis McKenna on ‘Metamorphosis, Symbiosis, and How Ayahuasca Acts as a Natural Antidepressant’ a podcast with The Psychedelic Leadership Podcastâ„¢

 


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