ESPD55

A symposium with a selection of the most well-respected and emerging researchers

Esteemed researchers interested in the confluence of psychoactive catalysts and global change were presented at ESPD55. Under the thoughtful curatorship of Dennis McKenna and the ESPD55 coordination team, a selection of the most well-respected researchers, together with emerging investigators, shared their most recent findings. Register and watch their recordings.

In 1967, a landmark symposium entitled Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs was held in San Francisco, California. It was the first international, interdisciplinary group of specialists – from ethnobotanists to neuroscientists – who gathered in one place to share their findings on the use of psychoactive plants in indigenous societies. Follow-up meetings were intended to be held every ten years, but the War on Drugs intervened. The findings of the convention were printed in a book entitled with the same name as the gathering. This book was an inspiration to Dennis to become an ethnopharmacologist. Under his leadership two anniversary conferences were held and it is the McKenna Academy’s vision to host an ESPD conference every five years to stay abreast of the latest research in the field of ethnopharmacology.