ESPD55
Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs
In May 2022 the McKenna Academy presented ESPD55. This historic four-day online symposium was hosted by Dennis McKenna and included esteemed speakers like Paul Stamets, Monica Gagliano and Wade Davis. 33 of the most exciting minds in psychoactives research, presented 37 sessions exploring the world of ethnopharmacologic knowledge through various life-centric perspectives.
Speakers and Recordings
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.
ARCHAEOSPHERE | Ancient psychoactive plant use in ethnobotanical archaeology
Colin Domnauer
Ethnobiologist
Expanding evidence of Anadenanthera in the pre-Columbian Andes: Identifying depictions of Anadenanthera in the iconographic records of Cupisnique, Paracas and Nazca cultures.
Dennis McKenna
Ethnopharmacologist
Pre-Release Screening of short documentary “BioGnosis, Bridges to Ancestral Wisdom” & Presentation
Manuel Torres
Art History Professor
“Our mother’s fragrance" Coca chewing as a vehicle for revelation.
Manuel Torres
Art History Professor
Tiwanaku and Wari: Psychoactive plants and politics in the Central Andes 300-900 AD.
Mark Merlin
Ethnobotanist
Archaeo-ethnopharmacology of Psychoactive Plant Use in the Old World.
Shauheen Etminan
Founder Vcenna
Chemically-induced otherworldly experiences of Zoroastrians in Iran.
ETHNOSPHERE | Contemporary cultures of psychoactive plant use
Dale Millard
Naturalist
Creation of an Ethnopharmacological plant repository in Southern Brazil. Presentation of a collaborative project to establish a collection of sacred psychoactive medicinal plants at Wasiwaska Research Center in Florianópolis, Brazil.
Glenn Shepard
Anthropologist
The Harpy’s Gift and the Jaguar’s Curse: Hunting Medicines among the Matsigenka.
Jonathan Lu
Co-founder Vcenna
A history of psychoactive plants and fungi in Chinese medicine.
Josip Orlovac Del Río
Maestro Huachumero
Ethnopharmacology and phytochemical profiling of Huachuma.
Luis Eduardo Luna
Anthropologist
Creation of an Ethnopharmacological plant repository in Southern Brazil. Presentation of a collaborative project to establish a collection of sacred psychoactive medicinal plants at Wasiwaska Research Center in Florianópolis, Brazil.
Mark Plotkin
Ethnobotanist
Ayahuasca, Shamanism and Conservation in the Sibundoy Valley of the Colombian Amazon.
Michael Coe
Ethnobiologist
Integral Projection Models: a road map for sustainable ayahuasca production.
HYDROSPHERE | Psychoactive allies of the waters
Zachary Kulberg
Marine Bioprospector
Farming tryptamine medicines from marine sponges: yield enhancing lessons from directed biotransformation.
MYCOSPHERE | Mycelial universe of psychoactive fungi
Paul Stamets
Mycologist
Revisiting the McKenna Stoned Ape Theory: The ever evolving case for its plausibility.
NEUROSPHERE | Psychoactive substances at the brain/mind interface
Bruce Damer
Astrobiologist
It’s High Time for Science: Psychedelics as Tools for Scientific Discovery
PHYTOSPHERE | Teachings from the psychotropic plant kingdom
Chris McCurdy
Professor Medicinal Chemistry
Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa): Recent advances in understanding the chemistry, pharmacology, and human uses.
Elaine Elisabetsky
Ethnopharmacologist
Ethnopharmacology and the development of psychoactive drugs: are the fruits too high or have we been clumsy?
Monica Gagliano
Research Associate Professor
Medicine for the future: if we listen, plants will teach us.
SOCIOSPHERE | Psychoactive substances, institutions, law & policy
Andrea Langlois
Biocultural Conservationist
When Your Friends are the Problem: Plant Medicines, Commercialization, and Biocultural Conservation.
Carey Turnbull
President Heffter Institute
Three ways to achieve legal safe access to psychedelic plants, drugs, and experiences.
David F. Rodriguez-Mora
Environmental Anthropologist
Intellectual Property Rights: Advancements and Future Prospects in Ayahuasca research.
David Nutt
Neuroscientist
International Policies for Psychedelics. | How Psychedelics Work.
Jerónimo Mazarrasa
Social Innovator
When Your Friends are the Problem: Plant Medicines, Commercialization, and Biocultural Conservation.
Michelle St. Pierre
Clinical Psychologist
Psychedelics and the Prevention of Interpersonal Violence: the role of emotion regulation.
SONOSPHERE | Altered states of consciousness: the psychoactive power of sound
Alexandre Tannous
Ethnomusicologist
Musical creativity and use of sound: Mathematical ratios capable of altering and engineering consciousness.
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.
Related Programs
ESPD50
Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs hosted at Tyringham Hall 2017.
ESPD Publications
“The discovery of ESPD’s publication changed my life. For me, at least, that book was influential because it provided a cultural context for psychedelics based on traditions older and richer than anything I had encountered in mass media sources.”
Read about Dennis’ personal journey with the first ESPD symposium volume here
ESPD50 Collector’s Box Set
In collaboration with Synergetic Press, the McKenna Academy reprinted the 1967 symposium volume and published the 2017 ESPD conference findings together in a high quality collector’s edition box set that won the esteemed James A. Duke Botanical Literature Award. This popular publication has been reprinted seven times already.
ESPD55 Symposium Volume
The McKenna Academy is again working closely with Synergetic Press to publish the findings of the third edition of ESPD as a stand-alone volume, “ESPD55” in 2023.
