Laughter is the reaction I often face when I tell people that my research demonstrates that MDMA enhances empathy and that ayahuasca improves creativity....

Ibogaine is a potent psychedelic substance found mainly in the root bark of the shrub Tabernanthe iboga, native of the Congo and Gabon, as...

Analysis of ayahuasca DNA by geneticists confirms lineages known to traditional users that might be three different species: tucunacá, caupuri, and pajezinho. This study represents a corroboration of traditional Indigenous knowledge with Western science.

In 2017 Chacruna was invited to make a selection of ‘state of the art’ social science references on ayahuasca and other plant medicines. We...

Since the middle of the 90s, there has been a renewed interest in the possible positive effects of many different plants and substances such...

Anya Ermakova, Ph.D compiled a list of the 20 best books about peyote and mescaline. These non-fiction books about Lophophora williamsii are written by scholars of history, anthropology, religion, biology, and ecology and conservation.

While there has been very promising evidence of safety and effectiveness for psychedelics after a few acute macrodoses in clinical trials, the risks and...

Simon Ruffell, et.al. provide a systematic review of the pharmacological interaction of chemical compounds in ayahuasca. The researchers wanted to better understand which chemicals in ayahuasca are required to achieve positive outcomes, questions remain regarding which components are essential, how they interact, and what happens if they are removed.

How can the use of psychedelic and sacred plants help alleviate human suffering? What are the barriers to such “plant medicines,” like ayahuasca, becoming...

Jasmine Virdi interviews Regina Célia de Oliveira, a Brazilian biologist and professor at Brasília University, specializing in the study of Banisteriopsis caapi and other plants that make up the ayahuasca brew. In this article, Regina shares about the different varieties of the B. caapi vine, the deeply sophisticated knowledge of traditional peoples about these vines, and the importance of protecting these plant species amidst ongoing ecological destruction in the Amazon Rainfor-est.