ESPD55 Online Symposium

Livestream from St. Giles House

23 – 26 May 2022

Ethnopharmacologic Search For Psychoactive Drugs

On the 55th-year anniversary of the original ESPD, the McKenna Academy presents ESPD55, during these uncharted times for global mental health. This unparalleled, historic four-day online symposium hosted and carefully curated by Dennis McKenna, includes esteemed speakers like Paul Stamets, Monica Gagliano and Wade Davis. 33 of the most exciting minds in psychoactives research, present 37 sessions exploring the world of ethnopharmacologic knowledge through various life-centric themes: ethnosphere, phytosphere, mycosphere, sonosphere and beyond.

Join the ESPD55 LIVESTREAM and engage within the online community.
The McKenna Academy invites the inquisitive to collectively explore the potential of ethnopharmacology for humanity.

ATTEND

A BRIEF PSYCHEDELIC ODYSSEY

~5000 BC

Tassili Mushroom rock paintings, Algeria

~6000-4000 BC

1st psilocybin cave paintings at Selva Pascuala cave site, Spain

~3780 BC

1st evidence of ceremonial peyote use

~3000-1000 BC

Documented use of psilocybin mushrooms in Meso-America, including Maya, Mazatec, Mixtec and Aztec, who called them Teonanacati ‘flesh of the gods’

~1000-500 BC

Miniature Mushroom Stones, Guatemala

~900 BC

 “Vaso de los brujos” suggests use of ayahuasca in Peru

~650 BC-470 AD

Eleusinian Mysteries, Greece

1938

LSD first synthesized by Albert Hofmann

1954

Aldous Huxley’s “Doors of Perception” describes his mescaline experience

1955

Magic mushrooms introduced to the USA by R. Gordon Wasson

1957

Gordon & Valentina Wasson’s article on seeking magic mushroom is published in Life Magazine

1962

Timothy Leary conducts the Marsh Chapel “Good Friday” experiment at Harvard 

1963

Timothy Leary dismissed from Harvard for conducting psilocybin studies with undergraduate students

1965

Sandoz stops producing psilocybin and LSD

1967

1st Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs (ESPD) symposium in San Francisco. Richard Schultes attends and Albert Hofmann supports. The Summer of Love: psychedelic counterculture explodes

1971

The Experiment at La Chorrera, Colombian Amazon. The War on Drugs commences: psychedelic substances are banned and institutional research is significantly limited

1976

Dennis & Terence McKenna publish Psilocybin: Magic Mushroom Grower’s Guide under pseudonyms, O.T. Oss and O.N.Oeric  

1986

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Science (MAPS) is founded, spotlighting psychedelic science

1990’s

Franz Vollenweider (Switzerland) and Rick Strassman’s studies (USA) bring renewed interest in human psychedelic studies, after 20 years  

1991

Luis Eduardo Luna and Pablo Amaringo publish Ayahuasca Visions: The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman  

1993

Heffter Research Institute founded to support institutional research in psychedelic science

2006

Ronald Griffiths’ groundbreaking study published: Psilocybin can occasion mystical type experiences having substantial personal meaning and spiritual significance

2017

50th anniversary of ESPD presented by Dennis McKenna: ESPD50 at Tyringham Hall, UK   

2020

“Psychedelic Renaissance” blossoms.

2020-2021

1st psychedelic pharma companies are listed on Nasdaq and other stock exchanges. Billions flow into the field of psychedelic research for mental illness

2022

McKenna Academy of Natural Philosophy presents ESPD55 at St. Giles House, UK