Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and Conservation podcast

How do Indigenous knowledge and Western science come together in the study of nature and plant medicine? Dr. Rosa Vásquez Espinoza, a chemical biologist and author of The Spirit of the Rainforest, joins Dr. Mark Plotkin to explore ethnobotany, animal self-medication, and the idea that plants and ecosystems may hold forms of intelligence that science is only beginning to understand.  

In this episode, Dr. Rosa Vásquez Espinoza shares stories about learning from her grandmother, navigating life between two worlds, and why Indigenous knowledge and scientific research don't have to be in conflict.
Show notes: The Spirit of the Rainforest book

Wade Davis, celebrated author and anthropologist, joins Mark Plotkin for a personal reflection on the life and legacy of legendary ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes. Davis traces Schultes' journey from his transformative encounter with peyote to his decades-long odyssey through the Amazon, where he documented Indigenous sacred plant traditions. Together, they explore how Schultes's discoveries — including his collaborations with mycologist Gordon Wasson and chemist Albert Hoffman — helped ignite the psychedelic era, and how his mentorship of Davis inspired the acclaimed book One River.
 
Show notes: 
The Amazonian Travels of Richard Evans Schultes

Mark Plotkin sits down with Wade Davis — author of One River, Lost Amazon, and dozens more — for a deep dive into one of South America's most misunderstood and miraculous plants. Drawing on their shared history working alongside the legendary Richard Evans Schultes, the two ethnobotanists trace coca from its origins as a sacred, nutritionally rich plant used across Andean and Amazonian cultures to its unjust criminalization driven more by ideology and racism rather than science. Davis also breaks down the differences between the coca leaf, cocaine, and mambe, reflects on lessons from cannabis legalization, and makes a compelling case for why the world should finally embrace coca's extraordinary potential.
 
Show notes: 
"The Secret History of Coca" by Wade Davis for Rolling Stone Magazine: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/coca-leaves-war-on-drugs-cocaine-1235310539/ 
 
Books by Wade Davis: https://daviswade.com/books

In this episode, we're bringing you the second half of our conversation with Dr. Pamela Kryskow.  
 
A co-leader of the largest study on microdosing, she shares what researchers are beginning to understand about how psychedelic plants could treat conditions ranging from Parkinson's disease and chronic pain to existential distress.  But, with so much potential for these plant medicines, there's also the potential for misuse and misinformation. We delve into some of the ways psychedelics could be ethically integrated into patient care, and, what the hospital of the future might look like. 
 
Recommended reading: 
The world's largest microdosing study with results published in Nature Scientific Reports and Psychopharmacology | Microdose.me 
 
Psilocybin Mushrooms in Their Natural Habitats A Guide to the History, Identification, and Use of Psychoactive Fungi by Paul Stamets 
 
Fantastic Fungi film by Louie Schwartzberg 
 
Have a Good Trip by Eugenia Bone

How can psylocibin be used to help patients work through traumas that once seemed untreatable? Dr. Pamela Kryskow, a self-described "fungi person" and a scientist, is helping to answer this question and others about the health potential of plant medicines. Dr. Kryskow is a founding board member of the Psychedelic Association of Canada and the medical chair of the Vancouver Island University Post Graduate Certificate in Psychedelic Medicine assisted Therapy.  She is also the medical lead for the Roots To Thrive Program.   
 
In this episode, Dr. Kryskow discusses her research on psychedelics and PTSD, differing patient experiences in synthetic versus whole mushrooms, and medical and therapeutic uses of ketamine. 
 
Show notes: 
Roots to Thrive is Canada's first multidisciplinary, non-profit healthcare practice offering evidence-informed, multi-week group therapy programs, including psychedelic-assisted therapy (if prescribed by licensed medical professional)
https://rootstothrive.com/