Psychedelic Plant Medicines of the Americas

An essential new anthology that reveals the cultural, medicinal, and spiritual traditions behind marijuana, mushrooms, ayahuasca, and other psychedelics, informed by both Western and Indigenous science
What if your psychedelic journey could be even more meaningful? What if, instead of seeing a trip as an escape from the world, we saw it as an entryway into numerous time-tested Indigenous traditions, each full of vast histories with valuable insights—lessons we can incorporate into our own journeys?
The Psychoactive Plants in the Americas encourages this far greater, fuller mind-expansion. An anthology of 23 psychedelic-specific articles, written by historians, anthropologists, and psychologists, it includes extensive interviews with Indigenous Latin American practitioners and a deep understanding of Western science. Altogether, it offers the broadest, most up-to-date perspectives of any book on the field of psychedelics yet, including examinations of:
- Marijuana’s colonial history in Mexico- Psilocybin mushrooms’ actual traditional use—which contradicts common, mistaken assumptions- Ayahuasca and peyote’s roles in Native rituals, and their subsequent cultural appropriation- Many more psychotropic drugs, including coca and tobacco snuff
The anthology is a critical reminder, at a time when psychedelics continue to become more popular and accepted within Western society, that these practices are not just part of a counterculture—in many places, they are central to the culture. And with the rise of psychedelic tourism, some of those cultures and cosmologies are now being put at risk. Gaining a greater understanding of why people have used and continue to use these psychedelics—informed by those with the deepest histories of experience—is only growing more important. There's never been a better time to not only gain a greater understanding of yourself, but also a deeper, more rooted understanding of psychedelics.

Biatriz Caiuby Labate, PhD, Henrique Fernandez Antunes, Nidia A. Olvera Hernández, PhD, and Clancy Canvar, PsyD