Sacred plant medicines have been used by Indigenous Peoples in healing ceremonies and cultural practices since Time Immemorial, and those medicines with psychoactive properties have also been used among many different cultures for millennia by people around the world.
How have the events of the past, especially the more recent criminalization of psychedelic medicines, impacted research into the therapeutic benefits of these medicines?
These topics will be explored in detail in the following set of videos.
Please ensure that you watch all items before proceeding by selecting each title.
For more information on research in the 20th century, consider referring to Phelps (2017).
For more information on the history of psychedelic medicines, visit Psychedelics 101.
The criminalization of "psychedelics" was a direct and intentional action of colonial violence against Indigenous Peoples in the United States and Canada, as another means to eradicate the Indigenous system of healthcare, cultural practices, ways of life, and further commit Genocide. Furthermore, it was illegal in Canada until 1951 and until 1978 in United States that Indigenous Peoples could gather (in groups more than three) and hold any kind of ceremonial practice.