Hey, it's Steve.

And this is Luminous, a podcast series about psychedelics from To the Best of Our Knowledge.

It's easy to get caught up in the hype about how psychedelics might revolutionize the treatment

of mental illness, but there are also lots of ethical concerns.

And probably none are so troubling as the charges of exploitation and cultural appropriation.

The fact is the knowledge about many psychedelics, like magic mushrooms and ayahuasca,

comes from indigenous cultures, but they're being developed by Western scientists and pharmaceutical

companies. I mentioned this recently to a leading scientist at a psychedelic conference and said I was

doing a podcast episode about decolonizing psychedelics, and he was kind of incredulous. He said science

is all about building on the knowledge of earlier discoveries

wherever they come from. So if new psychedelic medicines can really help people, scientists should

tap every possible source. I've been mulling over his argument, but the problem is you can't

really separate science from culture. And that's especially true when it comes to the history of plant medicines.

So, can psychedelics be decolonized?

From WPR.

It's to the best of our knowledge.

I'm Anne Strangeamps.

And I'm Steve Paulson.

And this is Luminous, our series on the science and history of psychedelics.

In June of 2023, 12,000 people converged on Denver for the biggest psychedelic conference in history.

It was kind of a coming out party, five days with scientists, mystics, and psychonauts.

Even celebrities like Aaron Rogers and Melissa Etheridge talking up the therapeutic potential of the new psychedelic revolution.

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