One River

Category: Nature & Ecology
Author: Wade Davis
4.7

Comments

by jseliger   2017-11-17
Humans used psychoactive substances for centuries, usually under the supervision of a shaman or some type of religious figure to undergo a journey

Likely even longer; if you're curious about some of the anthropology and botany behind mind-altering substances, Wade Davis's One River is excellent: https://www.amazon.com/One-River-Wade-Davis/dp/0684834960?ie.... It focuses on the first half of the 20th C in particular.

As far as I know, it's impossible to know for sure when humans began using mind-altering substances like psychoactive mushroom, peyote, or ayahuasca, but it's likely been a very long time.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/09/12/the-ayahuasca-...