Fifty years previously, a landmark symposium entitled Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs was held in San Francisco, California. It was an historic event and the list of attendees read like a veritable ‘who’s who’ of consciousness research. Since then, in spite of the prohibitions, much good research has been accomplished, particularly in the last decade, with hundreds of approved clinical trials around the world using psychedelics for the treatment of depression, addiction, PTSD and numerous other conditions showing very positive therapeutic effects.

Tyringham Initiative and Symbio Life Sciences, under the direction of Dennis McKenna, organized this follow-up 50th anniversary conference. Once again, an international, interdisciplinary group of top specialists – from ethnobotanists to neuroscientists – gathered in one place and shared their findings on a topic that is gaining widespread relevance. www.espd50.com