Longevity
July 5, 2026
Mark Haden, Birgitta Woods, Tina Woods et al.
Longevity science has increasingly shifted its focus from extending lifespan to improving healthspan, the years lived in good physical, cognitive, and social health. While much research targets biological hallmarks of aging, emerging frameworks emphasize upstream psychosocial drivers such as chronic stress, trauma, social isolation, and health behavior. In parallel, research on psychedelic...
Eating and weight disorders : EWD
April 1, 2020
Marika Renelli, Jenna Fletcher, Kenneth W. Tupper et al.
76 citations
Ayahuasca is a traditional Amazonian medicine that is currently being researched for its potential in treating a variety of mental disorders. This article reports on exploratory qualitative research relating to participant experiences with ceremonial ayahuasca drinking and conventional treatment for eating disorders (EDs). It also explores the potential for ayahuasca as an adjunctive ED...
Drug and Alcohol Dependence
December 1, 2019
Karen McCrae, Samuel Tobias, Kenneth W. Tupper et al.
OBJECTIVES Drug checking is a harm reduction intervention that allows for identification of drug composition. The objective of the study was to assess drug market components and concordance between expected substance reported by clients and results from point-of-care drug checking at music festivals and events in British Columbia. METHODS From July to September 2018, we provided drug checking...
Drug and Alcohol Review
September 5, 2019
Elena Argento, Rielle Capler, Gerald Thomas et al.
98 citations
Abstract Introduction and Aims A previous observational study of ayahuasca‐assisted therapy demonstrated statistically significant reductions in self‐reported problematic cocaine use among members of an Indigenous community in Canada. This paper aims to qualitatively explore the impact of ayahuasca‐assisted therapy on addiction and other substance use‐related outcomes and elucidate the lived...
Journal of Psychedelic Studies
September 1, 2019
Avery Sapoznikow, Zachary Walsh, Kenneth W. Tupper et al.
8 citations
Background and aims Ayahuasca is a psychedelic decoction prepared from two (or more) plants containing monoamine oxidase inhibitors, N , N -dimethyltryptamine, and other chemicals. Ayahuasca has apparently been used for centuries in the Amazon basin of South America, and in recent years has increasingly been used internationally in diverse contexts. This study aims to elucidate differences...
International Journal of Drug Policy
February 10, 2019
Elena Argento, Kenneth W. Tupper, M. Eugenia Socias
17 citations
The increasing contamination of the drug supply with illicitly manufactured fentanyl and related analogs in North America has resulted in the most severe drug-overdose crisis in history. Available pharmacotherapy options for the treatment of opioid use disorder have had limited success in curbing the current crisis, and a growing body of evidence highlights the need for innovative interventions...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
September 12, 2017
Adele Lafrance, Anja Loizaga-Velder, Jenna Fletcher et al.
126 citations
Eating disorders (EDs) are serious health conditions that are among the most difficult to treat. Innovative treatments are needed and modalities from across cultures must be considered. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive plant-based tea originally used by Amazonian indigenous groups. A growing body of research points to its promise in the healing of various mental health issues. This study explored...
BMJ Open
September 1, 2017
Elena Argento, Steffanie A. Strathdee, Kenneth W. Tupper et al.
60 citations
Objective This study aimed to longitudinally investigate whether ever having used a psychedelic drug can have a protective effect on incidence of suicidality among marginalised women. Design Longitudinal community-based cohort study. Setting Data were drawn from a prospective, community-based cohort of marginalised women in Metro Vancouver, Canada. Participants 766 women completed the baseline...
September 1, 2016
Kenneth W. Tupper
5 citations
Introduction The field of ayahuasca studies has emerged as a thoroughly interdisciplinary academic pursuit in the early twenty-first century, with research occurring in areas such as ethnobotany, neuropsychology, psychiatry, religious studies, anthropology, and drug policy studies. In each of these domains, the object of research – ayahuasca – is represented through a variety of social...
Journal of Psychoactive Drugs
2016
Mark Haden, Brian Emerson, Kenneth W. Tupper
The Health Officers Council of British Columbia has proposed post-prohibition regulatory models for currently illegal drugs based on public health principles, and this article continues this work by proposing a model for the regulation and management of psychedelics. This article outlines recent research on psychedelic substances and the key determinants of benefit and harm from their use. It...
Canadian Medical Association Journal
September 8, 2015
Kenneth W. Tupper, Evan Wood, Richard Yensen et al.
189 citations
In clinical research settings around the world, renewed investigations are taking place on the use of psychedelic substances for treating illnesses such as addiction, depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Since the termination of a period of research from the 1950s to the
Current Drug Abuse Reviews
January 9, 2015
Kenneth W. Tupper, Beatriz Caiuby Labate
47 citations
This article offers critical sociological and philosophical reflections on ayahuasca and other psychedelics as objects of research in medicine, health and human sciences. It situates 21st century scientific inquiry on ayahuasca in the broader context of how early modern European social trends and intellectual pursuits translated into new forms of empiricism and experimental philosophy, but...
Current Drug Abuse Reviews
June 1, 2013
Gerald Thomas, Philippe Lucas, N. Rielle Capler et al.
327 citations
This form of ayahuasca-assisted therapy appears to be associated with statistically significant improvements in several factors related to problematic substance use among a rural aboriginal population. These findings suggest participants may have experienced positive psychological and behavioral changes in response to this therapeutic approach, and that more rigorous research of...
Int J Drug Policy
March 27, 2012
Brian T Anderson, Beatriz C. Labate, Matthew Meyer et al.
26 citations
Statement on ayahuasca.
Periferia
December 26, 2011
Kenneth W. Tupper
1 citation
"A partir de recentes mudanças nas legislações em relação às drogas em diferentes países, investiguei o potencial dos enteóg enos (i.e., plantas psicoativas usadas como sacramentos espiritua is) como instrumentos para favorecer a inteligência existencial. Plantas Mestres das Américas como a ayahuasca, os cogumelos de psilocibina, o peiote e o soma indo-ariano da Eurásia , são alguns dos...
Open Collections
2011
Kenneth W. Tupper
8 citations
Ayahuasca is an entheogenic decoction prepared from two Amazonian plants containing controlled substances, including dimethyltryptamine. Traditionally drunk ritually (and revered as a healing “plant teacher”) by Amazonian indigenous and mestizo peoples, in the 20th century ayahuasca became a sacrament for several new Brazilian religions. One of these, the Santo Daime, has expanded into Canada,...
Global Networks
December 9, 2008
Kenneth W. Tupper
107 citations
Abstract Ayahuasca commonly refers to a psychoactive Amazonian indigenous brew traditionally used for spiritual and healing purposes (that is as an entheogen). Since the late twentieth century, ayahuasca has undergone a process of globalization through the uptake of different kinds of socio‐cultural practices, including its sacramental use in some new Brazilian religious movements and its...
International Journal of Drug Policy
December 5, 2006
Kenneth W. Tupper
207 citations
Ayahuasca is a tea made from two plants native to the Amazon, Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis, which, respectively, contain the psychoactive chemicals harmala alkaloids and dimethyltryptamine. The tea has been used by indigenous peoples in countries such as Brazil, Ecuador and Peru for medicinal, spiritual and cultural purposes since pre-Columbian times. In the 20th century,...
J Anal Toxicol
July 1, 2006
James C. Callaway, Charles S. Grob, Dennis J. Mckenna et al.
33 citations
A demand for clarity regarding a case report on the ingestion of 5-methoxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) in an Ayahuasca preparation.
Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l éducation
2002
Kenneth W. Tupper
75 citations
In light of recent specific liberalizations in drug laws in some countries, I have investigated the potential of entheogens (i.e., psychoactive plants used as spiritual sacraments) as tools to facilitate existential intelligence. “Plant teachers” from the Americas such as ayahuasca, psilocybin mushrooms, and peyote, and the Indo-Aryan soma of Eurasia, are examples of entheogens that have been...