Dennis McKenna

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Dennis McKenna
Dennis McKenna at Synergetic Symposium.jpg
McKenna at a Synergetic Symposium in 2021
Born
Dennis Jon McKenna

(1950-12-17) December 17, 1950 (age 73)
Occupations
Relatives Terence McKenna (brother)

Dennis Jon McKenna (born December 17, 1950, in Paonia, Colorado) [1] is an American ethnopharmacologist, research pharmacognosist, lecturer and author. He is the brother of well-known psychedelics proponent Terence McKenna and is a founding board member and the director of ethnopharmacology at the Heffter Research Institute, a non-profit organization concerned with the investigation of the potential therapeutic uses of psychedelic medicines. [2]

Contents

Education

McKenna received his Master's degree in botany at the University of Hawaii in 1979. [3] He received his doctorate in botanical sciences in 1984 from the University of British Columbia, [2] where he wrote a dissertation titled Monoamine oxidase inhibitors in Amazonian hallucinogenic plants: ethnobotanical, phytochemical, and pharmacological investigations. McKenna then received post-doctoral research fellowships in the Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacology, National Institute of Mental Health, and in the Department of Neurology, Stanford University School of Medicine. [2]

Career

McKenna's research led to the development of natural products for Aveda Corporation as well as greater awareness of natural products and medicines. He has authored numerous scientific articles and books. He co-authored The Invisible Landscape with his brother Terence and Botanical Medicines: the Desk Reference for Major Herbal Supplements with Kenneth Jones and Kerry Hughes. McKenna spent a number of years as a senior lecturer for the Center for Spirituality and Healing, part of the Academic Health Center at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He became a senior research scientist for the Natural Health Products Research Group at the British Columbia Institute of Technology in the Vancouver area.[ citation needed ]

His research has included the pharmacology, botany, and chemistry of ayahuasca and oo-koo-hé, the subjects of his master's thesis. He has also conducted extensive fieldwork in the Peruvian, Colombian, and Brazilian Amazon.[ citation needed ]

Psilocybin mushroom cultivation

During the early 1970s Jeremy Bigwood and the McKenna brothers developed a technique for cultivating psilocybin mushrooms and they published what they had learned in a book titled Psilocybin - Magic Mushroom Grower's Guide. The team of Bigwood and the McKennas were the first to come up with a reliable method for cultivating psilocybin mushrooms at home. [4]

Other

McKenna's memoir, The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss, about his and his brother Terence's life and journeys together, was published in 2012. [5]

He is featured in the documentary DMT: The Spirit Molecule . [6]

McKenna participated in the first Evolver Convergence 2012 in Pittsburgh, June 1–4. [7]

He has been the main guest several times on the popular radio show Coast to Coast AM. His last appearance on the show was the Sunday March 23, 2014, episode. [8]

On December 16, 2012, April 17, 2017, and June 21, 2018, McKenna was the guest on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. [9]

Dennis was also a key guest on The Cosmic Echo Podcast on September 18, 2018. [10]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

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N,N-Dimethyltryptamine is a substituted tryptamine that occurs in many plants and animals, including humans, and which is both a derivative and a structural analog of tryptamine. DMT is used as a psychedelic drug and prepared by various cultures for ritual purposes as an entheogen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psilocybin</span> Chemical compound found in some species of mushrooms

Psilocybin, also known as 4-phosphoryloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (4-PO-DMT), and formerly sold under the brand name Indocybin, is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug compound produced by more than 200 species of fungi. Psilocybin is itself biologically inactive but is quickly converted by the body to psilocin, which has mind-altering effects similar, in some aspects, to those of other classical psychedelics. In general, the effects include euphoria, visual and mental hallucinations, changes in perception, a distorted sense of time, and perceived spiritual experiences. It can also cause adverse reactions such as nausea and panic attacks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychedelic drug</span> Hallucinogenic class of psychoactive drug

Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic hallucinogens or serotonergic hallucinogens, the term psychedelic is sometimes used more broadly to include various types of hallucinogens, such as those which are atypical or adjacent to psychedelia like salvia and MDMA, respectively.

<i>Psilocybe cubensis</i> Species of fungus

Psilocybe cubensis, commonly known as the magic mushroom, shroom, golden halo, golden teacher, cube, or gold cap, is a species of psilocybin mushroom of moderate potency whose principal active compounds are psilocybin and psilocin. It belongs to the fungus family Hymenogastraceae and was previously known as Stropharia cubensis. It is the best-known psilocybin mushroom due to its wide distribution and ease of cultivation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terence McKenna</span> American ethnobotanist and mystic (1946–2000)

Terence Kemp McKenna was an American ethnobotanist and mystic who advocated for the responsible use of naturally occurring psychedelic plants. He spoke and wrote about a variety of subjects, including psychedelic drugs, plant-based entheogens, shamanism, metaphysics, alchemy, language, philosophy, culture, technology, ethnomycology, environmentalism, and the theoretical origins of human consciousness. He was called the "Timothy Leary of the '90s", "one of the leading authorities on the ontological foundations of shamanism", and the "intellectual voice of rave culture".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Entheogen</span> Psychoactive substances that induce spiritual experiences

Entheogens are psychoactive substances, including psychedelic drugs, used in sacred contexts in religion for inducing spiritual development throughout history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psilocybin mushroom</span> Mushrooms containing psychoactive indole alkaloids

Psilocybin mushrooms, commonly known as magic mushrooms,shrooms, or broadly as hallucinogenic mushrooms, are a polyphyletic informal group of fungi that contain psilocybin, which turns into psilocin upon ingestion. The most potent species are members of genus Psilocybe, such as P. azurescens, P. semilanceata, and P. cyanescens, but psilocybin has also been isolated from approximately a dozen other genera, including Panaeolus, Inocybe, Pluteus, Gymnopilus, and Pholiotina.

<i>Psilocybe</i> Genus of fungi

Psilocybe is a genus of gilled mushrooms, growing worldwide, in the family Hymenogastraceae. Many species contain the psychedelic compounds psilocybin and psilocin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychonautics</span> Methodology for describing and explaining the subjective effects of altered states of consciousness

Psychonautics refers both to a methodology for describing and explaining the subjective effects of altered states of consciousness, including those induced by meditation or mind-altering substances, and to a research group in which the researcher voluntarily immerses themselves into an altered mental state in order to explore the accompanying experiences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psilocin</span> Chemical compound

Psilocin, also known as 4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (4-OH-DMT), is a substituted tryptamine alkaloid and a serotonergic psychedelic. It is present in most psychedelic mushrooms together with its phosphorylated counterpart psilocybin. Psilocin is a Schedule I drug under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances. Acting on the serotonin 5-HT2A receptors, psilocin's psychedelic effects are directly correlated with the drug's occupancy at these receptor sites. The subjective mind-altering effects of psilocin are highly variable and are said to resemble those of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Strassman</span> American drug researcher

Rick Strassman is an American clinical associate professor of psychiatry at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. He has held a fellowship in clinical psychopharmacology research at the University of California San Diego and was Professor of Psychiatry for eleven years at the University of New Mexico. After 20 years of intermission, Strassman was the first person in the United States to undertake human research with psychedelic, hallucinogenic, or entheogenic substances with his research on N,N-dimethyltryptamine, also known as DMT. He is also the author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule, which summarizes his academic research into DMT and other experimental studies of it, and includes his own reflections and conclusions based on this research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heffter Research Institute</span> Nonprofit organization

The Heffter Research Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that promotes research with classic hallucinogens and psychedelics, predominantly psilocybin, to contribute to a greater understanding of the mind and to alleviate suffering. Founded in 1993 as a virtual institute, Heffter primarily funds academic and clinical scientists and made more than $3.1 million in grants between 2011 and 2014. Heffter's recent clinical studies have focused on psilocybin-assisted treatment for end-of-life anxiety and depression in cancer patients, as well as alcohol and nicotine addiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethnomycology</span> Study of the human use of fungi, especially psychedelics

Ethnomycology is the study of the historical uses and sociological impact of fungi and can be considered a subfield of ethnobotany or ethnobiology. Although in theory the term includes fungi used for such purposes as tinder, medicine and food, it is often used in the context of the study of psychoactive mushrooms such as psilocybin mushrooms, the Amanita muscaria mushroom, and the ergot fungus.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stoned ape theory</span> Theory of cognitive development in early humans

The stoned ape theory is a controversial theory first proposed by American ethnobotanist and mystic Terence McKenna in his 1992 book Food of the Gods. The theory claims that the transition from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens and the cognitive revolution was caused by the addition of psilocybin mushrooms, specifically the mushroom Psilocybe cubensis, into the human diet around 100,000 years ago. Using evidence largely based on studies from Roland L. Fischer et al. from the 1960s and 1970s, he attributed much of the mental strides made by humans during the cognitive revolution to the effects of psilocybin intake found by Fischer.

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Entheogenic drugs have been used by various groups for thousands of years. There are numerous historical reports as well as modern, contemporary reports of indigenous groups using entheogens, chemical substances used in a religious, shamanic, or spiritual context.

References

  1. Solomon, Avi (June 9, 2011). Interview: Dennis McKenna. BoingBoing.net. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "Heffter - Our Board Of Directors". Archived from the original on April 29, 2014. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  3. "Famous University Of Hawaii Alumni". Ranker. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  4. Pinchbeck, Daniel (2003). Breaking Open the Head: A Psychedelic Journey into the Heart of Contemporary Shamanism . Broadway Books. pp. 231–8. ISBN   0767907434.
  5. Dennis McKenna (April 7, 2011), The Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss!, Kickstarter.com, retrieved December 25, 2012
  6. "Full cast and crew", DMT: The Spirit Molecule, IMDb, 2010
  7. The Evolver Convergence, Facebook, retrieved December 25, 2012
  8. "Dennis McKenna".
  9. Joe Rogan Podcast No. 298 – Dennis McKenna on YouTube
  10. "Dennis McKenna psychedelic Indiana Jones Cosmic Echo". September 18, 2018.