Jonathan Ott | |
|---|---|
 Ott in 2008 | |
| Born | January 6, 1949 |
| Died | July 5, 2025 (aged 76) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Author |
| Years active | 1975–2025 |
| Known for | Co-coining the word "entheogen" |
Jonathan Ott (born 1949 in Hartford, Connecticut, died in 2025) was an ethnobotanist, writer, translator, publisher, natural products chemist and botanical researcher in the area of entheogens and their cultural and historical uses, and helped coin the term " entheogen ". [1] [2]
Ott has written eight books, co-written five, and contributed to four others, and published many articles in the field of entheogens. His comprehensive 1993 book, Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic Drugs, Their Plant Sources and History has been described as one of the important works on the subject of entheogenic drugs. [3] It describes over 1,000 plants and chemical compounds. [4] He has collaborated with other researchers like Christian Rätsch, Jochen Gartz, and the late ethnomycologist R. Gordon Wasson. He translated Albert Hofmann's 1979 book LSD: My Problem Child (LSD: Mein Sorgenkind), and On Aztec Botanical Names by Blas Pablo Reko, into English. His articles have appeared in many publications, including The Entheogen Review, The Entheogen Law Reporter, the Journal of Cognitive Liberties, the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs (AKA the Journal of Psychedelic Drugs), the MAPS Bulletin, Head, High Times , Curare, Eleusis, Integration, Lloydia, The Sacred Mushroom Seeker, and several Harvard Botanical Museum pamphlets. He is a co-editor of Eleusis: Journal of Psychoactive Plants & Compounds, along with Giorgio Samorini. [5]
Ott has experience of field collecting in Mexico, where he lived and managed a small natural-products laboratory and botanical garden of medicinal herbs. A number of his ethno-botanical products have been studied to determine their possible benefits to individuals suffering various mental aberrations. In his book Ayahuasca Analogues, he identifies numerous plants around the globe containing the harmala alkaloids of Banisteriopsis caapi , which are MAOIs, and plants containing dimethyltryptamine, which together are the chemical base of the South American Ayahuasca brew.
In March 2010, Ott's home in Mexico was destroyed by arson. While most of his books survived the fire, Ott's laboratory and personal effects were destroyed in the blaze. Books given to Ott by Albert Hofmann were reportedly used as fuel. [6]
The influential ethnopharmacologist and drug researcher (Jonathan Ott) died on July 5, 2025. The exact cause of death is yet to be announced. Jonathan was 76 years old.
Born on January 6, 1949, in Hartford, Connecticut, USA, Jonathan was a natural product chemist, ethnopharmacologist, and author of numerous important books and journal articles on drug research, ethnobotany, and psychedelic culture. His work, Pharmacotheon, remains one of the most important encyclopedic books on psychoactive drug research in English. He published various articles in Lucy's Rausch, including the text "Encounters" in issue 15.
Jonathan Ott co-coined the term "entheogen" and was friends with such luminaries as Albert Hofmann, Gordon Wasson, and R.E. Schultes. He most recently lived in seclusion in the Mexican rainforest.
As soon as the cause of death is known, Lucy's Rausch will publish a detailed obituary here by Claudia Müller-Ebeling, who, along with her partner Christian Rätsch, was friends with Jonathan for many decades. [7]
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