Psychoactive Biotechnology: a process of discovery, experimentation, and utilization of biological organisms as a tool to alter the psycho-cultural experience of consciousness.

For thousands of years, remarkable plants such as peyote and “magic mushrooms,” ayahuasca and cannabis have been used as  forms of psychoactive biotechnology.

The revolutionary dimension of these plants involves the capability to transform the core of human experience: psychologically, socially, environmentally, and spiritually. Thus from Paleolithic caves to twenty-first century cities, people have used these plants for guidance in their lives. Today people are cultivating and trading, using, and researching these plants around the world. Many are also seeking legal reform. 

Our primary mission with the Psychoactive Biotechnology Project is to establish a public collection of local knowledge on innovation involving this technology. We are seeking knowledge also from around the world in order to compare local and global similarities and differences.   

For questions about the research protocol contact the University of Hawaii Ethnobotany Program at 808-956-6704