The second installment of our article on the positions of non-cannabis-focused political parties regarding cannabis. Read the first part.

by Jean-Pierre Chaumeil

Since 1971, Jean-Pierre CHAUMEIL, a French ethnologist, has spent several periods in the Peruvian Amazon, especially among the Yagua of the northeastern region, with whom he lived for more than three years together with his wife. His primary interest is the comparative study of shamanism and, more generally, everything surrounding the new forms of religiosity in the Amazon. He is the author of several books, among them “Voir, savoir, pouvoir” (Ed. de l’EHESS, Paris, 1983) and “Ñihamwo” (CAAAP, Lima, 1987). A research officer at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), he belongs to its Amerindian Anthropology Research Team (France).

The hyperactivity syndrome is in vogue. Who doesn't know a child diagnosed with ADHD taking prescription methylphenidate? At first glance, detecting and treating an illness seems positive, but reality is far more complex than it appears.

Since remote antiquity, indigenous peoples in the Americas consumed hallucinogenic plants, attributing to them the power to heal, commune with deities, and access diverse powers. The Americas are home to the greatest diversity of plants containing psychoactive principles. These plants contain chemical substances capable of giving rise to altered states of consciousness and sensory changes.