A Brief History of How We Got Into This Mess

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The following is excerpted from The Wastewater Gardener: Preserving the Planet One Flush at a Time, published by Synergetic Press.

 

“He can’t tell the shit from the shinola.” —American folk saying for incorrigible stupidity

There’s a four letter word that still awaits liberation: it is considered to be far nastier than sex, which is used to sell the global economy’s products, to entertain and enthrall people and to power our gossip, soap operas and talk radio. But this word is never brought up in polite society, certainly never at dinner table conversations, and is equally repugnant to Left and Right. Yet it’s everywhere, certainly everywhere there are people.

We employ endless euphemisms to avoid having even to say it or to think about its use and abuse: from baby talk “caca” and George W. Bush’s “deep doo-doo,” to hands up in school to request priority permission to take care of “number two.” It’s the New-Agey organic “humanure,” the dryly academic “excrement” or “human solid waste product.”

It’s also the somewhat archaic “night soil” and in the jargon of sewage professionals and recyclers, it’s “black water,” as opposed to “graywater” (all the other “wastewater” from the laundry, kitchens, sinks and showers). People go to great lengths to avoid seeing, smelling, touching, thinking about or dealing with it.

Of course, I’m talking about “shit,” a word for which many languages have negative connotations, as in “merde” (French) or “Scheiss” (German).

Sigmund Freud defined the progress of sexual development in human psychology from oral, to anal, to genital stages. Contrast the very young child’s sensuous pleasure in the process of defecation with the widespread anal-retentive behavior seen in many adults for whom the very mention of the word “shit” produces consternation.

But what if I told you that in Medieval Europe, this same substance was valued as a medicine and even used as a cosmetic for preserving the youthful appearance of a woman’s face?1 As we will later discuss in more detail, throughout the world the use of human as well as animal manure fertilizer endowed it with great value. It was regarded as a resource, not as waste to be disposed, at least in Asia until the beginning of the twentieth century. In Japan and China, “shit” is still never used as a negative word. During the Korean War US soldiers were astonished to see Korean farmers entice travelers to use their outhouse toilets so they could collect their excrement.

Ponder a popular exclamation to express wonder. The ancient Manicheans viewed the entire cosmos as a turd of God, yea verily, it is the Holy Shit!  

Facts and figures

An adult human produces about one half to one pound of waste per day. With more than seven billion people on the planet, that comes to at least three and a half billion pounds or 1.75 million tons per day; over 600 million tons, per year!

When there were only a few million humans scattered in small groups around the world, the danger of pollution from human waste was fairly small. Most cultures have an instinctive aversion to fouling the nest. People used to go out to the woods or meadows to defecate, depositing their humanure on the soil where microbes can easily decompose it and make its nutrients available for plants. Human feces can cause a multitude of diseases, including major killers endemic in the developing world: diarrhea, cholera and typhoid. Contamination and the spread of disease are found even in cultures renowned for their ecological sustainability. In the rice-paddy networks on the island of Bali and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, infant mortality rates remain high partly because drinking water is polluted by human shit.

Many cultures used to acknowledge the value of humanure as a fertilizer and developed composting practices where it was mixed with plant and vegetable waste to make topsoil. They handled the substance carefully, seeing it as a natural resource. Among the traditional cultures of China, Japan and Korea, the humanure that was produced in cities neither contaminated drinking water supplies, nor cost a city a fortune to dispose of or treat. These “farmers of forty centuries” understood the importance of returning the nutrients contained in humanure back to the farms. “Night soil” was collected by contractors who paid for the opportunity. The material was loaded into boats and sent up river to be sold to farmers who then used it for making compost or directly fertilizing their fields and crops. It was simple: a farmer grew food, shipped it to the city whose waste products were then collected and returned to the countryside. These cultures were able thus to maintain soil fertility, century after century. For the cities, the shit was a source of revenue, not a problem requiring the expense of modern sewage treatment facilities. The idea of throwing away a valuable resource and causing pollution was inconceivable.

 

Night soil
Shanghai: circa 1911. A flotilla of boats used by contractors who buy “night soil” and transport it upriver to sell to farmers for composting and ap­plication to their fields. From: F.H. King’s Farmers of Forty Centuries.

 

Indoor plumbing

As human population increased and became more urbanized, traditional collection and reuse methods became more difficult to implement. In the West, an understanding of the value of human waste as fertilizer was superseded by the convenience of using chemical fertilizers. Farm animals like draft horses and oxen were being replaced by fossil fuel- driven tractors, so a huge source of animal fertilizer and compostable material was now gone. Farmers used to be generalists, raising animals and crops. Modern farmers tend to be specialists. Today’s farms are either meat factories, where animals are raised in automated facilities and the animal waste is a problem that ends up polluting rivers and groundwater, or they are crop specialists, relying on chemical fertilizers. An unintended consequence of crop specialization is runoff of chemical fertilizers into the environment. Fertilizer runoff and sewage are the leading causes of water pollution on the planet. Chemical fertilizers, though so convenient and easy to apply, are both expensive and costly to the environment. Their production and long distance transport significantly add carbon dioxide and contribute to climate change. As much as half the chemical nitrogen applied to crops and 20% of the phosphorus washes off into groundwater, rivers, lakes and ultimately into the oceans.

There are those who see indoor plumbing as the mark of a civilized society and the solution to the epidemics that periodically broke out prior to the nineteenth century. Instead of having to venture out, especially on cold nights, to an outdoor toilet or privy, you could now conveniently defecate in the comfort of your own home. And to remove the waste, just add fresh, portable water! One benefit: no unpleasant odor when workers came to remove the contents of the outhouse. So now we have a centralized system. Send the humanure to a municipal sewage treatment plant, where trained specialists detoxify the shit and make it fit for final disposalnote: disposal, not usage.

In less densely populated urban areas and in the countryside, indoor plumbing is generally attached to a septic tank and leach field disposal system. The sewage solids are separated in the septic tank, and the remaining wastewater is percolated through perforated pipes laid in trenches of gravel in the hope it will be cleaned before it reaches groundwater. Solids (sludge) that are pumped out from the septic tank are taken to the centralized sewage treatment facility. Except, of course, in poorer countries where the sewage hauler might head for the nearest jungle, mangrove swamp or deserted lot to dump the load. Dumping costs less: less fuel expenditure and no fees need be paid to the sewage plant.

Evidence of indoor plumbing and the use of water to carry away human effluent can be traced back to examples in India, Scotland, and the famous Cloaca Maxima (Greatest Sewage System) of ancient Rome. Its modern reinvention was centered in northern Europe, especially England, starting in the late fifteenth century. Indoor plumbing had vastly improved by the late nineteenth century and rapidly caught on in the great cities. Urbanites had the astonishing modern convenience of having their water piped, rather than hauled, into their homes. But don’t forget “the law of unintended consequences” and what then came about due the wonderful convenience of indoor plumbing.

WWG Diagram
Above, a typical arrangement for getting wastewater from homes and industry to the centralized treatment plant with underground pipes and pumping stations. Combined sewage overflow indicates the use of this system for also carrying rainwater, which often results in overloading during heavy rains and diversion directly to the river/ocean. At every step of the way, this treatment and disposal approach requires money, ma­chinery and energy, and leads to pollution wherever the wastewa­ter and sludge is sent.

While some praise indoor plumbing and the flush toilet as sterling achievements, for others it is the height of insanity to use drinking water to dispose of human waste and then wash it away into large bodies of water, spreading the potential for pollution of all Earth’s water bodies.

When per capita fresh water usage in towns and cities was low because water had to be hauled into houses, waste was deposited into pit latrines or cesspools located in backyards or at some distance from dwellings (because of the odor). The accumulated waste was then transported to nearby farms for use as fertilizer. Before the nineteenth century, a city’s open “sewers” were used to disperse rainwater and urban detritus. The development of pipes bringing water into the residential buildings of nineteenth century Europe, North America and other wealthy countries also led to a huge increase in water consumption: from 5 gallons (20 liters) to 30-50 gallons (120-200 liters), per person, per day. So, once indoor plumbing came along, the backyard privy or cesspool was now fed with shit washed out through pipes, using copious amounts of fresh water. This inevitably led to overflows, a horrible stench and thence a desperate search for a solution.

The first fix was the use of open sewers to transport sewage away from population centers. This resulted in deadly outbreaks of waterborne diseases like cholera and typhoid. The next fix was to create a network of pipes to protect the population from the pathogens in raw sewage. But where should all the sewage go? Arguments raged between those who wanted to send it to fields as fertilizer, and those who favored sending it to the closest river, lake or coastal water for disposal. It was won by the latter. The mantra was “running water purifies itself.” Not really, and not sufficiently for cities downstream which now had to use water that was seriously polluted. The next techno-fix was downstream cities filtering and then disinfecting the water with chlorine before using it. Now that previously unpolluted aquatic ecosystems were polluted with human waste and excessive nutrients, the need arose for yet another techno-fix: “treating” the wastewater. Thus evolved the modern sewage treatment plant, designed to clean and disinfect wastewater before discharging it into a river or ocean.

Problems have arisen with this approach. The pollution of waters is now virtually everywhere. The reason is simple: where do you send those millions of gallons of effluent—the liquid waste, increased in volume by the water needed to flush it away? The amount of water needed per human bowel movement can be as much as 5 gallons (20 liters) with old style toilets, down to 1 to 2 gallons (4-8 liters) with modern, water-conserving flush toilets. If 2 billion people are using a centralized sewage system and visit the loo twice a day, that’s between 2 and 10 billion gallons (8 to 40 billion liters) of sewage water per day. If it takes one or two thousand tons of water to move each ton of shit, it’s lucky that most cities are adjacent to a river, lake or an ocean.

Royal Loo
The Royal Loo – the velvet lined toilet of King Henry VIII at Hampton Court, near London.

In rural areas septic tank systems release wastewater which percolates down into the water table. Where the population is low, or where there are deep aquifers, there is little problem with this situation. Where the water table is closer to the surface or population density is high, groundwater is at risk of contamination. Few realize that even in developed, urbanized countries like the United States, over a quarter of the population send their waste to septic tank and leach drain systems, not to centralized sewage treatment plants.

This huge waste of water is unsustainable. It would be one thing if the water used to flush was of low quality. It isn’t. We use fresh, potable water. Human excrement contains 5-7% nitrogen and 3-5% phosphorus, two valuable nutrients, understood as critical for plant growth because of their relative scarcity and irreplaceability being flushed down the toilet in the name of hygiene.

Crapper
An Advertisement for Thomas Crapper’s improved flush toilet, late 19th century. Argument rages over whether he invented the siphon device that dramat­ically reduced the amount of water needed for flushing, but he certainly helped make it widely known and adopted.

I can’t resist sharing an anecdote before we leave the topic of indoor plumbing. In the mid-nineteenth century, an Englishman named Thomas Crapper was marketing his new invention: an improved indoor toilet seat with a water siphoning system to regulate the amount of water needed for flushing. Previously, a vast amount of water was wasted since the amount used was determined by the userturn on the water until it washed all the solids away. But now you could pull a chain and a regulated amount of water would flush your waste away. Thomas was rewarded by being appointed plumber to the Royal Family. It did not occur to him that his name and invention would be immortalized in the English speaking world. American soldiers, for example, who saw the name on English plumbing fixtures, during World War One, would say: “Excuse me, but I’ve got to go to the ‘crapper.’”

 

The Solution to Pollution is Dilution

Why is dilution considered acceptable? Well, believe it or not, the adage of sanitary engineers of old was “the solution to pollution is dilution.” In other words, they imagined that there’s enough water in that river, lake, or ocean which will dilute the sewage we put into it, to the point where it’s not a problem any longer. Consider the corollary in trying to solve air pollution problems. It would be to build smokestacks ever taller so that the pollutants in the air can’t be smelled or deposited locally. Instead they just get dispersed in the air currents of the upper atmosphere. The entire global atmosphere is thought of as large enough to make the problem disappear.

Another consequence of indoor plumbing and centralized sewage disposal was that it was decided that the same solution should be applied to industrial waste. This was very convenient for industry, since taxpayer dollars could be used to pay for removing its waste. So, in “advanced countries” pipes carry away both the relatively innocuous humanure and other wastewater from the family home as well as the chemicals from dry cleaners, photo labs, food processing plants and factories. A dizzying variety of man-made chemicals have been thrust into our environment, including deadly pesticides as well as heavy metals. The presence of these compounds has made the disposal or reuse of sewage sludge (the solids removed at the sewage plant) much more difficult and hazardous as long-term health consequences are little understood. Application of sewage sludge on land as a fertilizer raises the danger of further contamination of soil and water, and of uptake by crops. Amazingly, this subsidy that industry enjoys and the environmental and economic costs of mixing human and industrial sewage, is rarely discussed. Separating industrial waste from domestic waste would now be very difficult since a huge infrastructure has been built in the world’s cities, based on the notion that it was okay to mix them in the first place.

The thinking behind indoor plumbing and centralized sewage treatment plants was based on the ease with which one could dispose of the nasty stuff and a recognition of the health hazards associated with waste disposal. Contact with improperly treated shit can spread disease. These diseases are at devastating and increasing levels in the poorer, developing countries of the world. The “North,” the developed world, suffers from problems caused by indoor plumbing, i.e., polluted water bodies and increasing difficulty in disposing of industrial sludge and the need for expensive sewage disposal infrastructure. The “South,” the developing world (formerly called “the Third World”) faces a different problem. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) estimates that more than a billion people lack access to clean drinking water and three billion people lack access to adequate sanitation. In developing countries, 95% of the sewage is discharged untreated, polluting groundwater, rivers, lakes and coastal areas. Since groundwater, rivers and lakes supply drinking water, the consequences to health are dire. Over a billion people in these developing countries suffer from diseases caused by contaminated drinking water. The number of people who die each year from waterborne diseases totals three and a half million, mostly children under age five. That’s more than 9,000 people a day who die from illnesses caused by the pollution of water. Diseases caused by sewage contamination of drinking water are by far the world’s greatest killer.

Sanitary engineers of the 19th and 20th centuries can rightly point to an improvement in human hygiene due to the use of indoor plumbing and sewage systemsa vital factor in better sanitary standards, a reduction in the spread of infectious disease, a decrease in child mortality and an increase in life expectancy. But it’s now time for a paradigm shift in thinking and implementation of effective but more ecologically attuned solutions.

Human shit is not a toxic waste product and should not be treated as if it were. Throwing away vast amounts of potable water is increasingly untenable in a world facing a shortage of fresh water. Solutions to health and fresh water issues in the developing world do not have to replicate the energy-consuming, wasteful technologies that were adopted by Western countries. The costs of building and maintaining centralized sewage treatment plants are not only enormous, the world’s supply of freshwater will not permit extending these wasteful practices even to the world’s current population. Freshwater shortages and increasing water pollution are making it clear that developed countries too cannot afford to continue such practices indefinitely.

Planet Earth is two-thirds ocean. As the great inventor and thinker R. Buckminster Fuller noted, it should really be called Planet Ocean. However, 97% of our planet’s water is salty and not suitable for drinking or for irrigation. Most fresh water exists as ice, in the Polar Regions. Potable water is a precious and scarce resource.

But we are not “up the creek without a paddle.” In this book, I take you on my thirty-year odyssey around the world, looking for ways out of this shitty mess.

Notes

[1] La Porte, Dominique: History of Shit, trans. Nadia Benabid and Rodolphe el-Khoury, MIT Press, Cambridge MA, 2000, Chapter 5: Make-up, pp. 96-112.

 

Mark Nelson, PhD, is an ecosystem engineer and researcher, and one of the original “Biospherians.” He is Chairman, CEO, and a founding director of the Institute of Ecotechnics, a UK and US nonprofit organization consulting on several demonstration projects working in challenging biomes around the world. He is head of the Biospheric Design Division, Global Ecotechnics Corporation. Founder and director of Wastewater Gardens International, he designs and implements sewage treatment and recycling systems using constructed wetlands.

Wastewater-Gardner-Cover-400x514

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The Ayahuasca Experience
Ayahuasca is both a medicine and a visionary aid. You can employ ayahuasca for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual repair, and you can engage with the power of ayahuasca for deeper insight and realization. If you consider attainment of knowledge in the broadest perspective, you can say that at all times, ayahuasca heals.

 

Trippy Talk: Meet Ayahuasca with Sitaramaya Sita and PlantTeachers
Sitaramaya Sita is a spiritual herbalist, pusangera, and plant wisdom practitioner formally trained in the Shipibo ayahuasca tradition.

 

The Therapeutic Value of Ayahuasca
My best description of the impact of ayahuasca is that it’s a rocket boost to psychospiritual growth and unfolding, my professional specialty during my thirty-five years of private practice.

 

Microdosing Ayahuasca: Common Dosage Explained
What is ayahuasca made of and what is considered a microdose? Explore insights with an experienced Peruvian brewmaster and learn more about this practice.

 

Ayahuasca Makes Neuron Babies in Your Brain
Researchers from Beckley/Sant Pau Research Program have shared the latest findings in their study on the effects of ayahuasca on neurogenesis.

 

The Fatimiya Sufi Order and Ayahuasca
In this interview, the founder of the Fatimiya Sufi Order,  N. Wahid Azal, discusses the history and uses of plant medicines in Islamic and pre-Islamic mystery schools.

 

Consideration Ayahuasca for Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Research indicates that ayahuasca mimics mechanisms of currently accepted treatments for PTSD. In order to understand the implications of ayahuasca treatment, we need to understand how PTSD develops.

 

Brainwaves on Ayahuasca: A Waking Dream State
In a study researchers shared discoveries showing ingredients found in Ayahuasca impact the brainwaves causing a “waking dream” state.

 

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a pro cannabis Peruvian Shaman.

 

Ayahuasca Retreat 101: Everything You Need to Know to Brave the Brew
Ayahuasca has been known to be a powerful medicinal substance for millennia. However, until recently, it was only found in the jungle. Word of its deeply healing and cleansing properties has begun to spread across the world as many modern, Western individuals are seeking spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical well-being. More ayahuasca retreat centers are emerging in the Amazon and worldwide to meet the demand.

 

Ayahuasca Helps with Grief
A new study published in psychopharmacology found that ayahuasca helped those suffering from the loss of a loved one up to a year after treatment.

 

Ayahuasca Benefits: Clinical Improvements for Six Months
Ayahuasca benefits can last six months according to studies. Read here to learn about the clinical improvements from drinking the brew.

 

Ayahuasca Culture: Indigenous, Western, And The Future
Ayahuasca has been use for generations in the Amazon. With the rise of retreats and the brew leaving the rainforest how is ayahuasca culture changing?

 

Ayahuasca Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
The Amazonian brew, Ayahuasca has a long history and wide use. Read our guide to learn all about the tea from its beginnings up to modern-day interest.

 

Ayahuasca and the Godhead: An Interview with Wahid Azal of the Fatimiya Sufi Order
Wahid Azal, a Sufi mystic of The Fatimiya Sufi Order and an Islamic scholar, talks about entheogens, Sufism, mythology, and metaphysics.

 

Ayahuasca and the Feminine: Women’s Roles, Healing, Retreats, and More
Ayahuasca is lovingly called “grandmother” or “mother” by many. Just how feminine is the brew? Read to learn all about women and ayahuasca.

What Is the Standard of Care for Ketamine Treatments?
Ketamine therapy is on the rise in light of its powerful results for treatment-resistant depression. But, what is the current standard of care for ketamine? Read to find out.

What Is Dissociation and How Does Ketamine Create It?
Dissociation can take on multiple forms. So, what is dissociation like and how does ketamine create it? Read to find out.

Having Sex on Ketamine: Getting Physical on a Dissociative
Curious about what it could feel like to have sex on a dissociate? Find out all the answers in our guide to sex on ketamine.

Special K: The Party Drug
Special K refers to Ketamine when used recreationally. Learn the trends as well as safety information around this substance.

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

Ketamine vs. Esketamine: 3 Important Differences Explained
Ketamine and esketamine are used to treat depression. But what’s the difference between them? Read to learn which one is right for you: ketamine vs. esketamine.

Guide to Ketamine Treatments: Understanding the New Approach
Ketamine is becoming more popular as more people are seeing its benefits. Is ketamine a fit? Read our guide for all you need to know about ketamine treatments.

Ketamine Treatment for Eating Disorders
Ketamine is becoming a promising treatment for various mental health conditions. Read to learn how individuals can use ketamine treatment for eating disorders.

Ketamine Resources, Studies, and Trusted Information
Curious to learn more about ketamine? This guide includes comprehensive ketamine resources containing books, studies and more.

Ketamine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to ketamine has everything you need to know about this “dissociative anesthetic” and how it is being studied for depression treatment.

Ketamine for Depression: A Mental Health Breakthrough
While antidepressants work for some, many others find no relief. Read to learn about the therapeutic uses of ketamine for depression.

Ketamine for Addiction: Treatments Offering Hope
New treatments are offering hope to individuals suffering from addiction diseases. Read to learn how ketamine for addiction is providing breakthrough results.

Microdosing Ketamine & Common Dosages Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing ketamine.

How to Ease a Ketamine Comedown
Knowing what to expect when you come down from ketamine can help integrate the experience to gain as much value as possible.

How to Store Ketamine: Best Practices
Learn the best ways how to store ketamine, including the proper temperature and conditions to maximize how long ketamine lasts when stored.

How To Buy Ketamine: Is There Legal Ketamine Online?
Learn exactly where it’s legal to buy ketamine, and if it’s possible to purchase legal ketamine on the internet.

How Long Does Ketamine Stay in Your System?
How long does ketamine stay in your system? Are there lasting effects on your body? Read to discover the answers!

How Ketamine is Made: Everything You Need to Know
Ever wonder how to make Ketamine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how Ketamine is made.

Colorado on Ketamine: First Responders Waiver Programs
Fallout continues after Elijah McClain. Despite opposing recommendations from some city council, Colorado State Health panel recommends the continued use of ketamine by medics for those demonstrating “excited delirium” or “extreme agitation”.

Types of Ketamine: Learn the Differences & Uses for Each
Learn about the different types of ketamine and what they are used for—and what type might be right for you. Read now to find out!

Kitty Flipping: When Ketamine and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Read to explore the mechanics of kitty flipping.

MDMA & Ecstasy Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to MDMA has everything you want to know about Ecstasy from how it was developed in 1912 to why it’s being studied today.

How To Get the Most out of Taking MDMA as a Couple
Taking MDMA as a couple can lead to exciting experiences. Read here to learn how to get the most of of this love drug in your relationship.

Common MDMA Dosage & Microdosing Explained
Microdosing, though imperceivable, is showing to have many health benefits–here is everything you want to know about microdosing MDMA.

Having Sex on MDMA: What You Need to Know
MDMA is known as the love drug… Read our guide to learn all about sex on MDMA and why it is beginning to makes its way into couple’s therapy.

How MDMA is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make MDMA? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how MDMA is made.

Hippie Flipping: When Shrooms and Molly Meet
What is it, what does it feel like, and how long does it last? Explore the mechanics of hippie flipping and how to safely experiment.

How Cocaine is Made: Common Procedures Explained
Ever wonder how to make cocaine? Read our guide to learn everything you need to know about the procedures of how cocaine is made.

A Christmas Sweater with Santa and Cocaine
This week, Walmart came under fire for a “Let it Snow” Christmas sweater depicting Santa with lines of cocaine. Columbia is not merry about it.

Ultimate Cocaine Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
This guide covers what you need to know about Cocaine, including common effects and uses, legality, safety precautions and top trends today.

NEWS: An FDA-Approved Cocaine Nasal Spray
The FDA approved a cocaine nasal spray called Numbrino, which has raised suspicions that the pharmaceutical company, Lannett Company Inc., paid off the FDA..

The Ultimate Guide to Cannabis Bioavailability
What is bioavailability and how can it affect the overall efficacy of a psychedelic substance? Read to learn more.

Cannabis Research Explains Sociability Behaviors
New research by Dr. Giovanni Marsicano shows social behavioral changes occur as a result of less energy available to the neurons. Read here to learn more.

The Cannabis Shaman
If recreational and medical use of marijuana is becoming accepted, can the spiritual use as well? Experiential journalist Rak Razam interviews Hamilton Souther, founder of the 420 Cannabis Shamanism movement…

Cannabis Guide: Effects, Common Uses, Safety
Our ultimate guide to Cannabis has everything you want to know about this popular substances that has psychedelic properties.

Cannabis and Ayahuasca: Mixing Entheogenic Plants
Cannabis and Ayahuasca: most people believe they shouldn’t be mixed. Read this personal experience peppered with thoughts from a procannabis Peruvian Shaman.

CBD-Rich Cannabis Versus Single-Molecule CBD
A ground-breaking study has documented the superior therapeutic properties of whole plant Cannabis extract as compared to synthetic cannabidiol (CBD), challenging the medical-industrial complex’s notion that “crude” botanical preparations are less effective than single-molecule compounds.

Cannabis Has Always Been a Medicine
Modern science has already confirmed the efficacy of cannabis for most uses described in the ancient medical texts, but prohibitionists still claim that medical cannabis is “just a ruse.”

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