Magic Medicine

An interesting and somewhat unusual book. I was expecting more on the magical side and less on the psychedelic one.
Recommended to those who are interested in the psychelic plants and their usage.
Many thanks to Quarto Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC

A thorough an excellent romp through the use of psychedelics from the dawn of time right through to the 21st century. There are intriguing stories, historical facts and curious questions as to the use of these banned substances. The question this book really seeks to answer is whether there is an argument for the use of these substances in the medical profession, potentially bringing relief to a number of people suffering a variety of illnesses. I really appreciated that Johnson not only discussed the history of these substances but also added information as to their growing inclusion in modern medicine, science and culture.

"Magic Medicine" is a dense and detailed read which will be of interest to a wide audience. Johnson makes the topic accessible and includes stories that really make you think about the ethics surrounding the use of these drugs. I do feel as though we have lost many years in which we could've been researching these plants due to the banning of research decades ago. Although quietly this research has now begun again it will take us many more years to discover whether these substances can be effective for particular medical conditions or whether they are simply, as many people proclaim, dangerous. Only recently have I heard about the potential benefits of psilocybin in fighting depression and as time goes on I expect many more benefits of using psychedelics to come to the fore.

I appreciate that this book will not be for everyone but I found it so interesting. I can honestly see these sort of things being useful in the future for selected medical conditions. Unfortunately, we are still an awful long way away from finding out what they can be useful in treating. A well-researched title that I imagine would've taken a substantial amount of time to compile.

Many thanks to Quarto Publishing Group – Fair Winds Press for an ARC. I was not required to post a review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Have you ever wondered how a certain drug/psychedelic/herb might work? Or where its origin of use comes from? This book offers the answers. Apart from that, there is a lot of background information about certain psychedelics, e.g. cannabis and spirituality, cannabis as a healing herb.

#MagicMedicine #NetGalley

A very educational book about the natural psychedelic plants. The catalog is large and contains a complete historical and chemistry profile of each plant. Recent research focus on the use of psychedelic plants in the domain modern psychiatry. I think that this book will be a good reference book for medical school students and pharmacology.

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MAGIC MEDICINE is a comprehensive and very entertaining Magical Mystery Tour of psychedelic plants, their history and use as psychotropic and healing substances. Includes current medical application for reduction of suicide, stress, alcoholism, and post traumatic stress disorder. Extensively researched and well presented. 5/5

Thanks to Quarto Publishing Group – Fair Winds Press and NetGalley for the ARC. Opinions are mine.

#MagicMedicine #NetGalley

Magic Medicine opened my eyes to a variety of new plants and animals that are used as psychedelics. While I was less interested in their experiences, the information on research for these as true medicines was fascinating. I knew some of these worked but I know that the war on Drugs has changed how they can be used for treatment. I can speak from experience about the relief from cannabis oil and have seen a health and spiritual revolution of a friend who went through the ibogaine ritual. I am glad that these medicines aren't being forgotten and I hope we see real response to their medical value.

I have to say that this is a bold book for both the author and the publisher. Most of the substances covered are things that have never and would never enter my body, but I found it interesting to read about them in such a straightforward way.

It's divided into four sections. Classical Psychedelics has things like Peyote, DMT, LSD and a few less familiar substances. Empathogenics covers MDA and MDNA (Ecstasy). Dissociative Psychedelics includes Ketamine, Salvia and Nitrous Oxide as well as one I never heard of called DMX. Unique Psychedelics covers Cannabis, which I wouldn't class as a psychedelic at all, and a few weird things like fish and sea sponges and mad honey. It appears to be the miscellaneous chapter.

The Introduction on the future of psychedelic medicine points out that many of these substances were invented for medicinal use, or in the case of natural substances like Cannabis and Peyote, used historically by Shamen. I hadn't known there was actually an organization called MAPS, the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, that advocates proper research on psychedelics and is pushing to have them accepted into mainstream medicine.

The author is undeniably pro-psychedelics and I think even glosses over some of the down sides, but he cites research I've read about elsewhere of substances like MDMA being used successfully to treat PTSD and some forms of depression. The overall tone of the book is mostly scientific.

The history of where each substance came from and chemical compound information is covered, followed by a relation of what the experience is like, keeping in mind that such experiences are subjective. Famous names like Timothy Leary crop up in appropriate places as well as some lesser known names of researchers like Sasha Shulgin, who may be well known among those who study this subject but new to people like myself.

Therapeutic use of some substances is also explained as well as follow-on recreational use. The refreshing, no holds barred approach allows complete information regardless of legal status or morality police opinion.

Extensive references and index are included. The book would be appropriate to a medical library, though I found it very interesting for personal reading.

This is a great book. It is filled with all kinds of cool historical facts on the medicinal uses of all kinds of psychedelic drugs. I had hoped this would be a little less educational and a little more fun but overall it made for a good read.