Time, November 29, 2023
Author: Noah Whiteman
Humans rely on a strange set of natural chemicals to energize what we eat and drink, to endure pain and to help us change perspective. We use caffeine extracted from coffee, tea and yerba mate to stimulate the body and mind, capsaicin from red peppercorns, or isothiocyanates from horseradish or wasabi to season our food, and codeine or morphine to withstand pain caused by injuries or surgery.
However, lately some people are also turning to psychedelics such as psilocybin to alter their perception. In fact, researchers are already testing the possibility of using these substances to treat mental health problems.
With that in mind, the big question is why plants, mushrooms and microbes, and even some animals, produce chemicals with life-saving, life-enhancing and even life-ending properties. My job as an evolutionary biologist studying the ancient battle between plants and herbivores is precisely to answer this question. In doing so, we can gather essential information about the potential risks and benefits of using chemicals that have been forged by evolution to our advantage.
Let's look at five examples. Botulinum toxin, produced by some bacteria to paralyze their hosts, is both one of the deadliest natural toxins known to science and the active ingredient in the anti-wrinkle drug Botox. The chemical used by bread mold to repel enemy bacteria is also the wonder drug penicillin. A powerful insecticide produced by closely related plants is also the world's most widely used psychoactive drug - caffeine. A poison produced by yews to prevent the growth of caterpillars is also the powerful anti-cancer drug known as Taxol, which prevents the growth of rapidly dividing cells, such as those contained by malignant tumors. The venom that the sea snail uses to paralyze fish also contains the powerful painkiller ziconotide.
It seems that these chemicals have been tailor-made for us. However, no human being was present when these organisms developed the ability to produce them. If you look closely, you can see that in most cases we have merely intercepted the chemical weapons used in what Charles Darwin defined as "nature's war". Simply put, many of the baroque chemicals we use and abuse appeared on the planet to increase the chances of survival of the organisms that produce them or absorb them through food or their microbiomes. [...]
Natural psychedelics are the talk of the town right now. Psychedelics are chemicals that bind to and activate our brain's serotonin receptors. [...]
Just as natural psychedelics have evolved independently in many organisms, so has their use by indigenous peoples around the world, who use them in medicine, spiritual practices and more. Despite being a major taboo in modern Western societies, psychedelic chemicals are emerging as a form of therapy for a wide range of mental health problems that are resistant to treatment, from alcohol addiction to post-traumatic stress. [...]
When evaluating their medicinal potential, I am an advocate of letting psychedelics work to analyze their safety and efficacy by subjecting them to clinical trials of different kinds, the gold standard of medicine. I believe that psychedelics have enormous therapeutic potential for a wide range of mental health problems. Perhaps they could even have helped my father [...]
