PEYOTE TO LSD: A PSYCHEDELIC ODYSSEY on The History Channel

Sunday, April19, 10pm ET/PT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 2 /PRNewswire/ — From Amazon jungles to the American Plains, British mental wards, Swiss labs, New York mansions and Grateful Dead shows, the history of hallucinogenic drugs is as fantastic as the visions the drugs produce. Wade Davis, is a modern-day anthropologist, author (“The Serpent and the Rainbow”) and protege of one of psychedelia’s most intrepid forefathers — Richard Evans Schultes. Davis traces Schultes’ life’s work as one of the greatest botanist-explorers of
the 20th century and reveals an illustrated history of the world’s most mind-altering plants and substances in: PEYOTE TO LSD: A PSYCHEDELIC ODYSSEY.

Winner of the prestigious 2008 CINE Golden Eagle Award, the documentary follows the career of Schultes, who journeyed into far-flung areas in search of ritualistic healing medicines known to produce powerful visions: Peyote, mushrooms, Ayahuasca. Davis, a former student of Schultes at Harvard and author of Schultes’ biography (“One River”), travels to the exotic locations Schultes once voyaged to, seeking the same experiences. Along the way, set to the music of the Grateful Dead and featuring input from experts such as Dead co-founder Bob Weir, plus Dr. Andrew Weil, and LSD inventor Dr. Albert Hofmann, the documentary reveals how hallucinogens got from jungle shamans to the hippie generation. Questions arise about the attitude toward psychedelics: their great potential benefits versus perceived harmful side effects. Why is it that so many ancient cultures consider hallucinogenic plants — a medicine given from God, while in today’s culture they are outlawed, and even reviled. PEYOTE TO LSD: A PSYCHEDELIC ODYSSEY is a long, strange trip that began decades ago, but is probably nowhere near its end. Even now, new uses for hallucinogens are being sought and tested by leading universities and medical institutions.

PEYOTE TO LSD: A PSYCHEDELIC ODYSSEY is produced and directed by Peter von Puttkamer of Gryphon Productions Inc. along with producer Sheera von Puttkamer and co-producer Wade Davis. Executive Producer for The History Channel is Michael Stiller.

An exhibit of Richard Evans Schultes’ photographs will run at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural Historyin Washington, DC, April 16 – November, 2008.

 

Missle Defense System: A day few Czechs will remember

Yet another mention of the USA’s proposed missile defense system in the news today. For months the current administration has been seeking to build these bases in Poland and the Czech Republic as a defense against a possible Iranian ballistic strike. Russia has been responding to the USA’s plan with disdain, perceiving the defense systems as being a little too close to home, and has even offered a location in Azerbaijan to take the place of the bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. The USA refused to accept such a compromise.When asked most Czech’s feel conflicted about the proposal and would certainly be much happier if they didn’t have to choose between the power that once occupied their country and the power that is continually encroaching on countries around the globe.

This post isn’t about the missile defense though- at least not in its entirety. On the 4th of June this year a demonstration took place in Prague to protest Bush’s arrival to the Czech Republic and his administration’s plan to build their base. I will tell you about an unprecedented event that occurred on that day, an event that was never reported by the Czech media.

A little background first: On the day Bush arrived in Prague, millions of Czech crowns were spent on security. Most people don’t really consider this but whenever Bush declares a visit a country must prepare hundreds of police officers, anti-terror squads, block of streets and other communications, and so on. On that day the Czechs planned a protest to take place on Venceslav Square. This isn’t just some random location but a place of incredible significance. Here the independent Czechoslovak state was declared in 1918, the occupation of World War II was protested against in 1945, Jan Palach burned himself alive in protest of the Soviet occupation in 1969, and the culmination of the protests which led to the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 also took place here. Since then Venceslav Square has seen countless protests.

But on June 4th 2007, no protest took place at Venceslav Square, even though it was a matter of national importance. On that day, for the first time in Czech history a protest was relocated, banned from taking place at this prominent square in the center of town, it was rescheduled to take place behind the Prague castle, where few people ever go and few would notice. The symbolism of appearing before this traditional meeting place was lost completely. The reason: It was too much of a security risk for president Bush’s visit.

Also lost was the significance of this to the Czech people. Being accustomed to protesting where they like, as seen during the CzechTek protests in front of the interior ministry, this relocation was an unexpected inconvenience, but no one seemed to realize how this marginalized the message of the demonstrators. In the USA it’s a common tactic, we are regulated to our “free speech zones” and are often arrested for not staying on the sidewalk. Any excuse is used to arrest a protester. It’s an absolutely genius method of limiting the power of the people, because no one is prohibiting our freedom to gather or our freedom to protest, we are simply being relocated to a less noticeable and less symbolic spot. It completely undermines the message because the demonstrators are taken out of context, appearing like a random group of hooligans.

Why didn’t the Czech media cover this aspect of the story? Maybe they were too focused on the “anarchists” protesting. Maybe they simply weren’t used to such political tactics. Maybe it wasn’t a intentional maneuver at all, but simply a “security issue”. But one thing is for sure…

This day will never go down in the history books.