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undergrounder
fluffy bunny
Registered: 11/10/06
Posts: 1,394
Loc: Sydney
Last seen: 1 year, 9 months
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Dr Rick Strassman's new Research Foundation
#8055090 - 02/22/08 02:38 AM (16 years, 29 days ago) |
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I just got an email from Rick Strassman:
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Dear Friends:
Consciousness is a subject of increasing scientific inquiry in the West. One particular aspect of this research involves how psychoactive medicines affect consciousness. We at the Cottonwood Research Foundation will begin to address some of the most perplexing mysteries of the human mind with the aid of plant-based psychoactive compounds. For example, What are the varieties of human consciousness, and their genetic, biochemical and physiological bases? What are the medical, social, and spiritual implications of these different states, and how can we best apply these states towards healing, creativity, and greater wisdom?
For thousands of years, historical and indigenous cultures have used plant medicines to reliably induce extraordinarily compelling non-ordinary and mystical states of consciousness. Western science has only begun to tap the vast resources of traditional knowledge regarding these plants and their effects. By bringing to bear multiple scientific, anthropological, and spiritual perspectives, we will pursue several important goals: 1) develop a more thorough understanding of these plants’ psychological and physical healing properties; 2) explore the states they elicit, in order to gain a deeper and broader understanding of the range of human consciousness; 3) determine how plant-based psychoactive medicines affect consciousness; and 4) clarify the role these compounds, found in our own bodies, play in dreams, mystical and near-death states, creativity, and mental illness.
The work I performed during the early-1990’s at the University of New Mexico with DMT, a naturally occurring psychoactive, was the first new clinical research with these compounds in the US in two decades. Our founding of Cottonwood is intended to help revitalize the lagging pace of American research with this and other classical psychoactive compounds since my studies were interrupted in 1995.
We have already started our first research project. Our vice-president Dr. Steven Barker at Louisiana State University is developing a new ultra-sensitive method of measuring naturally occurring DMT and related compounds in the body. By doing so, we will be able to compare normal levels with those found in naturally occurring highly altered states and clinical conditions. We also held our inaugural fund-raiser in Taos, in which Beatriz Labate, a noted Brazilian anthropologist, presented her field research concerning the burgeoning Brazilian ayahuasca religions movement.
Our most enduring legacy will be the establishment of a thriving, independent research center in northern New Mexico structured in the manner of an institute of higher learning, with treatment, education, and research departments and activities. This campus will include living and dining accommodations, research, laboratory, and information technology facilities, a greenhouse, library, and classrooms. Integral to our vision is a vigorous exchange program with indigenous healers and teachers, which will inform our development of new models for the study and application of plant-based psychoactive medicines.
We invite you to help us build a strong foundation for a new model of consciousness studies in the West. It is only with your support and involvement that we can make this dream a reality.
We welcome any and all contributions, monetary or in-kind. All donations are tax deductible, as Cottonwood is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization.
With warm regards,
Rick Strassman MD President and Co-Founder
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http://www.cottonwoodresearch.org/Cottonwood_Research_Founda.html
-------------------- RIP Bigger and bolder and rougher and tougher in other words sucka there is no other...
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MushroomTrip
Dr. Teasy Thighs
Registered: 12/02/05
Posts: 14,794
Loc: red panda village
Last seen: 3 years, 15 days
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Re: Dr Rick Strassman's new Research Foundation [Re: undergrounder]
#8055133 - 02/22/08 03:18 AM (16 years, 29 days ago) |
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Thanks for posting that.
-------------------- All this time I've loved you And never known your face All this time I've missed you And searched this human race Here is true peace Here my heart knows calm Safe in your soul Bathed in your sighs
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redgreenvines
irregular verb
Registered: 04/08/04
Posts: 38,007
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Re: Dr Rick Strassman's new Research Foundation [Re: MushroomTrip]
#8055353 - 02/22/08 07:19 AM (16 years, 29 days ago) |
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there is no keeping that carney act down is there? how about that videator? good thing these doctors have other jobs.
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undergrounder
fluffy bunny
Registered: 11/10/06
Posts: 1,394
Loc: Sydney
Last seen: 1 year, 9 months
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Re: Dr Rick Strassman's new Research Foundation [Re: redgreenvines]
#8055535 - 02/22/08 08:47 AM (16 years, 29 days ago) |
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Quote:
redgreenvines said: there is no keeping that carney act down is there? how about that videator? good thing these doctors have other jobs.
I think good on 'em for trying. There's very little money in 'consciousness' research because it bares no direct medical benefit that pharmaceutical companies can payroll. But understanding consciousness and how it is created is central to what defines us as being alive in this world.
I think the direct focus on entheogenic plants is risky, but who else in the world is trying something like this in any kind of scientific way. At least they're willing to broach this subject in the first place in the face of such widespread condemnation. Good on them.
-------------------- RIP Bigger and bolder and rougher and tougher in other words sucka there is no other...
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Entropymancer
Registered: 07/16/05
Posts: 10,207
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Re: Dr Rick Strassman's new Research Foundation [Re: undergrounder]
#8055556 - 02/22/08 08:59 AM (16 years, 29 days ago) |
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:sends in resume:
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Sophistic Radiance
Free sVs!
Registered: 07/11/06
Posts: 43,135
Loc: Center of the Universe
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Re: Dr Rick Strassman's new Research Foundation [Re: Entropymancer]
#8055672 - 02/22/08 09:43 AM (16 years, 29 days ago) |
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Dr. Strassman is a smart guy, anyway. He mentioned wanting to do this in The Spirit Molecule. It'll be interesting to see how it all pans out.
-------------------- Enlil said: You really are the worst kind of person.
Edited by Tchan909 (02/22/08 09:53 AM)
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SLAG
shirm whisperer
Registered: 02/14/08
Posts: 302
Last seen: 12 years, 10 months
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funny...thats the whole reason why i have done psychodelics this whole time. fun to see where i can get to in my brain. this will be good. who knows, maybe he'll find something truly amazing.
Edited by SLAG (02/22/08 04:56 PM)
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04281969
Hobbyist
Registered: 08/09/06
Posts: 1,406
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Re: Dr Rick Strassman's new Research Foundation [Re: SLAG]
#8057832 - 02/22/08 06:35 PM (16 years, 28 days ago) |
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The Trippy Institute of Technology sounds great. Everybody loves a TIT. I'd love to go for a few weeks, or maybe up to a month even (for the advanced degree). That would be a fun, educational vacation. They better have hot tubs.
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libertaire
liberator
Registered: 08/06/08
Posts: 4,204
Last seen: 3 years, 8 months
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Re: Dr Rick Strassman's new Research Foundation [Re: undergrounder]
#9556568 - 01/06/09 08:46 AM (15 years, 2 months ago) |
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This is pretty old, but I though it should be bumped.
I just came across his research institute, thanks to a torrent of "The Spirit Molecule" I downloaded, which included a manuscript of that very e-mail you posted. I think it is really exciting that legitimate scientists are saying phooey to the mainstream way of thinking about these compounds and putting some serious research into what their purpose is in the grand scheme of things. I can't wait to see what it brings later on down the road.
Also, for those wondering about the movie, like I am, there's some info about that on the news section of that site. (updated in december)
Edited by libertaire (01/06/09 08:47 AM)
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