Wednesday, June 29th, 2022 from 12:00-1:30pm PST

Join James Bradford in conversation with Bia Labate about the history, politics, and economics of opium and psychedelics. James, author of Poppies, Politics, and Power: Afghanistan and the Global History of Drugs and Diplomacy, is one of the leading historians of drugs in Afghanistan and South Asia. His work explores the relationship between drug use and trade, with broader global forces such as economic development, state formation, and international diplomacy. Our conversation will explore whether we should consider opium a “sacred plant,” and address such questions as: Has contemporary issues surrounding opioids, such as the opioid epidemic, fentanyl, etc, clouded our understanding of opium’s longer historical role in human society? Are recent trends in psychedelics, such as the impact of the psychedelics-as-medicine and psychedelic-based businesses, mirroring what happened historically to opium? What lessons can we learn from opium that may help us better understand the future of psychedelics?

📷James Bradford is Associate Professor of History at Berklee College of Music. He is one of the leading historians of drugs in Afghanistan and South Asia, and is the the author of Poppies Politics and Power: Afghanistan and the Global History of Drugs and Diplomacy. James has written numerous articles and chapters, most notably for Iranian Studies, The Oxford Handbook of Global Drug History, Cannabis; Global Histories, as well as, The War on Drugs: 50 Years, A Trillion Dollars, and 30 Million Arrests. He has appeared on English Al Jazeera , various podcasts, as well as giving lectures at Yale and other universities. He teaches classes on the history of politics of drugs, crime, and human rights at Berkley. He is also the creator and host for the upcoming podcast, Artists on Drugs, where he interviews some of the worlds most prominent artists about the role of drugs in their lives and art.

📷Dr. Beatriz Caiuby Labate (Bia Labate) is a queer Brazilian anthropologist based in San Francisco. She has a Ph.D. in social anthropology from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Brazil. Her main areas of interest are the study of plant medicines, drug policy, shamanism, ritual, religion, and social justice. She is Executive Director of the Chacruna Institute for Psychedelic Plant Medicines (https://chacruna.net, https://chacruna-iri.org, https://chacruna-la.org). She serves as Public Education and Culture Specialist at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), and Adjunct Faculty at the East-West Psychology Program at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). She is also Diversity, Culture, and Ethics Advisor at the Synthesis Institute. Additionally, she is a co-founder of the Interdisciplinary Group for Psychoactive Studies (NEIP) in Brazil and editor of its site. She is author, co-author, and co-editor of twenty-five books, two special-edition journals, and several peer-reviewed articles (https://bialabate.net).

This talk will be recorded and immediately available for rewatch for all attendees.

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Panacea or Pariah? Rethinking the History of Opium as a Sacred Plant