Grow Medicine

SUPPORT PLANT MEDICINE CONSERVATION & RIGHT RELATIONSHIP WITH INDIGENOUS CULTURES​

Grow Medicine is a project of the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund

Imagine...

the psychedelic movement in 10 or 20 years from now.

What do you see?

As the world comes to embrace the healing potential of sacred medicines, how do we ensure the original stewards of these medicines are uplifted, honored, and supported in this search for our collective healing?

WE ENVISION
a future WHERE

Indigenous Peoples,
their medicines, & traditional knowledge are honored, respected, and supported to thrive for generations to come.

 A future where humanity can live in harmony with nature.

Indigenous “keystone” medicines and the traditional cultures and ecologies in which they exist are at risk of being destroyed, lost, and forgotten – along with the traditional knowledge embedded within them.

Grow Medicine is a powerful bridge to build trust between indigenous traditional knowledge holders and the psychedelic and medicine community.
If we want to avoid the psychedelic field becoming yet another extractive industry based on a Western, reductionist mentality,

we need to engage in best practices now.

GROW MEDICINE IS AN

Easy-to-use Platform that empowers the psychedelic Community

to embody these best practices to ensure that cultural and biological diversity is maintained on the planet.

Sign up to support the Launch of GrowMedicine

May 31st launch date

THE PURPOSE OF

GROW MedicineIS two-FOLD:

1.

“Benefit Sharing” through Donation:

Share the benefits you receive from your psychedelic and plant medicine experiences by giving back to support plant medicine conservation and the biocultures from which they come.

Benefit Sharing Through Donation-Based Platform

  1. Grow Medicine makes it easily accessible for the psychedelic and medicine community to make a donation to well-vetted, trusted organizations that are Indigenous-led. 
  2. These organizations aim to strengthen Indigenous communities in their efforts to conserve keystone plant medicines and traditional knowledge they rely on for their healing and cultural survival.
  3. Your donation supports Indigenous rights and sovereignty, plant medicine conservation, biocultural diversity, and community health so these communities can thrive for generations to come. 
  4. We help to empower the psychedelic community to make choices that respect and honor the ecologies and cultures that make these medicine experiences available and possible.

    This is how we embody the practice of “Right Relationship.”

2.

Education:

Donation is just the tip of the iceberg. Grow Medicine is here to broaden and shift our perspectives and understanding around the impact of our choices and the threats these biocultures face.

Grow Medicine Works To:

  • Inform and educate the psychedelic and medicine community about the impact of our choices around plant medicine consumption, including the risks and threats these biocultures face. 
  • Inspire the community to shift from an extractive, reductionistic mentality to a more whole systems approach to plant medicine conservation that understands the symbiotic relationship between plants, land, culture and communities.
  • Educate the community about best practices, the importance of understanding what benefit-sharing means and how we, as individuals benefiting from these experiences, can participate in it. 

The educational content we share through Grow Medicine is in alignment with

Indigenous voices and models right-relationship principles with indigenous communities and ancestral traditions.

All content has been approved by the IMC Education Committee, an advisory council consisting of indigenous representatives from each of the keystone medicines and the biocultures from which they come.

Click here to learn more about the Grow Medicine Advisory Council. 

Grow Medicine Is Built ON THE

core principles of:

  • 1.

    Right relationship

  • 2.

    Solidarity based support

  • 3.

    Plant medicine conservation

  • 4.

    Protecting & honoring traditional knowledge

  • 5.

    Indigenous sovereignty & Autonomy

  • 6.

    Bio-cultural diversity

  • 7.

    Do no harm

In Partnership With The Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund,

Grow Medicine Aims to:
  • Build a new philanthropic paradigm of right relationship and trust between Indigenous communities and the broader psychedelic community. 
  • Ensure conservation strategies are Indigenous-led 
  • Advance the realization and recognition of Indigenous Peoples rights. 
  • Work to ensure strategies are in place that reduce harm from increasing global pressure on sacred medicines. 
  • Strengthen traditional medicines and the Indigenous cultures that steward them. 
  • Amplify the voices of traditional knowledge holders and the crucial importance of the health of their cultures for humanity and the planet.

GROW MEDICINE SUPPORTS

BIOCULTURAL DIVERSITY

to thrive for generations to come

What does “Right Relationship” mean?

The concept of “right relationship” is central to many indigenous cultures, and reflects an animistic perspective that all-natural elements in the world have a soul and spiritual presence. 

And because everything is alive we live in relationship with all the elements, the land, air and water, plants and animals, our ancestors and fellow human beings.  

Right relationship speaks to a core understanding of the interconnectedness and a recognition of the inability to compartmentalize. Being in right relationship is a way of talking about living in a sustainable, balanced, harmonious, and loving way with all living beings and with all of nature.

What Does “Do No Harm” Mean?

Do no harm means we are engaging with precautionary principles. This means we need to slow down and think about the future we want to be contributing to and consider the potential unintended consequences that may result from the actions we take. 

When considering harvesting or consuming medicines, attending plant medicine ceremonies, influencing policy changes, or traveling to other countries seeking plant medicine experiences, we need to consider the principle of “do no harm” to prevent the perpetuation of ecological damage or cultural and social disruption. In some cases, this might mean refraining from the use of medicines to support the conservation of it. 

What does “solidarity-based support” mean?

Solidarity-based support means unequivocally supporting Indigenous people on their terms. It requires first and foremost listening and then providing support in a way that is being requested and asked for.

Solidarity-based support is built on the foundation of Unity, as related to the principle of do no harm. Offering solidarity-based support is how we stay in right relationship, so we can be good allies with Indigenous knowledge holders and communities. 

By participating in benefit-sharing through Grow Medicine, it means you unify behind this vision and mission that was created by these traditional knowledge holders.

What is a bioculture?

A biocultural approach to conservation reflects the dynamic interconnected relationship that exists between cultural and biological diversity. 

If we want to support the thriving of traditional knowledge holders and their communities, we need to look at the entirety of the intertwined relationship between biology, ecology, social structures, cultural knowledge, etc, not as isolated parts, but within an interconnected whole.

Bioculture

"is a term that somehow invites attention to the connections – tangible and intangible – between local cultures, territorial governance systems, sustainable livelihood traditions, and the experience of sacredness. Furthermore, it bolsters claims of significance and rights in ways that simultaneously convey beauty, responsibility, wholeness, caring.”

~ Ken Wilson

THERE ARE TWO

Major Shifts in Perspectives

We Invite You To Consider

Narratives and the stories we tell ourselves influence our behaviors.

FROM

To

EXTRACTIVE &REDUCTIONIST

to

WHOLE SYSTEMS & REGENERATIVE

1.

From Extractive & Reductionist TO Whole Systems & Regenerative

“Giving back” after a psychedelic or sacred medicine experience is a great place to start.
AND supporting the conservation of sacred medicines goes much deeper and extends far beyond simply replanting what we consume, to make sure your future consumptive needs are being met.

This is one of the primary ways we hope to inspire a shift in thinking.

If we stay stuck in this mindset of simply replacing what we consume, we are directly perpetuating an extractive and reductionist mentality, further contributing to the problem. 

When we imagine the psychedelic space ten to twenty years from now, much more important than simply increasing the supply of medicines to meet demand, we need to support the future of biocultural diversity and the safety and health of traditional cultures around the world.

By solely focusing on the narrative of plant medicine conservation without considering the larger perspective of biocultural diversity,WE ARE PERPETUATING OUR BLINDSPOT OF EXTRACTIONIST MENTALITY.

This means we’re continuing to engage in the same behaviors that led to entitled and extractivist actions, rather than taking action that honors and supports traditional knowledge holders.

This is because we can’t isolate or separate sacred medicines from their deeply interconnected relationship to people, community, ecosystems, and culture. 

Grow medicine takes a whole systems approach by supporting the symbiotic relationship that people have to land, sacred medicines, and all of nature. 

By supporting Grow Medicine, you are participating in a sacred way of life.  

WHAT DOES
“KeySTONE” MEDICINE
MEAN?

Keystone is an ecological term defined as “irreplaceable; without substitute; an essential component of an ecology and culture.”

Think about a traditional arch that’s built with rocks. Right at the top of the arch is the keystone. 

This is where the name comes from.

If you take the keystone out, then the whole arch falls down. A keystone organism, a keystone culture, keystone bioculture, keystone medicine, shows that if you remove it, then the whole system falls apart without it.

Reciprocity

VS.

BENEFITSHARING

2.

Reciprocity vs. Benefit Sharing

It’s wonderful that so many people are starting to become aware of the importance of reciprocity. However, we’re just not there yet.

We are intentionally choosing NOT to use the language of reciprocity.

Reciprocity is not transactional, it’s relational. And it starts with consent and has mutual exchange in it.
The biocultures that holds the heritage rights and responsibilities to a medicine haven’t given universal consent for widespread use.

benefit sharing IS EASY TO UNDERSTAND.

When you make a donation through Grow Medicine

you are engaging in benefit sharing which is different than reciprocity.

Benefit sharing is described as “the action of giving a portion of advantages or profits derived from the use of genetic resources or traditional knowledge to Indigenous communities in order to achieve justice in exchange”.

If you are a Facilitator, part of a community, organization, or academic institution,

and you are benefiting either financially, personally, or socially off of heritage molecules and traditional and cultural artifacts,

then best practice is to share those benefits with traditional knowledge holders of these medicines.

Grow Medicine

PROVIDES PSYCHEDELIC ENTHUSIASTS AN EASILY ACCESSIBLE WAY TO ENGAGE IN BENEFIT SHARING

In alignment with specific requests of Indigenous communities.

This is how we stay in Right Relationship and contribute to a future we can all be proud of.

benefit sharing

is based off of a global standard developed over 30 years ago by hundreds of indigenous leaders, called

The Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing.

What is the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing?

ABS is an international agreement to conserve biodiversity, and was created in 2010 as a supplementary agreement to the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
The aim of the Nagoya Protocol is to provide a framework for the fair and equitable sharing of benefits (both monetary and non-monetary) arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, thus contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and respecting the rights of cultural heritage.

This is incredibly important for us to understand,

especially during the time where humanity stands on the precipice of the sixth greatest extinction,
and we find ourselves here directly as a result of human behavior. Therefore humans have a responsibility, and taking action that supports biocultural biodiversity is directly related to ensuring biodiversity and cultural diversity are thriving for the next seven generations.

GROWING AWARENESS

AND EXPANDING YOUR THINKING

Benefit sharing is about benefiting these traditional knowledge holders in a way THEY are asking for.
This is solidarity-based support in action.

Maybe a particular Indigenous community doesn’t need support in conserving their medicine, maybe they need support in gaining access to health care, clean water, or need funding to build cultural centers where their knowledge can be passed on to the next generation. 

This requires us (in the West) to put our agendas aside so we can simply show up and listen. 

WHERE IMCF + GROW MEDICINE COME IN

We understand that it’s not feasible for everyone to engage in these conversations with indigenous cultures,

which is why the Indigenous Medicine Conservation Fund has been dedicated to doing this work on the ground for the past 10 years,

acting as a bridge and building trust between indigenous traditional knowledge holders and the broader Western community.
Understanding Benefit Sharing Is a Way to Shift From Extractive to Interconnected Mindset.

Benefit-sharing is supporting an interconnected whole, not just one – medicine – aspect of it. 

If you consume a sacred medicine, you are immediately a part of a greater interconnected web, and you now have a choice as to how you want to be in right relationship with other aspects of that web that are both seen and unseen.  

Think about it on a personal level. If you drink ayahuasca in a ceremony and you experience numerous benefits that have a positive impact on your mental, emotional and spiritual health and wellbeing, you can’t isolate the impact of these benefits. These benefits ripple out, influencing many aspects of your life, including your relationships in community, family, and hopefully your connection to nature. 

The benefits we receive are multifaceted and interconnected. Benefit-sharing with Indigenous cultures mirrors this understanding to support and benefit the entirety of the lives of the traditional knowledge holders. 

Whether you are aware of it or not, your choice to drink medicine is impacting other people outside of your immediate community. Benefit-sharing is a way to honor that impact and your connection to this larger web.

Sign up to support the Launch of GrowMedicine

May 31st launch date

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