Poison Plant Unmasked

Hari Srinivasan

Prof David Presti / GSI Carson McNeil

Psych C19 Drugs and the Brain

Commentary on Page 56, Pharmako Poeia by Dale Pendell

Poison Plant Unmasked

That plants have power is without a doubt. All are plant people in the end by fact and form, whether they be the modern science-backed western medicine or Ayurveda or the African Traditional Medicine. At times the poison of plants itself is the remedy. For instance, Foxglove is toxic yet has been used to develop treatments for congestive heart failure.

My sensory experience with plants has been largely influenced by the Ayurveda treatment I received in India over 5 summers in the coconut tree filled state of Kerala in South India. I have vivid memories of the scent of Ayurveda meds freshly concocted onsite from locally grown herbs in the nearby fields. The coconut and sesame oils boiled with Ayurveda powders made for sheer tranquility during the Shirodhara and Kizhi massages. The mind would be at peace and the soul in balance for that duration at least. The breeze from the nearby Bharatapuzha river would waft the scent through the cabin even as the cows on campus would wander up to receive a treat in the evenings. Even the very effective Ayurveda mosquito repellent smoke spread in the cabins in the evenings would carry the herbal tang in the air. But in all this euphoria, our eyes are blinded to the fundamental duality in life. For opposites coexist in all planes of life.

I am the power plant. I am the poison plant

… I build, I destroy

Fundamental Duality of Life

… Knowledge interlaced with ignorance

Debate: Plain Packaging on Tobacco Products

Hari Srinivasan

Prof David Presti / GSI Carson McNeil

Psych C19 Drugs and the Brain

First Debate at Cal for Prof David Presti's  Drugs and the Brain class

My task - Opening Statement 

Debate Topic: A plain-packaging requirement for tobacco products should NOT be implemented in the USA.

Our group supports the negative motion, that plain packaging for tobacco products should not be implemented.

It is ironic that in an age where more states are legalizing marijuana, which to a large extent is smoked, there is yet another move to suppress tobacco smoking through plain packaging. Tobacco has been around from ancient times. As we learnt in our last lecture, it was the primary shamanic plant of the Americas. It was used to bind friendships and seal covenants by Native Americans. The Hookah of the east has been around since the era of Akbar the Great in India. Why should Tobacco alone be demonized, targeted and penalized? After all it is but one of the many poison plants that we are surrounded by.

We argue that plain packaging is not evidence based, infringes on our intellectual property rights, curtails freedom of speech and  increases illicit trade.