A historical overview of the use of psychoactive substances Wulf Mirko Weinreich
Since time immemorial psychoactive substances play an important role in religion and healing. While it mostly concerns the restoration of normal waking consciousness in today’s medicine, certain substances have been used in the past mainly for obtaining exceptional waking consciousness states. The presentation gives an overview of the most important substances / groups of substances including their natural sources and bring examples of their use in spiritual and therapeutic contexts from shamanism to current medical studies.