WEBVTT - Ethnobotany: How to Get Drugs from Plants 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.560 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:16.400 from house Stuff Works dot com? Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:20.599 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant, 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:25.560 and this is stuff you should know from our beloved website, 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:29.400 how stuff Works dot com. That's right, we work for 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:31.920 a website. And did you know that? Yeah? You know, 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:34.360 when people ask me what I do, like, I don't know. 0:00:34.400 --> 0:00:36.080 I met some friend Emily t other day and she's like, 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:37.639 what do you do? I always just say I work 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:40.960 for a website, and the when it starts in on stuff, 0:00:40.960 --> 0:00:43.599 I'm just like, yeah, I just I work for a website. Jo. 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.440 It's just easy that way. Not only do you work 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:48.880 for it, you are the website. Is what you should say. 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:52.200 I have lobbied for Chuck how Chuck works dot com. 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:56.880 But people would sign on to that. Man. Uh yeah, 0:00:57.280 --> 0:00:58.880 this would have been a much better way to start 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:01.400 out the future of the Internet one huh. Probably. So 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.720 instead of we're gonna go back way back, Chuck back 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:10.399 in time? Um? Is that Huey Lewis sort of He's 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:14.160 playing Tomorrow Night or tonight where I think he's doing Chastain, 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:18.479 He's doing like you know, the Memphis uh Stacks Music, 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:23.640 Memphis Soul Show, what along with your favorite Huey Lewis classics? 0:01:23.959 --> 0:01:27.479 What I did not know this? How did you not 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:29.800 tell me this? I didn't know? Would you be seriously 0:01:29.800 --> 0:01:32.399 want to go? I would totally go see Huey Lewis. Dude, 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:35.480 have you ever heard Sports? Yeah? I had Sports when 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:38.959 I was one of the greatest albums ever released. It 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:41.280 was one of the top albums of that year. From 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:44.640 beginning to finished, that was a great album. Anyway, Yes, 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:46.480 I would see Huey Lewis, and now I figured out 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:48.680 how to get there in a few hours. I don't 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:50.440 know if it's tonight, but I heard a promo for 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.280 it today on the radio, so it's good, good, good 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:56.960 to know. Um, well, Chuck, we're gonna go even further 0:01:57.040 --> 0:02:00.440 back than the height of Huey Lewis's career. We're gonna 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:03.640 go several thousand years before that. Okay, Now we'll go 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:06.960 back to about the height of Hughey Lewis's career, maybe 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:08.880 a little before it. When I was a young lad 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:11.960 and I was watching TV. Remember those time life books 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:14.760 that we talked about here there. So there was one 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:19.360 set that, um it was like Mysteries of Mankind or 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:22.720 Mysteries of History or something like that, and I remember 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:27.040 clearly it said how could ancient civilizations perform brain surgery? 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:30.560 And patients survived? And there's this kind of like did 0:02:30.600 --> 0:02:33.720 almost caveman looking guy like with like a scar on 0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:35.880 his head and he looked at the camera like, yeah, 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:39.440 I'm still alive, but it hurts, you know. I saw 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:44.840 that and I went it just captured me. Right. Well, 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:46.799 I came to find out that that was a real thing, 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:49.800 and that, apart from a lot of the stuff you 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:53.079 find in time life books, it was correct. There's such 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:56.000 a thing as trep a nation and people actually did 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:59.600 survive it. Talk about this in the lobotomies. I think 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:02.000 so because I know we had we had to of 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:06.160 But trepid nation has been around as a surgical procedure. 0:03:06.200 --> 0:03:09.840 It's brain surgery in that the brain is affected by it. 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:12.239 Sometimes they went in and poked around, but for the 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:13.920 most part it was just cutting away a piece of 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:19.280 the skull in the scalp to relieve pressure on the brain. Yeah, right, 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:21.720 And they did the same thing in a much more 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:25.400 sophisticated way these days, for like swelling of the brain. Right, 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:29.760 and some traditional societies still carry out trepid nation today. Yeah, 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:33.200 but um, as I said, it was successful, some um 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:39.520 Andian cultures showed evidence of like at success rate, which 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:43.119 is pretty good as far as I know, right, not bad. 0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:47.640 But this is a really ancient procedure. This is um Neolithic, right, 0:03:47.920 --> 0:03:50.760 seven thousand and two thousand BC. That's a long time ago. Yeah, 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:53.520 that's like, uh four to nine thousand years ago. And 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:55.680 if you think about that to nine thousand years ago, 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:58.600 if they could successfully seventy percent of the time they 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:03.120 could successfully open your skull up, well they that with 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:08.720 a hundred percent successful Yeah, but you could remove your 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:15.760 heart hundred percent success. Right. But um, so trepid nation 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:19.120 is this ancient form of surgery. And about the same time, 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:22.880 probably people started figuring out that not only could they 0:04:22.920 --> 0:04:25.120 perform surgery, but if they wanted to, they could hang 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:27.599 their shingle out and practice medicine if they knew what 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:30.880 they were talking about with plants, right, that's right. So 0:04:30.920 --> 0:04:36.160 for a long time we suspect UH indigenous groups uh 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:40.120 had some sort of idea understanding about what plants were, 0:04:40.680 --> 0:04:43.359 what what plants could be used for. That's right. But 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:48.400 then about there is this explosion, right, yes, this was 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:52.159 after the ancient Egyptians and pharaohs poked around and the 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:58.320 Sumerians with medicinal plants, um, China, Africa and India, that's 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:00.560 what it really exploded. And they actually I started to 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.200 list these things and put them down on paper or 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.599 whatever they were using at the time, to to papyrus. Well, 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:10.440 in Egypt and ken I, if you want to be technical, 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:14.839 there's a papyrus that's um dated to fifteen fifty three 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:19.000 BC that lists seven different drugs, a lot of which 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:22.000 are plant based, probably almost all. Yeah, I would say, 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:25.039 so they weren't doing synthetic chemical spect they know. But 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:27.400 about the same time, like you said, in Africa and 0:05:27.440 --> 0:05:30.839 India and China, like all these people started just jotting 0:05:30.880 --> 0:05:34.280 down their understandings of plants. And it was extensive, right yeah, 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:37.640 like rub this on your sore that and it will 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:42.000 ease your pain and suffering exactly, you know, so we 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:43.640 should write that down. A lot of trial and error, 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:46.720 I imagine, isn't that shacks line from that icy hot 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:53.839 and rubbed this there and it'll ease your pain. Um. So, 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:57.200 so these these this understanding, this knowledge was like added 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:00.160 to and subtracted from, you know, over the course of 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:05.120 centuries and in millennia, and then about like the nineteenth century, 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:09.640 there is like a sharp divergence, right, yes, Josh, that 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:14.359 is when uh, in the first edition of the American Pharmacopeia, 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:20.679 early hundreds um drugs at the time we're s plant 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:24.600 based flashboard nineteen sixty only five point three were plant based. 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:28.000 So what happens is you've introduced people that could figure 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:31.080 out how to synthetically duplicate a lot of these plants. 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.279 So are they still plant based? Does that even count? 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:37.120 After a while? I think it's kind of like you 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:39.840 know how people say, like this is made with um 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:44.000 our our product not tested on animals. That's because it 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:47.159 uses stuff that's that was tested on animals thirty years 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:50.520 ago and found safe, so no longer. Yes, So I 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.120 think it's much the same way where once you synthesize 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:56.400 something enough for you know, a synthetic alkaloid has this effect, 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:58.240 you can use it in all these different ways with 0:06:58.400 --> 0:07:01.680 something else that makes sense. So that was a that 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:08.200 represented a real separation from uh, the West and traditional cultures. Right. 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:12.640 This medicinal rift is what I just called it, So 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:17.000 kind of like medicinal rifts um as our understanding of 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:20.400 chemistry and the effects of drugs on the body groove. 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:22.800 Then you know, we we just kind of diverged from 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:27.880 traditional societies. But there came to be an awareness at 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:30.720 some point in time that all of these rainforests that 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:35.240 were destroying, in all of the uncontacted tribes that were 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:40.680 running out, um have a wealth of information that wasn't 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:45.559 listed in these early pharmacopias. Right, Sure that there's a 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.360 bunch of understanding of how to cure all sorts of 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:52.160 diseases out there, and we kind of need it. So 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:55.240 out of that has grown this whole field the sub 0:07:55.520 --> 0:08:00.000 discipline of anthropology called ethnobotany. Yeah, what was the Connery movie? 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:02.800 They were searching for the cure for cancer in the 0:08:02.880 --> 0:08:08.000 jungle Rangoon beyond Rangoon. No, that was Rangoon man. No, 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:12.600 I can't remember the attack of theo. It was the 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:15.440 lady from the Sopranos and Good Fellas and then Sean 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:17.800 Connery and he they were in the jungle, I think 0:08:17.840 --> 0:08:20.480 searching for a cure for cancer or something. Good movie. 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.520 But that's that's the point though, is that the cure 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:27.600 for cancer maybe out there in some leaf that we 0:08:27.680 --> 0:08:31.560 just need to locate and synthesize. Right. The problem is 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:34.680 is like the field of ethnobotany isn't training people to 0:08:34.720 --> 0:08:37.080 go out and eat leaves and write down their thoughts 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:39.920 on it. No, you got I guess they're interviewing people 0:08:40.040 --> 0:08:43.640 local tribesmen, indigenous folks and saying, hey, tell us what 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:46.480 you know about medicine. Maybe we can learn something from that. 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:49.080 And this is a very very long process. So like, uh, 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:53.679 the and ethnobotanist is probably going to be somebody who 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:57.040 was trained as a botanist and undergraduate school and then 0:08:57.080 --> 0:09:04.600 trained in um anthropology, linkinguistics, UM possibly chemistry in grad school. 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:07.080 Got to be a people person. You have to be 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:09.960 able to chat it up with the possible head shrinkers 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:13.280 UM and you go out in the field and you 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:16.040 have to gain the trust of the people who have 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:18.800 this information. It might not be common to the whole 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:21.800 tribe UM. So you have to gain the trust of 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:24.440 the person who knows what plant to use for what, 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:27.440 and then get that information from them in a way 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:31.840 that's agreeable. There's a debate among ethnobotany that's pretty much 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.720 resolved these days, but for a long time that end 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:38.480 justified the means, like if you could cure athletes foot, 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:41.520 you know, with this plant, and this guy doesn't want 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:43.240 to give it to you, don't you have a moral 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:46.760 obligation to basically take that information from him, steal it 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:49.559 as it were. Now there's a movement toward making sure 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:53.280 that these people are like their trust isn't broken, that 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:55.080 they're willing to share it, and if they're not willing 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:58.680 to share it, you pay them, pay them money, pay 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.640 pay them either way. Compensation is is kind of becoming 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:06.480 a more of a thing among ethnobotanists rather than thank you, 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:09.880 you've done something great here bringing the trucks. Yeah. Well, 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:11.840 not only just what the plant is though, but obviously 0:10:11.880 --> 0:10:14.280 they need specifics. They need to know what part of 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:16.920 the plant because you know, I wrote that article a 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:19.480 while back on how you can I think the universal 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:22.600 edibility test. You know some parts of a plant, like 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:24.600 eat the leaf and you can sustain on it. Eat 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:26.840 the root and you die in ten seconds. So what 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:29.320 part of the plant, how much of it to use um, 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:34.200 which would essentially be the prescription, right, And so the 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:36.600 ethnobotanist finds the stuff out, takes it back to the 0:10:36.600 --> 0:10:40.360 synthetic chemist, who basically has to go over the you know, 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:44.680 hopefully the ethnobotanist is like, it's the leaves, just focused 0:10:44.720 --> 0:10:46.880 on the leaves rather than you know, having to do 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:48.720 this on the plant and the stems and the seeds 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:50.960 or the flowers or whatever. But a crazy job. Imagine 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:53.760 how difficult that is. It is very difficult to synthesize 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:56.360 something like that. Well, first they have to isolate it. 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.800 They gotta find out because you know, the local shame 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:02.880 isn't He's not gonna be like, well, it's this alkaloid 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:05.680 in there that's um, you know, going to really get 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:12.280 you off, um healing you exactly. Um, it's the it's 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:16.240 the synthetic chemist who isolates the active ingredient and then 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:19.280 figures out if they can put together a synthetic version 0:11:19.360 --> 0:11:22.840 of it. Because one way to get medicine from plants 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:27.000 is simple extraction, right, But that's not the most reliable now, 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:31.280 because you can extract uh, let's say the essential oils 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:34.400 from one one bit and it might be like really 0:11:34.440 --> 0:11:36.840 really potent, and another bit might not be so it's 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:39.880 not like it's not consistent across the board, right, And 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:42.920 if one bit makes it into one jar of that 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:45.960 stuff and the other bit makes it into one, somebody 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:47.920 who's in pain is not going to get any relief. 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:50.800 The other person is going to die because they're gonna 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.600 get like eighty times that feel really really good depending 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:59.280 on what happens. Um So syn synthesis is the artificial 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:05.560 synthesis is the um preferred means of of figuring out 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:09.920 how to make a reasonable fact simile of this what's 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:12.920 in the plant. You're trying to mimic the compounds. And 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:16.120 I'm like, if you make it and it's the same thing, 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:19.160 it has the same molecular structure as what's found in 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:21.120 the plant, but you made it in the lab, it's 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:23.959 still the same thing. Right. It's like a test tube baby, 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.920 Like you're the baby is still a real human. This 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:32.200 is still a real compound. I guess on a molecular level, sure, 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:35.440 But yeah, I don't know. That's a good question. I 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:38.520 thought that somebody much smarter than us probably is like, oh, boys, 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:40.800 I'll send you an email. I'll let you know. I'm 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:43.280 looking forward to that one. I have to say, um, 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:50.360 and cheapness is the other reasons. Yes, Well, it's cheaper 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:53.079 to synthesize something once you figure it out. I'm sure 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:55.760 it's a very long, expensive process, but once you figure 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:58.440 it out, you're like, has put a couple of hydrogens 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:01.400 in with that helium and want to stand back? Yeah, 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:03.920 and and better for the environment to like, if something 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:05.880 has to stay plant based, you're gonna need a lot 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:08.440 of that plant That's true, you know what I'm saying. 0:13:08.600 --> 0:13:11.080 So we have a lot of success stories in UM 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:15.520 synthesizing drugs from plants. Right. Quinine a part of one 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:19.040 of my favorite drinks, Gin and tonic. You know it. 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.800 Quinine is pretty across the board, a pretty awesome thing, 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:25.040 I guess. Yeah, that's why tonic water is called tonic 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:27.440 water because it has quinine in it and it's a 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:31.080 tonic for malaria. Yeah, it's very small amount, but I 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:33.640 guess it gives it that signature taste. And don't go 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:38.480 with the diet. It's awful. There's a diet tonic it's 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:40.680 not very good. You know, I taste that is super better. 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:43.360 Remember we when we did the how taste works article, 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:48.160 I figured out that I am a super taster of bitterness, 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:51.520 like I can barely tolerate tonic water. It's so bitter. 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:54.720 Really yeah, interesting campari, don't even get me started. But 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:58.120 sometimes I torture myself and just have some anyway, And 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:04.000 tonic I've never mixed with explode. So quinine is used 0:14:04.000 --> 0:14:07.720 to treat malaria based on the chinchona bark. Then you got, 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:13.480 let's say, another example, dioxin. I'm sorry, dioxin treating heart conditions. 0:14:13.800 --> 0:14:16.600 And that comes from the lovely fox glove. The lovely, 0:14:16.640 --> 0:14:18.680 lovely fox glove that you grow in your garden. We 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:20.760 do grow it in my garden. Although my fox glove 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:24.200 is dead right now. It's kind of depressing. Yes, it 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:28.400 is very dead. Oh no, I'm in depressing. Yeah, of 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:31.120 course I look at dead plants. Why are you not 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:33.280 watering it frequiently? No, I don't know what the deal 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:35.600 was with the fox glove. It might not have transplanted 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:38.040 it soon enough, or it might not do well in 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:45.720 a hundred and tin heat index heat um sort of shady. 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:49.800 Emily is the gardener. I'm just the gardener's assistant. The 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:53.760 heavy lifter. Another great example that you listed. This is 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:59.280 your article, right, yeah, okay, is morphine. Yeah, the alkaloid 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:03.960 from poppy plan It was synthesized into diacetal morphine and 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:08.440 sold commercially by Bear for twelve years as heroin. Yeah, 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:12.120 that's where heroin came from, called heroin. I'm just gonna 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:17.040 go to the drug store and get some heroin. That's awesome. Yeah. 0:15:17.160 --> 0:15:21.080 And what's what's crazy is the heroine that's created today. 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:25.200 You can make a case is um synthesize every time 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:28.080 a batch is made because it's it's derived from the 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:30.600 opium poppy. But then you screw with it a little 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:34.240 bit to make something different, slightly different. So um. But yes, 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:40.880 Bear invented heroin. Wow, it's amazing. Um. And then Bear 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:45.920 also invented aspirin, which is derived from willow bark. That's right. 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:49.640 And are you gonna say, uh, a set of salic acid? 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:56.800 Nice one, that's aspirin. But what what's the natural compound? Um? Salison? Yes, 0:15:56.800 --> 0:16:00.920 salison um. And that was that was everybody's known about 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:03.600 willow bark for at least some Syppocrates who wrote about 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:06.840 it um. And he was a Greek and he lived 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:12.640 in probably like the third century BC, fourth century BC. 0:16:14.480 --> 0:16:17.360 I always I wish we used zero more in this culture. 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:20.200 It's so screwy, I know, but I love it. Anytime 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:22.280 you're trying to place a time like this, you always 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:23.880 kind of give this look up like you're trying to 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:27.200 remember hanging out with that person, like forth saying no, 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:31.400 I think that was third remember correctly, Yeah, so yeah 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:34.520 it was. I mean it was an anti inflammatory and 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:37.640 a fever reducer way back then. Still is, And that's 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:39.400 one of the cool things when you people that poop 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:42.160 poo Eastern medicine and things, it's like a lot of 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:44.960 this stuff we use today is just a synthesized version 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.520 of rubbing bark on your face and a lot, a lot, 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:51.600 a lot more than you'd think. El Dopa, which is 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:55.360 used to treat Parkinson's, derived from a plant. Um there's 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:59.160 a whole awesome list if you if you search um 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:05.680 uh plants synthesized drugs or drugs synthesized plants and a 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:08.159 search engine, I think the first result is going to 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.639 be this list from like the year two thousands of 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:16.080 modern drugs that were from plants. Yes, and possibly my 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:20.240 all time favorite, valium was derived from Valerian root, which 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:21.879 I found out and just started taking a lot of 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:24.639 Valerian root. Now you can make a t from it, 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:29.240 and it's does it chill you up? Really? Yeah? It 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:33.800 will knock you out too, if really concentrated. But it 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:36.399 stinks that I haven't and I want to see o 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:39.800 A right now. I am not in any way, shape 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:44.200 or form recommending anyone try anything that I ever say 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:48.320 that I do. Ever, even that's like, that's in a 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:50.920 supplement store, right it is. But you know what, that's 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:53.360 funny you're saying that because I was listening to why 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:56.639 why doesn't the f d A regulate herbs? And we 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:59.359 had this conversation that it's like, because it's in a 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:02.480 natural food store, we just think that it's like, oh, 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.440 it's fine, it's harmless. But you could totally odeon any 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:08.240 number of things in a natural food store. It's because 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:10.879 the FDA doesn't regulate it that it appears harmless even 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:16.400 though it is. Yeah. Um, this brings up a point, Josh, 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:21.840 that I think have always believed that the there is 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:26.560 no disease that wherein the cure is not somewhere on 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:30.040 the planet Earth. Oh is that you believe that? I've 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:32.520 always thought that? And this you know this is true? 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.960 Look at all, Like every plant that is eventually synthesized 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:38.359 into medicine. I think the answers are all out there. 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:41.960 It's just a matter of God's great scavenger hunt. Yeah. Maybe, 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:46.879 so I like that idea. Okay, I've been hitting you 0:18:46.920 --> 0:18:49.800 with the home dingers lately, haven't I you? So you 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:51.879 can kind of see Aspirin has been around for a while, 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:54.679 Heroine has been around for a while, Tonic has been 0:18:54.720 --> 0:19:00.600 around for a while. Um, we're still making stuff from plants, 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:02.960 but we've also figured out another way to use plants 0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:06.360 for medicine. And let's to use like UH enzymes from 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:10.199 the plants as catalysts and UH chemical reactions cells as 0:19:10.240 --> 0:19:13.320 little petrie dishes almost. Yeah, Basically, if you want to 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:17.680 carry out a um A chemical reaction in a safe 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:20.400 environment injected into a plant cell, it's a great little 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:23.720 house for it. And they're little factories. They make all 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:27.560 sorts of stuff we need in chemical reactions to synthesize drugs, 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:30.520 so they help in all sorts of ways. So up 0:19:30.560 --> 0:19:33.800 with plants, yes, but not just plants chuck, Not just 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:36.880 plants that we might like to just chew on once 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:41.240 in a while. Like Valerian right, but also poisons. For 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:46.359 for just as long as um medicinal plants have been 0:19:46.440 --> 0:19:48.960 used as drugs, we've also used poisons as well. Yeah, 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:52.440 that papyrus, uh you were talking about from lux Or, 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:56.919 Egypt that listed all the drugs and plant based drugs, 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:59.000 it also listed a lot of poisons and a lots 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:02.040 of a lot of antidotes to those poisons. Yeah, because 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:04.000 I mean, once we figured out there's such thing as poison, 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:06.720 we started looking for ways to cure them, right, And 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:10.679 that kind of follows your your logic that, um, there's 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:15.880 you know, there's an antidote to every poison, yeah, right, 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:18.800 for every malady. I believe that, And not because of 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:22.159 any like deep research, but just because of things like this, 0:20:22.200 --> 0:20:26.400 and because I think the earth is structured that way. Balance, right. 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:31.960 But even before that um homeostasis, Yes, even before that 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:35.440 papyrus though about years before there is a cham i 0:20:35.800 --> 0:20:40.439 Egyptian pharaoh named Many's and he was the first person 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:44.000 documented to conduct research into poisons because they kill people 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:49.440 with poison for years. Socrates was famously killed in BC. 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:53.800 That's the fourth century. I wonder how they first discovered 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:57.680 that some poisons could actually heal you. I don't know, 0:20:57.880 --> 0:21:00.119 maybe by killing someone. Maybe right before they die they 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.879 were like, geez, my back feels great all of a sudden, right, 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:06.560 and they're like, oh, then they die. Yeah, I don't know, 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:09.800 just an idea. Um. We have had a lot of 0:21:10.359 --> 0:21:14.720 hair brain ideas of what can cure you, like, um, 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:17.040 whiskey to cure a snake bite, right, if you're in 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:19.880 the Old West, pour some whiskey on it. Right. So 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:24.399 in the nine twenties some Brazilian um researchers put that 0:21:24.480 --> 0:21:26.439 to the test and found that not only is it 0:21:26.640 --> 0:21:31.800 patently untrue, but it actually makes things worse. Yeah, it 0:21:31.840 --> 0:21:35.760 speeds up the blood flow. Yeah, the alcohol does, so 0:21:35.880 --> 0:21:39.000 the delivery of the venom is just much quicker. Yeah. 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:42.520 I think the whiskey remedy I would choose is here, 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:45.159 drink a lot of this because you've been bitten by 0:21:45.200 --> 0:21:47.959 a snake and you're gonna die, right, so you might 0:21:48.040 --> 0:21:51.320 as well just numb the pain. And no one, no 0:21:51.359 --> 0:21:53.359 one ever had a patient where it actually worked. They 0:21:53.440 --> 0:21:56.600 just heard of a patient where it worked. That's right, right, Um. 0:21:56.640 --> 0:22:00.880 But the same Brazilian doctors came up with a way 0:22:00.920 --> 0:22:02.920 too curious snake bite, didn't they. Yeah, and this is 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:06.280 amazing to me too. Everyone knows about anti vennon, which 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:09.840 most people call anti venom. It is but although I 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:12.560 think I've seen venom is acceptable now because so many 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:14.800 people use it or something, well, some of our linguists 0:22:14.800 --> 0:22:17.199 friends and more progressive ones are like, just let language 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:23.439 to go where it's going exactly, um decimate for instance. Uh, 0:22:23.600 --> 0:22:25.840 what they found out was they can use poison to 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:29.200 fight poison. So by injecting a snake's venom into something 0:22:29.200 --> 0:22:31.520 of large that can take it, like a horse, they 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:34.080 would build up an immune system. I bet there's some 0:22:34.119 --> 0:22:36.399 trial in air there too, but I can't you just 0:22:36.440 --> 0:22:39.280 see where they're like they inject the horses some venom 0:22:39.320 --> 0:22:41.200 and go around to its face and punch in there. 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:46.119 So they would inject it into the horse, punch them 0:22:46.119 --> 0:22:49.439 in the face, and then the horse would eventually, you know, 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:53.919 build up an immunity and produce antibodies called anti venom, 0:22:53.960 --> 0:22:57.040 and then they would extract that from the horse the 0:22:57.119 --> 0:22:59.959 hemoglobe in front of the blood. Now we got an 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:02.320 anti evnom that we can use on humans. And so 0:23:02.400 --> 0:23:05.280 those the anti event and those anybody's when somebody is 0:23:05.560 --> 0:23:08.800 bit by a snake, when use the ant evnin that's 0:23:08.920 --> 0:23:13.639 derived from that snake snake's venom. Uh those anybody's go 0:23:13.720 --> 0:23:18.680